It goes without saying that defraging hard drives is critical for optimum performance. So, seeing as how I've got so much data coming and going and getting moved all around, should I defragment my 16GB SD card? If so, how? I tried to do it using Windows Vista, but that method keeps trying to defrag the C: drive first even though I specifically selected my SD. This forum and this community has been a great help to me, so thanks in advance for any input you guys have.
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Should I defragment my SD card? If so, how?
- Thread starter djk_dnb
- Start date
No. you don't defragment flash memory. It will have no affect and it will shorten the life of your sdcard.
this business here ^ is correct
In most cases defragmenting is unnecessary anyways, even on a PC. It was one of those 90's rumors to speed up a computer. Unless you are moving files around constantly it is pointless.
Just copy all your files to a folder on your computer, format the SD card to FAT32, go through and delete stuff from old apps you never use anymore and put all the files back on the SD card. NEVER defrag flash memory, as stated above it will lower the life span of the card.
Just copy all your files to a folder on your computer, format the SD card to FAT32, go through and delete stuff from old apps you never use anymore and put all the files back on the SD card. NEVER defrag flash memory, as stated above it will lower the life span of the card.
Defragging an SD card is not very helpful. Defragging a hard disc is. The purpose of defrag is to minimize the disc head making large sweeps back and forth across the disc as it tries to gather the data for any given file by making that file contigious. A flash drive has no moving parts. That being said. If you have multiple files downloaded from your computer to your flash drive and those files are heavily fragmented then perhaps the card will have to move more electrons greater distances across the card. But, you'd have to be an actor in Tron to notice the difference.:icon_ banana:
Just to see what would happen....
I used the MS defrag, just to see what would happen.
In short, (as expected) there was no memory savings, but the picture looks pretty.
View attachment 40698
I used the MS defrag, just to see what would happen.
In short, (as expected) there was no memory savings, but the picture looks pretty.
View attachment 40698
I know its slightly old, but these guys are COMPLETELY wrong. It IS beneficial to defragment your SD card. And you should use a program called O&O Defragmenter since it allows you to defragment your drives however you want to, instead of only just one way (usually the SPACE method used by most defragmenters- including Windows defrag)
Below is an outline of the different methods. I suggest using the Complete/Access OR Complete/Name for your SD card. With Access - The apps on your sd card you use the most often, will start up much faster.
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Below is an outline of the different methods. I suggest using the Complete/Access OR Complete/Name for your SD card. With Access - The apps on your sd card you use the most often, will start up much faster.
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The STEALTH-Method is recommended if you want to defragment a hard disk that is nearly full (only around 8% free space). Due to its design, STEALTH is also the method that takes up the least resources.
The SPACE method is the standard defragmentation mode. It defragments all fragmented files and ensures that consecutive free space is maximized. This method should be used for the regular defragmentation of partitions that are within the normal range of usage. As well as defragmenting fragmented files and maximizing consecutive free space, the Complete methods overhaul the position of your files.
COMPLETE/Name organizes all files according to filename and directory position. For example, all files that are in the directory Windows/System 32 will be placed next to each other on the hard disk. This method is particularly recommended for system partitions on Windows workstations.
COMPLETE/Modified sorts all files according to when they where last changed. This is especially suitable for data partitions on workstations, or for fileservers.
COMPLETE/Access organizes all files according to when they where last accessed. This method is particularly recommended for web servers.
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cupfulloflol
Senior Member
Unless I don't understand something, this actually won't help. The purpose of defragging on mechanical drives, gets the data closer together so that the head doesn't need to go seeking all over the platter for the data. Also I believe it moves the data toward the outer edge of the platter since speeds are faster out there. This can end up gaining space, and also increase the speed of things. All of this makes sense for a mechanical drive.
Flash memory doesn't have seek time, or very low at least. As there are no moving parts, so grouping the data is rather pointless.
I of course can be wrong.
Flash memory doesn't have seek time, or very low at least. As there are no moving parts, so grouping the data is rather pointless.
I of course can be wrong.
Ugh...
Fragmentation of data occurs on any file system. SSD or HDD or hybrid, doesn't matter. EVEN YOUR COMPUTERS DDR RAM FRAGMENTS!
Defragmenting your SSD based memory WILL shorten its life span. HOWEVER, even with heavy use, you will never get to the end of your SD cards life-span, in your own life time. So, that being said, if your planning to give your children a hand me down USB stick, or SD card, then please do not defragment .. your children/grandchildren will be disappointed.
SSD memory has no moving parts, it stores data on "blocks" and "pages" as opposed to a round disk. Think of your HDD as a small record player. It uses a needle and head, if you will, to read/write data. Where as an SSD uses uniform blocks and pages. Huge difference, BUT ALL DATA WRITTEN AND READ, CAN FRAGMENT.
Think of fragmentation as writing with a pencil, to paper. When you erase a letter or a word, you can still see a "ghost image" of what you erased. This is fragmentation.
Just because SSD seek time is much lower than an HDD, doesn't make it pointless to speed it up. Use a defragmenting program such as O&O so that you can use different methods of defragmenting your memory to see which suits you best. You may find that defragmenting your card is useless to you.
Fragmentation of data occurs on any file system. SSD or HDD or hybrid, doesn't matter. EVEN YOUR COMPUTERS DDR RAM FRAGMENTS!
Defragmenting your SSD based memory WILL shorten its life span. HOWEVER, even with heavy use, you will never get to the end of your SD cards life-span, in your own life time. So, that being said, if your planning to give your children a hand me down USB stick, or SD card, then please do not defragment .. your children/grandchildren will be disappointed.
SSD memory has no moving parts, it stores data on "blocks" and "pages" as opposed to a round disk. Think of your HDD as a small record player. It uses a needle and head, if you will, to read/write data. Where as an SSD uses uniform blocks and pages. Huge difference, BUT ALL DATA WRITTEN AND READ, CAN FRAGMENT.
Think of fragmentation as writing with a pencil, to paper. When you erase a letter or a word, you can still see a "ghost image" of what you erased. This is fragmentation.
Just because SSD seek time is much lower than an HDD, doesn't make it pointless to speed it up. Use a defragmenting program such as O&O so that you can use different methods of defragmenting your memory to see which suits you best. You may find that defragmenting your card is useless to you.
1xinfusion
New Member
Gosh, some people need to do research. specifically the one that's telling everyone to defrag their flash based storage
http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/03/should-you-defragment-a-ssd/
PLEASE DO NOT DEFRAG FLASH MEDIA. each bit has a write limit of approx 10,000 write cycles. Each delete, move, copy, new file drops this limit. Defrag = move files, meaning copy file to new location, remove old copy. not to mention that other data may be copied to said now empty bit.
Jesus christ if this wasn't on the top results on google when i searched it I might not have bumped this thread.
EDIT: I'm aware you mentioned that the limit can not be reached in a real life environment. But do you realize modern flash based storage use a method called "wear leveling". No matter how much you defragment, the system will place new files and copy/move operations evenly throughout the storage.
http://www.ghacks.net/2009/01/03/should-you-defragment-a-ssd/
PLEASE DO NOT DEFRAG FLASH MEDIA. each bit has a write limit of approx 10,000 write cycles. Each delete, move, copy, new file drops this limit. Defrag = move files, meaning copy file to new location, remove old copy. not to mention that other data may be copied to said now empty bit.
Jesus christ if this wasn't on the top results on google when i searched it I might not have bumped this thread.
EDIT: I'm aware you mentioned that the limit can not be reached in a real life environment. But do you realize modern flash based storage use a method called "wear leveling". No matter how much you defragment, the system will place new files and copy/move operations evenly throughout the storage.
Last edited:
Gosh, some people need to do research. specifically the one that's telling everyone to defrag their flash based storage
Should You Defragment A SSD - gHacks Tech News
PLEASE DO NOT DEFRAG FLASH MEDIA. each bit has a write limit of approx 10,000 write cycles. Each delete, move, copy, new file drops this limit. Defrag = move files, meaning copy file to new location, remove old copy. not to mention that other data may be copied to said now empty bit.
Jesus christ if this wasn't on the top results on google when i searched it I might not have bumped this thread.
EDIT: I'm aware you mentioned that the limit can not be reached in a real life environment. But do you realize modern flash based storage use a method called "wear leveling". No matter how much you defragment, the system will place new files and copy/move operations evenly throughout the storage.[/QUOTE]
Very old thread at the ageing speed of current tech. However I have a couple of fairly large apps that wouldn't update and the Verizon people couldn't make them work either. They recommended backing up the card, format it, and then restore the files to the card, a form of defragging. Somewhat labor intensive too, more than just selecting defrag and letting it run.
Should You Defragment A SSD - gHacks Tech News
PLEASE DO NOT DEFRAG FLASH MEDIA. each bit has a write limit of approx 10,000 write cycles. Each delete, move, copy, new file drops this limit. Defrag = move files, meaning copy file to new location, remove old copy. not to mention that other data may be copied to said now empty bit.
Jesus christ if this wasn't on the top results on google when i searched it I might not have bumped this thread.
EDIT: I'm aware you mentioned that the limit can not be reached in a real life environment. But do you realize modern flash based storage use a method called "wear leveling". No matter how much you defragment, the system will place new files and copy/move operations evenly throughout the storage.[/QUOTE]
Very old thread at the ageing speed of current tech. However I have a couple of fairly large apps that wouldn't update and the Verizon people couldn't make them work either. They recommended backing up the card, format it, and then restore the files to the card, a form of defragging. Somewhat labor intensive too, more than just selecting defrag and letting it run.
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