Hi all.
I was defragging a HDD prior to making a bootable clone, and the software kept prompting me to free up more space OR compact the free space/shunt everything up together. It was rather fragmented.
I chose to delete more. This happened four times, even though there was over 100Gb free on a 250Gb drive.
So, the fifth time this happened, I chose to compact. Same thing, still telling me not enough free space to be able to defrag! And plus now, because everything is squashed together it kind of looks like the software can't do it's thing. Strange I know, with over 100Gb free. I've successfully done this 3 times before with only 70Gb free on the same size drive.

So I've had enough, and I have a deadline, so...
...WILL SSD mind if I clone a fragmented drive to it?
I'm hoping it wouldn't make any difference to performance, due to how SSDs read.

The answer to this, and any other useful (related!) knowledge, would be much appreciated!

 

How big is your bin on the HDD? 100GB? Have you cleaned the bin?

And to answer your q, yes you can copy any part of your HDD to an SSD and it will be much faster to read. Easy as saying "fuck you Microsoft". However, you will have to adjust some paths in the software that uses these samples.

 

Use MyDefrag. https://www.techspot.com/downloads/3720-jkdefrag-mydefrag.html You would never have that problem. BTW, dont defrag your SSD. There is an option on MyDefrag to optimize the SSD but there is no need for it. Before transferring to the SSD make sure that the SSD is properly aligned. hit the Start menu and type in msinfo32. Enter Msinfo32 and go to Components > Storage > Disks. Look for your SSD on the list and find the "Partition Starting Offset" item. If this number is divisible by 4096 (that is, if dividing it by 4096 equals a whole number and not a decimal), your partition is correctly aligned. If not, you need to realign it. https://lifehacker.com/speed-up-your-ssd-by-correctly-aligning-your-partitions-5837769

Edit: I got caught up and didn't answer your specific question. Defragging if you are simply cloning to a SSD is a waste of time. Nothing to gain by it. In fact, even if you are going to keep the original image on your HDD, as a back up, why defrag at this point? You are not going to be using it and as a mechanical drive the less stress the longer it would last.

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2019

Hey there, @SineWave !
Thanks for getting back.
There was nothing in the trash, but by 'bin' maybe you mean something different that I don't know of?
I have cloned to SSD many times, so I know of the benefits, but I've never cloned a *fragmented* drive.
Re. "bootable clone"; no samples involved here, just OS and software. And loads of plugins!

So, in a way, my question still remains...
I'd hope that the SSD won't appreciate the 'fragmentedness', is all.

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2019

@Plendix Thank you Plendix. That's what I needed to know.
Yeah, the defrag software...
So now for the big reveal, letting out the fact that I'm using Mac!
The software is iDefrag by Coriolis Systems. I've been using it for about 6 years and it's been absolutely brilliant.
So I really couldn't get my head around why it displayed the behaviour I explained.

 

Thank you @The Pirate. I just read your edit.
Re. SSD alignment, I had no idea of this *at all*. I probably have two SSDs that are not reading as fast due to misalignment, according to the article!
I'm actually on a Mac, so I'm going to have to research the equivalent knowledge you gave me.
The defrag software I use has never done that before. I can't work out why.
And don't worry; I definitely won't defrag my SSD!
Thank you very much for replying, and even updating your post! You rock!

 

@SineWave My next investment as a Logic user will be a Hackintosh because "fuck you Apple".

Incidentally, after a chuck out of some unused stuff, my 2TB sample library/Kontakt instrument drive, with 1.5TB of stuff from over the last 20 years, has just finished defragging.

It took 32 hours!

 

@Smoove Grooves
1) Run Command Prompt as "Adminstrator".

2) Type "wmic". "wmic:root\cli>" will appear

3) Type "shadowcopy"

4) Type "shadowcopy delete"

5) You will be offered each copy in turn with a "Y/N" prompt, allowing you to delete each in turn.

6) Type "exit" to close the box.

 

@Smoove Grooves grooves Get this program for a visual of all your files https://windirstat.net/

 

@The Pirate Wowzah! This is re. Partition Starting Offset on Mac?
If so, you are an absolute star...

 

@Plendix and @Smoove Grooves The problem with some defraggers is that they allocate free space on disk to be used for temporarily writing parts of files. Once they are done, this space is wiped, but the software does not deallocate that space anymore.The space is free, but it is reported as used untli it is recalculated.

 

@The Pirate

So I format SSD, I create, in my case, two partitions, and then I follow your 6 steps?
And this will enable the partitions to be aligned properly??
Just want to make sure I'm on the same page...

 

Are you on a Mac? Or are you on windows? You should always let us know the OS?

Just to clarify, those instructions are for Windows. Those instructions have nothing to do with whether the SSD is properly aligned or not. Those instructions deal with disk space used by shadow copies. Shadow copies can exist, and do exist, on both, aligned and misaligned SSDs

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2019

AH! Thank you for explaining this:-

This is why I've booted it up again so that it reindexes, maybe even the onboard OS defragger will kick in again since there's now so much free space, and then I was going to see if the *true* free space was revealed when I went to defrag again. But as you said, there's no point in defragging if it's going to an SSD.

 

@The Pirate Yeah, I could see straightaway that you assumed I was Windows, but I'm not.
It wasn't relevant to my main question, so I didn't mention it. I wanted to keep it a secret!

I have mentioned it a few times in the thread, so I assumed you'd read it, sorry.

edit: actually I see I did mention it to you!
and https://windirstat.net/ gives links for Mac equivalent, so all good. Thanks.

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2019

@Smoove Grooves On a Mac you use GPTfdisk http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/.

Run "sudo gdisk /dev/disk0".
Click "p" to list the partitions table.

The result should be:

Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name
1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition
2 409640 430097143 204.9 GiB AF00 Customer

 

@The Pirate
My gosh, you're awesome.
I owe you a keys overdub.

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2019

Hahah that cranked me up while still half asleep in the morning.
(I was wondering "WTF I can't vote posts and I wasn't even logged lol)

 

I was in *that* mood again, after a client had horrible problems with his W10 [updates]. Gosh it pisses me off.