Does shredding your files help?

[JensGronb]

I read that even though you shred your files from the recycle bin, they're not really deleted, just available for overwriting. Now you're not suppose to fill up your ssd harddisk completely, but how do you prevent this, if you cant really delete files?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The answer is solid state drives function differently than mechanical hard disk drives.

Solid state drives have a function most commonly referred to as garbage collection. Periodically the ssd searches for cell blocks with data that has been deleted. The ssd clears the cell blocks and prepares the blocks for reuse. Garbage collection can be passive or aggressive. Passive garbage collection just means the ssd waits until a pc is idle or working with a very low load. Aggressive garbage collection can happen just about any time.

Beginning with Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft added a feature commonly called "trim" to compliment an ssd's garbage collection. When data is deleted the operating system sends a trim message to the ssd that data has been deleted and provides the location of the deleted data. Theoretically the trim message enhances an ssd's garbage collection because it includes the location of the deleted data. An ssd no longer has to search for deleted data.

In the early days of ssd's some of the drives could read and understand the Windows trim message and some ssd's could not. Fortunately all modern ssd's have the ability to read and understand the trim message sent by the operating system. The Microsoft Windows trim feature is enabled by default.

 

[JensGronb]

The answer is solid state drives function differently than mechanical hard disk drives.

Solid state drives have a function most commonly referred to as garbage collection. Periodically the ssd searches for cell blocks with data that has been deleted. The ssd clears the cell blocks and prepares the blocks for reuse. Garbage collection can be passive or aggressive. Passive garbage collection just means the ssd waits until a pc is idle or working with a very low load. Aggressive garbage collection can happen just about any time.

Beginning with Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft added a feature commonly called "trim" to compliment an ssd's garbage collection. When data is deleted the operating system sends a trim message to the ssd that data has been deleted and provides the location of the deleted data. Theoretically the trim message enhances an ssd's garbage collection because it includes the location of the deleted data. An ssd no longer has to search for deleted data.

In the early days of ssd's some of the drives could read and understand the Windows trim message and some ssd's could not. Fortunately all modern ssd's have the ability to read and understand the trim message sent by the operating system. The Microsoft Windows trim feature is enabled by default.

Thanks Johnny!

That makes perfect sense!