[SOLVED] how often to run TRIM?

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Kalik212

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Sep 28, 2015
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I'm fairly new to SSD's so sorry if these are newbish questions...I recently bought and installed a Samsung 860 EVO...everything is working fine but I'm confused about the 'defragment and optimize drives' feature in Windows 10...I know it won't defrag my drive and will run TRIM...

1) is the default schedule of running it once a week sufficient?

2) I just set up the drive a few hours ago and in the 'Defragment and Optimize Drives' setting it detects my SSD correctly but it shows as 'Never Run' and 'Needs Optimization'...do I need to manually run it once before it will automatically do it?...do I need to run it every time it says 'Needs Optimization'?...if it does it automatically then theoretically it shouldn't ever say that right?

3) is running the Samsung Magician Secure Erase feature good to use every time I do a reformat?...I keep hearting reports about drives being stuck in a frozen state...is it better to use another Secure Erase program such as HDDErase?

thanks for any help...
 
Solution
USAFRet


It does take more time. Many more steps.
Prep the boot USB.
Run the secure Erase...maybe having to reboot in the middle.
Once done, then Initialize, create a Volume, format...
And then do whatever it was you were going to do...possibly reinstall the OS.


I'm getting ready to transfer my 850 EVO 500GB to my grandkids new PC (parts in...
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The only purpose of TRIM is to sync unused pages on the SSD with unused space in the file system so the SSD can do garbage collection ahead of time for better write performance. You only need to run extra TRIMs if you do lots of deleting and writing.

Secure erase is only needed if you are particularly paranoid about someone recovering your data before you sell or give an SSD to someone else. Recovering data from a simple full-erase is already impractical by most standards. If you are re-installing the OS on the same SSD, a quick-format (writing a blank file system, leaving everything else as-is) is all you need unless you have a security motive to wipe unused space.
 
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if I never need to run it manually then why does 'Defragment and Optimize Drives' currently show as 'Never Run' and 'Needs Optimization'?...should I run it manually anytime it says 'Needs Optimization'?
 
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Because it is a brand new drive.
Let the OS handle it.

I've had SSD's in my systems for almost 7 years. The last time I ran TRIM manually was....never.
 
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how long does it usually take for Windows 10 to run the first TRIM command on a brand new drive?...if I delete a bunch of files from my Recycle Bin will that enable it (or is that the Garbage Collection feature?)
 
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You're obsessing over functions that happen automatically.
Leave it alone for a month. Then look. And then still leave it alone.
 
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how is that possible?...the Windows 10 'Defragment and Optimize Drives' feature defaults to a schedule of optimizing once a week...so at minimum TRIM should be activated once a week right?

 
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All of the HDD crashes I remember losing data to died during defrag, so I've been turning off defrag as one of the first time after installing Windows on my PCs for 15+ years. If defrag ever runs on my HDDs, it is manually and less than once a year.
 
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how do you do a quick format?...you mean through the Windows 10 installer?...or another tool like Diskpart?
 
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The how, depends on why you are doing it.

An OS reinstall? Just do that during the install.
Selling the drive? Maybe diskpart /clean.
 
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I don't remember what options Windows 10's setup had for formatting drives but IIRC, all Windows versions prior to that gave you the option of either quick-format (write a blank root file system) and full/long-format (overwrite everything to find and mark bad clusters) during setup if you choose to format partitions or create new ones.
 
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but what's the harm in doing a Secure Erase either through the Samsung Magician software or using Diskpart?...it takes pretty much the same amount of time as doing a regular quick format (a few seconds or maybe a minute)...plus doing a Secure Erase sounds like it's better in terms of getting back some performance
 
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Because there's no need to do a Secure Erase.

'get back some performance'?

The 4x Samsung drives here are of varying ages. 840/840/850/860. 4+ years to two months old. There is nothing 'lost', that needs to be 'gotten back':
ZEmy8eJ.png
 
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but again...all things being equal...if everything is the same then why not recommend doing a Secure Erase?...is there some negative aspect to doing it?...
 
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It does take more time. Many more steps.
Prep the boot USB.
Run the secure Erase...maybe having to reboot in the middle.
Once done, then Initialize, create a Volume, format...
And then do whatever it was you were going to do...possibly reinstall the OS.


I'm getting ready to transfer my 850 EVO 500GB to my grandkids new PC (parts in the mail).
At most, it will just get the existing partitions deleted during the new OS install on it. Nothing will be left or accessible after that install.
There is no need to go through a whole secure erase.

If I were selling the drive to an outside entity...maybe it would get a Secure Erase.
 
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Solution

Secure Erase is intended for sensitive data destruction and consists of multiple all-NAND program-erase cycles. It takes a very long time and wastes multiple program-erase endurance cycles. It only makes sense to secure-erase when transitioning an SSD from a private/secure system to a public/non-secure one or prior to giving/selling the SSD to a someone else.

 
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my curiosity was getting the better of me and I could not resist...so I decided to do a Secure Erase of my new Samsung 860 EVO using the Samsung Magician software...everything went pretty smooth and it couldn't have been any easier...it literally took maybe 5 seconds for the Secure Erase to 'erase' the drive...the drive was in a 'frozen state' after booting from a USB but the instructions stated to just unplug the cables and plug it back in...it worked fine

benchmark numbers are identical prior to the Secure Erase and after...this will now be my defacto way of reformatting my drive whenever I re-install Windows 10...I re-install a few times a year...so for anyone worried about using Secure Erase I say go for it...it's the best way to erase and reformat an SSD
 
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A proper secure erase will still cost you a few whole-drive program-erase cycles. If a 512GB SSD has 200TBW of endurance and secure erase uses four passes, each secure erase costs you ~1% of the SSD's rated endurance.
 
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