Can you defrag an encrypted file system
I just encrypted my entire hard drive with truecrypt and was wondering can I still defrag it?
Or will that not work anymore or break something.
windows hard-drive encryption defragment
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
add a comment |
I just encrypted my entire hard drive with truecrypt and was wondering can I still defrag it?
Or will that not work anymore or break something.
windows hard-drive encryption defragment
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
add a comment |
I just encrypted my entire hard drive with truecrypt and was wondering can I still defrag it?
Or will that not work anymore or break something.
windows hard-drive encryption defragment
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
I just encrypted my entire hard drive with truecrypt and was wondering can I still defrag it?
Or will that not work anymore or break something.
windows hard-drive encryption defragment
windows hard-drive encryption defragment
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
edited May 9 '13 at 5:42
Sathyajith Bhat♦
52.5k29153252
52.5k29153252
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
asked May 9 '13 at 3:38
Jake Anderson
61125
61125
add a comment |
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
Usually, yes you can since the encrypting file system is presenting itself as a traditional file system to Windows and unaware applications.
The larger question is what do you plan to gain with defragmentation since it was conceived when systems were older and slower and fragmented volumes could impact systems performance.
If you're striving to max out your systems performance, defragmentation is the bottom of the list as far as return of investment.
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
|
show 3 more comments
Any system using a traditional hard drive needs defragging occasionally. No so with SSD. Rotational delay and mechanical arm movement are minimized when files are more contiguous, resulting in faster seek times and overall performance. Steveo (35 years in IT)
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
1
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
|
show 2 more comments
My understanding of a memory chip is that the 1st random access takes more time. The access of the subsequent bytes takes less time. From this perspective, if data are fragmented across the SSD, then yes, it takes more time than if all bytes are contiguous because each byte would be a "random" access. Though SSD doesn't have moving parts like an HDD, avoiding random access still saves time.
However, unlike volatile memory (DRAM, SRAM, etc) that can be read/written unlimited times, non-volatile memory has LIMITED write cycles! Thus, if you are trying to defrag an SSD, keep this attribute in mind. You ARE wearing it out! After all, it's almost futile. All SSD controllers implement a technology called "wear balancing", ie. you want to spread out writing to a cell as evenly across the SSD as possible so that you are not killing certain sectors. This spreading out process in itself leads to fragmentation.
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
2
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
add a comment |
protected by Ramhound Dec 3 at 6:07
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Usually, yes you can since the encrypting file system is presenting itself as a traditional file system to Windows and unaware applications.
The larger question is what do you plan to gain with defragmentation since it was conceived when systems were older and slower and fragmented volumes could impact systems performance.
If you're striving to max out your systems performance, defragmentation is the bottom of the list as far as return of investment.
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
|
show 3 more comments
Usually, yes you can since the encrypting file system is presenting itself as a traditional file system to Windows and unaware applications.
The larger question is what do you plan to gain with defragmentation since it was conceived when systems were older and slower and fragmented volumes could impact systems performance.
If you're striving to max out your systems performance, defragmentation is the bottom of the list as far as return of investment.
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
|
show 3 more comments
Usually, yes you can since the encrypting file system is presenting itself as a traditional file system to Windows and unaware applications.
The larger question is what do you plan to gain with defragmentation since it was conceived when systems were older and slower and fragmented volumes could impact systems performance.
If you're striving to max out your systems performance, defragmentation is the bottom of the list as far as return of investment.
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
Usually, yes you can since the encrypting file system is presenting itself as a traditional file system to Windows and unaware applications.
The larger question is what do you plan to gain with defragmentation since it was conceived when systems were older and slower and fragmented volumes could impact systems performance.
If you're striving to max out your systems performance, defragmentation is the bottom of the list as far as return of investment.
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
answered May 9 '13 at 3:43
Karen3819x4
45025
45025
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
|
show 3 more comments
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
Agreed, unless the encryption software implicitly says not to do it, you should be safe.
– Keltari
May 9 '13 at 3:47
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
For Windows and SATA based drives, I beg to argue about performance and fragmentation. Working on Windows machines for years now, fragmentation has always been on the top of my list I've seen to be the main cause to slow a system down.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 4:10
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
And you have the benchmark results of improvements of defragged file system b4 and after ? Because the misconception of defragging is legacy thinking from Microsoft who doesn't offer even approximate benchmarks of performance improvements. The Pagefile, another useless superstition from a time that RAM used to cost $100 a MB and just a spacewaster. I don't care what your results are if you plan to post them, but rate your drive pre defrag then rerate it and you won't see a performance improvement.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:49
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
What is your defrag method anyway, which app and how are you performing it cause i bet you're making the first mistake in the method that isn't even effecitively defragging anything. Share your tool and style, the worst that can happen is I'll learn you about what you're doing wrong and you can rest in the comfort of misconception.
– Karen3819x4
May 9 '13 at 4:50
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
I make use of MyDefrag. Paid wise I like PerfectDisk. I've always seen massive improvements on app start time and responce times on boot up with a defrag.
– Jake Anderson
May 9 '13 at 6:58
|
show 3 more comments
Any system using a traditional hard drive needs defragging occasionally. No so with SSD. Rotational delay and mechanical arm movement are minimized when files are more contiguous, resulting in faster seek times and overall performance. Steveo (35 years in IT)
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
1
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
|
show 2 more comments
Any system using a traditional hard drive needs defragging occasionally. No so with SSD. Rotational delay and mechanical arm movement are minimized when files are more contiguous, resulting in faster seek times and overall performance. Steveo (35 years in IT)
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
1
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
|
show 2 more comments
Any system using a traditional hard drive needs defragging occasionally. No so with SSD. Rotational delay and mechanical arm movement are minimized when files are more contiguous, resulting in faster seek times and overall performance. Steveo (35 years in IT)
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
Any system using a traditional hard drive needs defragging occasionally. No so with SSD. Rotational delay and mechanical arm movement are minimized when files are more contiguous, resulting in faster seek times and overall performance. Steveo (35 years in IT)
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
answered Mar 24 '17 at 19:46
Steveo
1
1
1
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
|
show 2 more comments
1
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
1
1
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
SSDs can still be fragmented
– Ramhound
Mar 24 '17 at 19:51
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Erm... Didn't he? What he's saying is, SSD's don't have rotational delay and mechanical arm movement, so they don't really need defragmentation to make the files more continuous, like normal hard drives do. Makes sense to me.
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:43
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
Also, on SSD's: askleo.com/should-i-defrag-truecrypt "And there’s also some controversy as to whether defragmenting an SSD can actually shorten its life."
– Andrew
Nov 1 '17 at 6:47
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
@Andrew: Sorry for stirring up dust, but I believe that ThatRandomGuy is not saying that Steveo's answer should be downvoted (or worse, although I'm not sure what more anyone could ask anyone else to do beyond downvoting); I believe that ThatRandomGuy is beating the old dead horse about anonymous downvotes (i.e., we shouldn't just downvote; if we downvote, we should post a comment explaining our vote). Of course I could be totally wrong.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:48
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
I agree that Steveo's point is valid, but I believe that it doesn't really address the question of interference between encryption and defragmentation.
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:52
|
show 2 more comments
My understanding of a memory chip is that the 1st random access takes more time. The access of the subsequent bytes takes less time. From this perspective, if data are fragmented across the SSD, then yes, it takes more time than if all bytes are contiguous because each byte would be a "random" access. Though SSD doesn't have moving parts like an HDD, avoiding random access still saves time.
However, unlike volatile memory (DRAM, SRAM, etc) that can be read/written unlimited times, non-volatile memory has LIMITED write cycles! Thus, if you are trying to defrag an SSD, keep this attribute in mind. You ARE wearing it out! After all, it's almost futile. All SSD controllers implement a technology called "wear balancing", ie. you want to spread out writing to a cell as evenly across the SSD as possible so that you are not killing certain sectors. This spreading out process in itself leads to fragmentation.
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
2
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
add a comment |
My understanding of a memory chip is that the 1st random access takes more time. The access of the subsequent bytes takes less time. From this perspective, if data are fragmented across the SSD, then yes, it takes more time than if all bytes are contiguous because each byte would be a "random" access. Though SSD doesn't have moving parts like an HDD, avoiding random access still saves time.
However, unlike volatile memory (DRAM, SRAM, etc) that can be read/written unlimited times, non-volatile memory has LIMITED write cycles! Thus, if you are trying to defrag an SSD, keep this attribute in mind. You ARE wearing it out! After all, it's almost futile. All SSD controllers implement a technology called "wear balancing", ie. you want to spread out writing to a cell as evenly across the SSD as possible so that you are not killing certain sectors. This spreading out process in itself leads to fragmentation.
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
2
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
add a comment |
My understanding of a memory chip is that the 1st random access takes more time. The access of the subsequent bytes takes less time. From this perspective, if data are fragmented across the SSD, then yes, it takes more time than if all bytes are contiguous because each byte would be a "random" access. Though SSD doesn't have moving parts like an HDD, avoiding random access still saves time.
However, unlike volatile memory (DRAM, SRAM, etc) that can be read/written unlimited times, non-volatile memory has LIMITED write cycles! Thus, if you are trying to defrag an SSD, keep this attribute in mind. You ARE wearing it out! After all, it's almost futile. All SSD controllers implement a technology called "wear balancing", ie. you want to spread out writing to a cell as evenly across the SSD as possible so that you are not killing certain sectors. This spreading out process in itself leads to fragmentation.
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
My understanding of a memory chip is that the 1st random access takes more time. The access of the subsequent bytes takes less time. From this perspective, if data are fragmented across the SSD, then yes, it takes more time than if all bytes are contiguous because each byte would be a "random" access. Though SSD doesn't have moving parts like an HDD, avoiding random access still saves time.
However, unlike volatile memory (DRAM, SRAM, etc) that can be read/written unlimited times, non-volatile memory has LIMITED write cycles! Thus, if you are trying to defrag an SSD, keep this attribute in mind. You ARE wearing it out! After all, it's almost futile. All SSD controllers implement a technology called "wear balancing", ie. you want to spread out writing to a cell as evenly across the SSD as possible so that you are not killing certain sectors. This spreading out process in itself leads to fragmentation.
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
answered Dec 3 at 4:22
Alex
1
1
2
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
add a comment |
2
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
2
2
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
Can you explain how this answers the question?
– Scott
Dec 3 at 4:33
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
It doesn't answer the OP's question directly but discussions raised by others on SSD. Yes, people sidetracked. However, since the OP didn't specify if he has HDD or SSD, the merit of my post is to warn him that if it is SSD, do NOT do it, regardless of if it's encrypted or not.
– Alex
Dec 3 at 6:39
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
Please take our short tour to see Super User is not a forum. Answers should answer the question. Your answer might be good if the question was "should I defrag an SSD?" where encryption is not taken into consideration. But the question is "should I defrag an encrypted filesystem?" where SSD is a secondary issue (if any). My point is the main concern here is encryption and your answer doesn't address this at all.
– Kamil Maciorowski
Dec 3 at 23:18
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protected by Ramhound Dec 3 at 6:07
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