Don’t defrag Android. TRIM it.

Last Updated on August 2, 2017 by Dave Farquhar

I had a question come in the other day about how to defrag Android. Since Android devices use solid-state storage, you don’t want to defrag it. I directed him to Lagfix, an Android app that forces the underlying Linux kernel to issue a TRIM command to perform garbage collection on the internal storage.

defrag android
Android tablets like these don’t need to be defragmented but they benefit from TRIM.

It’s not quite like defragging, but the concept is very similar. Most Android devices do this automatically. But if things start lagging too much, forcing TRIM can pep things up a bit.

Defragmenting solid state storage traditionally had limited benefit. In the long run it can damage it. TRIM has similar benefits and actually works somewhat similarly, although it works at a lower level. But unlike defrag, TRIM can extend the life expectancy of the device. But besides that, the Linux filesystems Android uses are much less prone to fragmentation than Windows filesystems. Windows systems do benefit from defragmenting.

This is a typical case of asking for the wrong thing. But there’s no shame in that. If you know what the person is trying to accomplish, you can still help by directing them to the help they need.

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One thought on “Don’t defrag Android. TRIM it.

  • April 19, 2014 at 2:20 am
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    Dave,

    Don’t think I ever thanked you for the sugesstion.

    Problem is, the phone needs to be ‘rooted”; in addition to which it can not have a certain chipset which will brick the damn thing if you attempt LagFix.

    One can use a software to determine if your phone will be bricked. see:

    http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1693704

    My Samsung phone is till under warranty, and is not subject to repair unless in virgin (unbricked) state.state.

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