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Question

Is a hybrid drive needed to be defragged?

Apr 22, 2012 11:42AM PDT

Will it harm the drive since it consists with a SSD?

Discussion is locked

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Answer
It has no need, but
Apr 23, 2012 3:25AM PDT

This need appears to be one of the owner and not the device.

One of the signs of a new computer "tech" is they defrag the machine. As they get more seasoned, they stop doing that.
Bob

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Some reports say, defragment is not necessary for modern hd
Apr 29, 2012 12:23PM PDT

Is it true?

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We have the hardware and we have the user.
Apr 30, 2012 5:21AM PDT

Which one are you trying to convince? I find the users are the ones that want to discuss defragmenting until they get upset about it.

And the OS in use can matter, but at the end of the day you make your choice and use the machine.

Then again, my neighbor seems to use the machine solely to defragment. That is, it's the only thing I've ever seen it running.
Bob

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I just read the related article in a magazine
Apr 30, 2012 1:22PM PDT

I just read the article about this on a computer magazine.

Is it violate the forums rules if I indicate the magazine name?(I am not going or trying to promote any magazine here.)

I bought a hybrid drive and a WD Raptor, both for Windows system, few days ago. I just wanted to know if these kinds of hard drives needed to be defragged in Windows environment?

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Should be fine.
Apr 30, 2012 2:56PM PDT

There is a lot of outdated information out there. Like "hiding the WiFi SSID." That is not adding much security if any but has been found to cause problems for many. How would we update all the old advice?

And about your question. It's a good one but since the hybrid area of flash does not benefit from defragmenting and how it works has little to do with the HDD contents it's going to come down to what the user feels is best. OR you clone the drive, and test it on the defragged clone and the fragged clone to verify it made any difference.

Here with 8GB RAM, the hybrid drive (I put one in my laptop!) I haven't defragged since I installed the new HDD and my machine boots from the really neat zero power sleep system in under 5 seconds. Why defrag?
Bob

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Answer
You can defrag a hybrid drive, but you shouldn't
May 4, 2012 11:31AM PDT

I have a regular SSD, but I read about the hybrid drives when planning my PC build. From what I read, if you defrag a hybrid drive, you will lose the benefit of the SSD part of the drive for a while. Files you use frequently are cached on the faster SSD part of the drive. When you defrag the drive, files are moved around on the disk. It will have to re-learn which files you use frequently and rebuild the cache on the SSD drive. I don't know how long this re-learning takes, if it's hours or days.

For what it's worth, this webpage from Seagate says to turn off the automatic defragging.

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It doesn't matter if only lose the cache function for a whil
May 4, 2012 2:54PM PDT

It doesn't matter if only lose the cache function for a while but it becomes a big problem if the SSD cache is defragged along with the disk since the frequently used data is stored in it.

When a drive is defragged, the data inside will be frequently used(move from one area to another). In this situation, will the frequently used data be mapped into SSD cache? It is my question in the very beginning.

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Only the drive maker can answer but
May 5, 2012 5:59AM PDT

That is exactly what the hybrid drive is supposed to do. LEARN what is being used a lot and move that to the cache.

THERE is some debate if it really works so I can't answer if it really works or not. I own a few and yes they are faster but defragging today seems to be more for the user than the PC.
Bob

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Answer
Hybrids are still rotational drives...
Oct 21, 2015 11:48AM PDT

I realize this a very old thread.... It comes up when people search though. So, I will add my two cents. If you care to improve the access speed of your internal drive and have made a clone, or backup of your choosing and sure it is good... Feel free to improve the performance for the nano seconds of difference or moments. Be aware that more file corruption and damage to files occurs from user interaction than simple drive failure or defect. Dropping the rotational drive is not a defect, it is abuse.
However, large files and high end photography and videography tend to use externals with a limitation of rotational speed 7200rpm and throughput medium has more to do with the connection type being used, to the point where rotational speed or access is less of bottleneck. Having said that, performance can improve dramatically with a defragmented drive in the cases where all else is optimized.
Hybrid drives are still rotational drives with some hot files located on the SSD chips to speed up frequently accessed files. If you feel the need, then there is probably a need. The users is a big factor. The hybrid drive is still mostly rotational, so it may slow over time with large files and constant changes to big project files.
I use an iMac 27 with 1tb fusion and external LaCie 4TB drives. The slowest and weakest factor as registered by diagnostics is my fusion drive despite over 100 gigs of fast SSD on board. After a backup and a defrag pass and three successful reboots, the computer is more responsive and the large files access and open faster. The faster part is relative and user preference. If you do video and or photography for a pay check, you have multiple backups and your time during project work has to be efficiently used. Your main drive caches must be clean and fast to process, review and edit. The casual user isn't always going to appreciate the extra time spent off job to improve the performance for work. Your milage may vary. Don't do it if you don't have tested, trusted, reliable backup equipment.
Cheers