Should You Defragment an SSD? What Windows Does and Why
Windows says Optimize, old advice says never defrag an SSD, and Microsoft's docs say it happens monthly. Here is how those fit together.
ssd
11 articles.
Does an NVMe SSD Need a Heatsink? How Thermal Throttling Works
An NVMe drive slows itself when it gets hot, by design. What sets the limit, what a heatsink changes, and how to tell if yours has ever throttled.
Why a Full SSD Gets Slow, and Stays Slow
Filling an SSD does more than shrink its write cache. It makes garbage collection expensive, and that slowdown does not end when the copy does.
Do SSDs Lose Data When Unplugged? How Long an SSD Holds Data
An SSD in a drawer is slowly leaking the charge that stores your files. What the one-year figure really promises, what speeds the loss, and how to keep it safe.
Will This M.2 SSD Work? Keys, SATA vs NVMe and Slot Wiring
Two M.2 SSDs can be the same size and fit the same slot while only one of them works in it. How to read the keys, the size code and the slot's wiring.
Why a 1TB Drive Shows Up as 931GB, and Where the Rest Goes
A new 1TB drive shows 931GB in Windows and something else on a Mac. Nothing is missing. Here is the arithmetic, and how to spot a gap it doesn't explain.
TLC vs QLC: What Four Bits Per Cell Actually Costs
Two drives, same capacity, same headline write speed, different flash. What changes is sustained write, cold-read speed, and what the datasheet omits.
What TBW Actually Promises, and What It Doesn't
Every SSD lists an endurance rating in terabytes written. It is a warranty boundary derived from a lab workload, not a prediction of when the drive dies.
How to Tell a Drive Is Failing Before It Takes Your Data
SMART warns you about some failures and says nothing about others. What the counters mean, what sounds mean, and when to stop diagnosing and start copying.
What a DRAM Cache Does, and Why Cheap SSDs Skip It
DRAM-less SSDs look identical on the box and cost less. Here is what the missing chip actually changes about how the drive behaves.
Why Your SSD Slows Down Copying Large Files
The write speed on the box is a cache speed, not a sustained one. Here's what determines how long it lasts, and why a fuller drive runs out sooner.
