To be "SSD" or not to be, that is the question!

Sheikh · Nov 20, 2025

Hey guys.
A few months ago, I bought a ADATA ELITE SE880 (480GB) external SSD. It's super-fast and I love it so much because it's very tiny.
The problem is Windows show it as HDD in drive optimization utility! ADATA software doesn't support this model, so I can't use their tool to wipe or trim my SSD.
When I hit optimize, it starts defragmentation which is harmful for an SSD. What should I do? tried on two different laptops and the result is the same.

Buddywh · Nov 20, 2025

I had the same question... it comes down to the bridge chipset in the in the external drive enclosure. Not all support the protocols for passing TRIM commands to it, so it will instead see it as an HDD and DEFRAG instead of TRIM. Obviously, that's not ideal for SSD's; so be sure to disable scheduled defrag optimizations for that drive (which can create massive, and unhelpful, WRITE activity that seriously degrades it's TBW life).

You can sometimes force a trim by the following command in an elevated power shell: defrag X: /l (replace X: with your drive's letter). If it works, create a scheduled task to run it if you do a lot of write/delete activity on it.

You can also go looking for an enclosure with UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) and supports TRIM pass-through.

Sheikh · Nov 20, 2025

Buddywh said:
I had the same question... it comes down to the bridge chipset in the in the external drive enclosure. Not all support the protocols for passing TRIM commands to it, so it will instead see it as an HDD and DEFRAG instead of TRIM. Obviously, that's not ideal for SSD's; so be sure to disable scheduled defrag optimizations for that drive (which can create massive, and unhelpful, WRITE activity that seriously degrades it's TBW life).

You can sometimes force a trim by the following command in an elevated power shell: defrag X: /l (replace X: with your drive's letter). If it works, create a scheduled task to run it if you do a lot of write/delete activity on it.

You can also go looking for an enclosure with UASP (USB Attached SCSI Protocol) and supports TRIM pass-through.

It was an SSD in the past. Now it identifies as an HDD. Anyway, it's 2025 ... Whatever it wants to be, we have to respect.

MisterEd · Nov 20, 2025

Sheikh said:
It was an SSD in the past. Now it identifies as an HDD. Anyway, it's 2025 ... Whatever it wants to be, we have to respect.

I think you are misunderstanding the problem. The internal USB controller chip is causing the problem. The SSD has nothing to do with it. I suspect the only solution will be for the USB interface standards to be updated so that a USB controller can communicate information like TRIM correctly.

Bree · Nov 20, 2025

Sheikh said:
The problem is Windows show it as HDD in drive optimization utility! .... so I can't use their tool to wipe or trim my SSD.

MisterEd said:
The internal USB controller chip is causing the problem....

Correct, the problem is not the PC or Windows. I think the problem is not the internal SSD controller itself, but the SSD to USB adapter circuitry.

I have the same issue with a Samsung 850 Evo in an external USB case. The problem seems to be due to the hardware capabilities of the SATA/USB adapter.

The command to Trim such an SSD must be run in a command prompt (admin). Use defrag /L /V /U E: (or whatever letter your drive is). For convenience, I have put the command in a batch file that I can run as admin. /L tells defrag to do a retrim, /V and /U tell it to give a verbose report as it does so.

Code:

defrag /L /V /U E:
pause

Bree · Nov 20, 2025

MisterEd said:
I suspect the only solution will be for the USB interface standards to be updated so that a USB controller can communicate information like TRIM correctly.

There's no issue with the USB standards, the issue is with the hardware capabilities of the particular external drive. I have several other external SSDs which can be correctly recognised and trimmed.

cereberus · Nov 20, 2025

Bree said:
Correct, the problem is not the PC or Windows. I think the problem is not the internal SSD controller itself, but the SSD to USB adapter circuitry.

I have the same issue with a Samsung 850 Evo in an external USB case. The problem seems to be due to the hardware capabilities of the SATA/USB adapter.

The command to Trim such an SSD must be run in a command prompt (admin). Use defrag /L /V /U E: (or whatever letter your drive is). For convenience, I have put the command in a batch file that I can run as admin. /L tells defrag to do a retrim, /V and /U tell it to give a verbose report as it does so.

Code:

defrag /L /V /U E: pause

View attachment 153719

Also, most external ssd drives are used like old fashioned WORM drives (write once, read many).

Unlike the OS drive which is being continually read and written to (including temporary files like pagefiles), external drives usually do not have much writing on a continuous basis, so manual trimming only needs to be done now and then e.g. monthly (say).

One could set up a task schedule to run the batch command periodically if desired.

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To be "SSD" or not to be, that is the question!

Sheikh

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Buddywh

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Sheikh

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MisterEd

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Bree

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Bree

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cereberus

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