Microsoft rolled out the new Windows 10 update earlier this year. The new Windows 10 Update in May upgraded the Windows version to 2004. Normally new updates provide us with better features or maybe a few bugs however this update introduced a potentially deadly bug that could be harming your SSD.
As reported first by a Bug Tracking site called BleepingComputers that this update had many issues but one issue is a potentially deadly bug that could be harming your SSD.
The “Defragment and Optimize Drives” tool which usually defragments and optimizes your drives when needed has a bug in this update. The bug doesn’t let Windows 10 record the last time your Solid State Drive(SSD) was optimized or defragmented correctly.
This indicates that with every Reboot Windows will perform defragmentation and optimization on the SSD. This continuous defragmentation and optimization will shorten the lifespan of your SSD and can potentially kill it. There is a debate that says not to defragment your SSDs at all because it will cause unnecessary wear and tear on the SSD and shortens its lifespan. However, normally users leave defragmentation settings to default which automatically defragments every drive on optimization schedule.
This automatic defragmentation can cause some wear and tear but this bug will initiate excessive defragmentation. The normal automatic defragmentation might not kill your SSD for years but excessive defragmentation can potentially damage it quicker. With every reboot of our system, it defragments the SSD drive because Windows does not know that if the drive was defragmented or optimized.
Microsoft Response
Microsoft is aware of this issue now and they are currently working on a potential fix. An update Windows 10 Build 19042.487 (20H2) is rolling out currently to provide a potential fix for this bug to the members of the Microsoft Insider program. Regular version users of Windows will have to wait for a fix. In the meantime, if you have already updated to the latest version. Turning off the automatic defragmentation will save you from this Bug.
Turning off Automatic Defragmentation.
To turn off automatic defragmentation follow these simple steps
Click on Start Menu or the Search button at the bottom right corner of your screen.
Type Defragment and Optimize Drives and Open the Tool.
Select your SSD drive and click Change Settings
Click on Choose
Now unselect your SSD drive and click OK
