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I was having a conversation with one of my colleagues about installing Windows 10 on his machine, then he suddenly dropped a bomb that installing Windows 10 would reduce the life of his SSD since Windows automatically defragments the SSD which reduces its life. I didn't find any concrete evidence of this theory, except for a few discussions about defragmentation on Reddit. Does anyone have concrete evidence on this theory?

Laurel
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Arghya Saha
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    This seems like it might be better for the folks over at [Super User](https://superuser.com/). – A Bailey Apr 07 '17 at 14:07
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    Yes, it has been addressed many times on [SU]. It's also BS. SSDs were there long before Win 10. MS has handled it. –  Apr 07 '17 at 14:09
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    Yes de-fragmentation reduces life of ssd. However you can turn auto de-fragmentation off, and I believe that Microsoft's Windows detects SSDs and disables auto de-fragmentation. Also Gnu/Linux file-systems such as ext, do not need de-fragmentation (except in a few very rare use-cases). – ctrl-alt-delor Apr 09 '17 at 13:21
  • However there are many other good reasons not to use Microsoft's Windows10. – ctrl-alt-delor Apr 09 '17 at 13:23
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    Back when SSD's first started becoming popular, a lot of _users_ would attempt to manually instruct Windows to defrag their SSD's, as they wanted to protect their fancy new toy. This problem with user behavior was probably one of the motivating factors that got Microsoft to make the process of disk maintenance more automatic, to avoid such user error. – Nat Apr 12 '17 at 22:27
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    Also, note that Microsoft implemented [TRIM support](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_(computing)) about 10 years ago, making Windows the first major operating system to really handle SSD maintenance correctly. The TRIM command avoided the same sort of unnecessary wear-and-tear that defragging would put on the drive. – Nat Apr 12 '17 at 22:32

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Windows 10 recognizes SSDs and treats them differently than standard HDDs, meaning that there is actually no risk on damaging your SSD.

To quote Scott Hanselman

No, Windows is not foolishly or blindly running a defrag on your SSD every night, and no, Windows defrag isn't shortening the life of your SSD unnecessarily. Modern SSDs don't work the same way that we are used to with traditional hard drives.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheRealAndCompleteStoryDoesWindowsDefragmentYourSSD.aspx

Michaël Laridon
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  • I don't have enough rep to fix (remove) apostrophes form answer — the society for the removal of unnecessary apostrophe's. – ctrl-alt-delor Apr 09 '17 at 13:25
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    Also, Windows 10 does maintenance work on the SSD which is REQUIRED to keep it functioning correctly. – Andy Apr 11 '17 at 21:55