Users with hybrid drives thus face a dilemma: Which of these two incompatible maintenance techniques should you use to keep an SSHD healthy and operating well?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There’s usually a way to get an answer, but it may take a little digging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s because some hybrid drives use a solid state add-on as a kind of giant cache \u2014 larger but not conceptually different from the firmware caches that hard drives have had almost from the beginning. If the solid state portion of an SSHD is indeed this kind of large write-through cache, then this type of drive usually can be defragged without harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But if the solid-state portion is large enough to be considered a drive in its own right — especially if it gets assigned a drive letter — or if the drivers treat the solid-state portion as if it were a drive unto itself, then the rules might flip, and you should not<\/em><\/strong> defrag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alas, I know of no universal way for an end user to independently verify the best maintenance approach for any given drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the best bet is to follow the manufacturer’s advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To pick a random example \u2014 the HP PC Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive FAQ (site<\/a>) says: “It is not necessary, nor is it recommended to run a disk defragmenter. Disk defragmentation is not necessary, and using a disk defragmenter temporarily slows the performance of the computer.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s a refreshingly clear and unambiguous recommendation for users of HP\/Seagate SSHDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I suggest all SSHD users visit the support site for their specific brand and model of drive, to see what’s recommended there. If you can find no recommendation listed, use the support site’s contact links and ask them directly: The manufacturer should know how the drive is set up internally, and what the correct maintenance should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, if you follow the manufacturer’s recommendations, you’ll also be helping to preserve your drive’s warranty, in case something goes wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=2665<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n COMMENT \/ QUESTION<\/strong> on THIS ITEM?<\/strong> See the<\/em> Comment box<\/strong> at bottom of this page!<\/em> It’s a quandary. Solid-state\/hybrid drives (SSHDs) use a modest amount of high-speed memory as a kind of front end to a large, conventional, spinning-platter drive; software makes the two act as one. The idea is to yield a drive that’s faster than a conventional drive, but less expensive than an all-solid-state drive. But, as you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,30,21,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-hardware","category-misc","category-science-and-tech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-GZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3504,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/03\/how-can-the-defragmentation-of-a-hard-drive-affect-pc-speed\/","url_meta":{"origin":2665,"position":0},"title":"“How can the defragmentation of a hard drive affect PC speed?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-10-03","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Ahmed Belkhouja) Very easily! Here's why: Files are stored on a hard drive in very small chunks called\u00a0clusters. On a conventional NTFS-formatted drive, for example, the default cluster size is 4KB; large files are stored as a series of 4KB clusters. On a new, empty, spinning-platter drive,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2430,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/21\/a-reader-asks-do-solid-state-drives-ever-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":2665,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: “Do solid state drives ever fail?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Raleigh K. is wondering about the longevity of solid state hard drives (SSDs). Early SSDs did have some problems, not least because the operating systems of the day treated SSDs as if they were standard spinning-platter hard drives. SSDs are fundamentally different, so trouble cropped up: Mismanaged by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2742,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/10\/can-i-increase-my-ram-using-a-pen-drive-also-can-i-change-the-pen-drive-back-after-i-am-done\/","url_meta":{"origin":2665,"position":2},"title":"“Can I increase my RAM using a pen drive? Also, can I change the pen drive back after I am done?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-05-10","format":false,"excerpt":"Not exactly. But if you\u2019re using Windows, you can use a capable flash device to speed your system a different way: It\u2019s called ReadyBoost, and it\u2019s been built into the OS since the days of Vista. ReadyBoost lets your PC use a flash device as a predictive (\"prefetch\") cache, preloading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1412,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/19\/a-reader-asks-how-can-i-reduce-laptop-noise\/","url_meta":{"origin":2665,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “How can I reduce laptop noise?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-19","format":false,"excerpt":"Laptop noise usually comes from four components: the cooling fans; any spinning-media data-storage device (e.g. hard drive or DVD); the keyboard; and the speakers. We'll discuss those in reverse order, and immediately discount the speakers: I seriously doubt that's the kind of noise you were referring to! You can just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1716,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/24\/a-reader-asks-my-hard-drive-is-too-slow-but-i-cant-afford-to-upgrade-to-ssd-of-equivalent-size-what-can-i-do\/","url_meta":{"origin":2665,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “My hard drive is too slow, but I can’t afford to upgrade to an equivalent SSD. What can I do?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-01-24","format":false,"excerpt":"First, be sure your hard drive is the true bottleneck: If you're using Windows, open Task Manager\/More Details and select the Performance tab. If your hard drive is a truly the bottleneck, you'll see something like this: Near-100 percent drive utilization, while the rest of the system is loafing, might\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/HighDiskActivity.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1898,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/04\/a-reader-asks-can-i-let-chkdsk-f-r-run-all-night-on-a-conventional-hdd\/","url_meta":{"origin":2665,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: “Can I let ‘Chkdsk \/f \/r’ run all night on a conventional HDD?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-04","format":false,"excerpt":"Sure, if you're trying to repair a damaged hard drive. Chkdsk --- check disk --- is the Windows tools that examines your drives for logical and physical errors. Adding the \"\/f\" tells Chkdsk to fix logical errors on the disk, if any --- things like file fragments that the operating\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc"","block_context":{"text":"Misc","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2683,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions\/2683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"[seperator]\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/SEPERATOR-short-grey.png?resize=104%2C6\")
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