NoonName wrote:
1) what is the best defragger that will handle Win XP with HDD ?
^^^^^^
You cross-posted in the wrong newsgroup (Windows 7)
If you choose a 3rd-party defragmenter (e.g., Piriform Defraggler), you
need to disable the boot-time and idle-time execution of Windows own
defrag tool. Defragging with one tool and then with another means they
will keep battling on what they consider the best layout. No defraggers
agree on what is the best layout. You run one and it choose its layout,
then you run another and it changes that layout to what it likes best.
You end up defragging an already defragged drive because the two, or
more, defraggers keep competing with each other. As I recall (I do not
have a Win XP host to check), the idle-time defrag gets added as a
scheduled event in Task Scheduler. The boot-time defrag must be
disabled in the registry. You don't want to be using Windows' defrag
and also some 3rd party defrag only to have them keep undoing what the
other did.
https://tweaks.com/windows/37055/ena...e-boot-defrag/
So what's wrong with using the defrag already included in Windows? The
other layouts preferred by other defraggers is just their arbitrary
choice based on their opinion of what they like and may not be the best
layout for your scenario. While I used Defraggler for awhile (and keep
it installed as an alternative although I haven't used it in years), I
just used the one that comes with Windows. Only if you have some very
special needs, like moving huge-sized files to the "end" (inside and
slower cylinders) of the disk which are rarely ever modified does some
3rd-party layout make sense; however, those probably shouldn't be
wasting space on your OS+app partition and be in their own "data"
partition.
You don't defrag SSDs. There is no advantage but there is one big
disadvantage: accelerated wear on the SSD. Due to oxide stress, there
are a limited number of writes that an SSD can sustain. It uses various
methods, like wear-levelling, in trying to prevent one block of flash
from getting a huge number of writes, like rewriting the same file over
and over.
2) does a laptop with a SSD ever need defragging ? When ?
Is Windows XP or 7 running on that laptop? Windows XP does not support
automated TRIM but Windows 7 does. Did you actually yet get an SSD to
put in your laptop? If so, make sure it comes with a utility that lets
you use it to run TRIM on the SSD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trim_(computing)
You might be able to schedule the utility to run TRIM; however, many
such included tools do not have a CLI (command-line interface), so
you'll have to set a reminder for you to periodically (perhaps monthly)
run the utility to exercise its TRIM function.
I don't know the prevalence but due to the lack of TRIM in Windows XP
and other operating systems, and because TRIM will pend until the OS
considers the device as sufficiently idle, SSD drives have their own
in-built GC (garbage collection) to do the TRIM on their own (if idle
long enough). Either the OS can issue an ATA command to tell the drive
to start a TRIM operation or the SSD itself using its firmware can
decide to perform a TRIM operation. However, what I've seen with
firmware-based TRIM is that it is slow to act. That is, it doesn't run
too often. Your SSD will get slower until you leave it idle (which
means leaving your computer powered up and NOT have it go into standby
or hibernate mode so the drive remains up) long enough for the drive
itself to decide it is time for GC.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...ed-trim-right/
So are you sticking with Windows XP on that laptop or did you cross-post
to the Windows 7 newsgroup because you are contemplating upgrading from
Windows 7? I prefer doing fresh installs of a new OS version rather
than upgrade and lug along the pollution from the old setup, but some
folks want easy and quick (and why fast-food restaurants thrive).