How often I should Defrag?

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Briefly explain your current issue(s)
How often should I defrag?
Steps taken to resolve, but have been unsuccessful
PerfectDisk
How often I should Defrag?

My DefragSoftware is Perfect Disk

Specs:
i7 4770k
GTX 1060 6GB
16GB DDR3 Memory
1x 60GB SSD DREVO X1 (Windows)
1x 500GB HDD WDBlack (Games)
1x 500GB external hard drive (Pictures - Videos - Etc)
 
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ForgottenSeer 58943

Third party tools are useless.

Use Windows 10 Drive Optimization to manually trim your SSD/m.2 drives once a week or every other week. Let Windows 10 manage the defrag of your mechanical drives, it will schedule it automatically based on the smart reporting.
 
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Evjl's Rain

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my recommendation for you
1/ you have windows on SSD -> no need defrag, just trim it when you are bored or every 2 - 4 weeks
2/ use an external defragmenter (auslogics, wise, wincontig, all are portable) and defrag you games and most frequently used program folders only 1 time and never think about them again. When you update them or you feel that they are slow, defrag them. I don't recommend you to defrag the whole HDD because it's not helpful. Just defrag your game and app folders specifically

I don't really like windows defragmenter because it's slow. I prefer wise or auslogics portable because they are extremely fast and effective. Auslogics is more effective than wise. Auslogics might be considered as PUP according to some AVs and second opinion scanners

piriform defraggler is another bad problem. It's sometimes even slower than windows defragmenter and not that effective compared to auslogics

IMO, auslogics is the best in overall, in terms of defragmenting speed and performance gain after the process finishes
 
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Digerati

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stefanos

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That would be madness with a "true" image backup. What should be done in that case is the "source" drive should be cleaned of clutter, then if necessary, defragged, and only then should the image copy be made. In that way, the image copy (and the "destination" drive it is on) would not be fragmented in the first place.
Good point - at least with the boot drive.

Boot defragging the boot drive is actually more efficient than defragging when the OS is fully loaded. But defragging at every boot is unnecessary, a waste of time, and increases wear and tear on the drive.
Maybe (hopefully!) the program is smart enough to see the drive is not fragmented so does not run because it is not necessary. That would be a good thing.

no is problem. Crash the system
 
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Vasudev

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That would be madness with a "true" image backup. What should be done in that case is the "source" drive should be cleaned of clutter, then if necessary, defragged, and only then should the image copy be made. In that way, the image copy (and the "destination" drive it is on) would not be fragmented in the first place.
My backup image size totals to near 100-120GB on one PC with 3 SSDs/HDDs and older one has single HDD with multi-boot and finally my sister's lappie which has nothing but clutter(s).
I keep Images of older Windows Builds before upgrading/clean installing new versions. I even have Clean installed image with all drivers installed w/ minimal apps. Without these duplicates, my backup size should be under 50GB taking into account Windows and Linux Boot drive only.

TRIM is not as important as it used to be because most modern SSDs are programmed to recognize common files system that they can recognize when a file has been deleted, and erase the sectors containing that file without needing to be told by TRIM. It can't hurt to have TRIM on. Unless you are using some oddball filesystem or have RAID SSD setup, the SSD will probably be fine with TRIM off.
TRIM isn't run automatically on windows and Linux. So you need to manually run to keep SSD operating at peak levels.
 
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Ink

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Disk Defragging is a Windows OS problem, neither macOS or Linux need such programs.

If you have not already for the main OS partition, 'ditch the HDD, switch to an SSD'. You can still use a HDD for data storage, but an SSD will make your life easier.

"Bottom line: Upgrade to an SSD and your PC will be fast enough to leave defrag where it belongs: a distant memory." | HTG

From HTG:
Why Linux Doesn’t Need Defragmenting
From IDG:
How to defrag a Mac (and why you don't need to)
 
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TairikuOkami

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If you have not already for the main OS partition, 'ditch the HDD, switch to an SSD'.
I will never ever use SSD, unless forced to. SSD does not improve performance, just loading times. I will rather short-stroke HDD. I do not like an experimental hardware, like Ryzen. CRT was also replaced with LCD, because it is more convenient, but worse quality than CRT and destroys eyes.
 
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Ink

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I will never ever use SSD, unless forced to. SSD does not improve performance, just loading times. I will rather short-stroke HDD. I do not like an experimental hardware, like Ryzen. CRT was also replaced with LCD, because it is more convenient, but worse quality than CRT and destroys eyes.
Good to know.

This sums up a typical Windows XP users. (y)

Time to disconnect.
 
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BoraMurdar

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I will never ever use SSD, unless forced to. SSD does not improve performance, just loading times. I will rather short-stroke HDD. I do not like an experimental hardware, like Ryzen. CRT was also replaced with LCD, because it is more convenient, but worse quality than CRT and destroys eyes.
Why those words? SSD is a lot faster than HDD, Ryzen is not an experimental hardware and CRT monitors are actually a quite more harmful for the eyes than LED. Those are almost axioms.
 
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roger_m

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I will never ever use SSD, unless forced to. SSD does not improve performance, just loading times.
SSDs can make a huge difference in overall performance. My main laptop, which has many hundreds of programs installed, boots to the Windows 10 login screen, in around 5 to 10 seconds.

I would never go back to a using a hard drive, on any computer I use a lot.
 
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Digerati

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TRIM isn't run automatically on windows...
Sure it is. Since Windows 7, TRIM is enabled automatically on any drive Windows detects as solid state.

How to Check if TRIM Is Enabled for Your SSD (and Enable It if It Isn’t)
Windows 7 and above are set to automatically enable TRIM on solid-state drives.

I will never ever use SSD, unless forced to. SSD does not improve performance, just loading times. I will rather short-stroke HDD. I do not like an experimental hardware, like Ryzen. CRT was also replaced with LCD, because it is more convenient, but worse quality than CRT and destroys eyes.
Wow! BoraMurdar is right. There is so much incorrect information in there.

SSDs can make a huge difference in overall performance. My main laptop, which has many hundreds of programs installed, boots to the Windows 10 login screen, in around 5 to 10 seconds.
Right!

And as anyone who has migrated to SSDs knows, SSDs do indeed improve much more than "just loading times". Simple common sense tells you operating systems are very disk intensive - constantly opening files, saving temp files, accessing the Registry and the Page File and so much more. Because all those tasks complete much faster with SSDs, system resources much more quickly become available for other tasks - which of course, improves over all performance. Speaking of the Page File, there can be no better place to put the Page File. SSDs are ideally suited for Page Files. See Support and Q&A for Solid-State Drives and scroll down to, "Frequently Asked Questions, Should the pagefile be placed on SSDs?"

Yes, SSDs still cost more, but SSDs consume less power, take up less space, weigh less, generate less heat, make no noise, and with no moving parts, have a longer life expectancy than mechanical hard drives. And because there are no moving parts, SSDs are less susceptible to damage from accidental knocks and drops. If the budget allows, SSD all the way is the only way to go.

Ryzen is experimental? Yeah right. You could say that for the first generation of any new processor - regardless if from AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, Motorola, or any of the other makers in the world. But of course, the second generation Ryzens are already out.

LCD monitors replaced the CRT because LCD monitors consume much less energy, generate much less heat, weigh much less, take up much less desk real estate, and they cost less. And while the image quality of the first generation LCDs could be beat by the better CRTs, today's LCDs are much better than CRTs. And as far as being bad for the eyes, do some homework! CRTs are, and always have been worse for your eyes! They not only emit ionizing radiation, but UV light too.

The "truth" is, sitting in front of any TV/monitor screen for too long is bad on your eyes.
 
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ForgottenSeer 69673

I don't remember how many versions of Windows were using it but the older versions used a cut Version of Diskeeper.
I still use Diskeeper but am still using a HDD.

Here is what Condusiv says about their Hyperfast SSD technology. I am sure they would write good things about their software. Then again they been doing this for years.

Increase the Speed and Performance of HDD & SSD | Condusiv Technologies
 
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BoraMurdar

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I don't remember how many versions of Windows were using it but the older versions used a cut Version of Diskeeper.
I still use Diskeeper but am still using a HDD.

Here is what Condusiv says about their Hyperfast SSD technology. I am sure they would write good things about their software. Then again they been doing this for years.

Increase the Speed and Performance of HDD & SSD | Condusiv Technologies
This is mostly a marketing talk. Taking facts out of context in order to "scare" people to use their software, or else...!!!
(dramatic music)
 
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TairikuOkami

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Simple common sense tells you operating systems are very disk intensive
Luckily not mine, it has zero I/O when idle. :)

Speaking of the Page File, there can be no better place to put the Page File. SSDs are ideally suited for Page Files.
That is why disabling the pagefile is the first thing to do. RAM is 10 times faster. Disabling pagefile/superfetch, moving temps to RAMdisk, etc.
Even in this topic, people talk about avoiding defragmenting SSD, because it lowers its life expectancy, HDD does not have that problem.

I have not seen a single test proving, that SSD is faster than HDD, like no gain in FPS in games. I am not saying, that SSD is bad, but is not really needed, it does not do much, HDD will last much more longer than a cheap SSD. I do not care, if the OS loads in 5 sec or in 50, I care how well it runs and HDD always wins. I would have never expected such an outrage, I guess, that the marketing and paid reviews did its job over the years. :)

And as far as being bad for the eyes, do some homework! CRTs are, and always have been worse for your eyes! They not only emit ionizing radiation, but UV light too.
I guess you have not seen many good CRTs. If you sit someone in front of CRT and LCD, he will get a headache and itching eyes from LCD within an hour at most, but never from CRT, since by looking into LCD, you are looking into a bulb. CRT is covered by a thick glass, which blocks UV/EMR, LCD also emits EMR, but it is covered by plastic, so ... . Not to mention the black color and that LCD flickers as well, but CRT with min 85Hz does not. Nevermind.
 
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