Microsoft fixes Windows 10 bug causing excessive SSD defragging

[Karlston]

Microsoft fixes Windows 10 bug causing excessive SSD defragging

 

 

Microsoft has fixed a bug in the Windows 10 version 2004 defragger that caused SSD drives to be defragmented too often.

 

In June 2020, after the Windows 10 May 2020 Update was released, we reported that the operating system's automatic maintenance feature contained numerous bugs.

 

These bugs would cause SSD drives to be excessively defragged and for the 'Optimize Drives' feature to try and use the 'Trim' command on non-SSD drives, which do not support it.

Windows 10 forgot when it last defragged an SSD drive

While using the TRIM command on non-SSD drives would only result in an Event Viewer error, a bug was also causing the Windows 10 Automatic Maintenance feature to defrag SSD drives much more than it usually should.

 

The 'Automatic Maintenance' feature performs various maintenance tasks on a scheduled basis. This maintenance includes checking drives to see if they need to be optimized (defragged/trimmed), checking for new updates, performing security scans, and other diagnostics.

 

Usually, Windows 10 will defrag SSD drives once a month, but a bug would cause the Automatic Maintenance feature to forget when the last scheduled maintenance was run when Windows was restarted.

 

As Automatic Maintenance did not remember the last optimization date, it would attempt to perform a defrag on every reboot, affecting an  SSD drives' longevity.

Defragging an SSD drive

Microsoft fixes Automatic Maintenance bug

 Last Thursday, Microsoft released the Windows 10 2004 optional preview update that includes numerous fixes rolling out to users as part of today's upcoming Patch Tuesday updates.

 

This optional update is titled "2020-08 Cumulative Update Preview for Windows 10 Version 2004 (KB4571744)" and brings Windows 10 2004 to build 19041.488.

Windows 10 2004 KB4571744 optional preview update

Included in this update is a fix for the Windows 10 bug that prevents the Optimize Drives feature from remembering when it last performance maintenance on a drive. 

'"Addresses an issue that causes the Optimize Drives dialog to incorrectly report that previously optimized drives need to be optimized again."

After installing this update, BleepingComputer performed numerous tests to see if the issue is resolved.

 

In our tests, the Optimize Drives feature now remembers the last time an SSD drive was optimized and did not perform another defrag after each reboot.

 

If you had previously disabled Automatic Maintenance on your SSD drives to avoid unnecessary defrags, you could now enable them again as the bug is now fixed.

 

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not fixed the bug that causes the Optimize Drives feature to perform the TRIM command on non-SSD drives, as shown below.

Performing TRIM on a non-SSD drive

There is still no official word from Microsoft regarding the TRIM bug, so we will have to wait on future updates for a resolution.

 

 

Microsoft fixes Windows 10 bug causing excessive SSD defragging

 

[BimBamSmash]

I wasn't aware that it is possible to defrag SSDs. The only option I've ever seen was Trim, which doesn't look like it is relocating stuff around the drive, like disk defragmentors tend to do.

 

P.S. Someone needs to remind them Bleeping folks that the letter "D" in the SSD abbreviation already stands for "Drive". To call this hardware "SSD Drive" is like saying Solid-State Drive Drive, which only makes sense if you are in a hurry, and your driver is, somehow, named Solid-State: "I am late, Solid-State! Drive! Drive!"