Windows 10: HDD vs SSD

Hello,

I recently bought a new HP laptop. Knew that it had an HDD but wasn't enough to deter me (all other specs were MUCH better than what I was working with otherwise). Went to defrag a few weeks after buying, and apparently defragmentation is unavailable because it shows the drive as an SSD. I ran msinfo32 and it says there (as well as product page) that it has an HDD. I'm including a screenshot for reference, I don't need any help, just curious as to why defrag and optimize is saying this.


Thanks


Levi

:)

 

Windows 10 can not optimize HDD, says it is a SSD Help

Hi Steve,

Thank you for posting your question in the Microsoft Community.

Appreciate your efforts to work on this issue.

• Does the BIOS recognizes the disk as HDD or SSD?
  

Suggest you to set the Optimize Drives Service to start automatically from the services window to check if that helps.

1. Open the run window, type ‘services.msc’ and press Enter.
   
2. Search for Optimize Drives Service and select the start-up type as automatic. Also ensure to start the service.
   

If you have set SATA controller to AHCI mode for Solid State Drive, in Device Manager it would show as SATA hard disk.

Follow these steps:

1. Click start, type “Defragment” and click “Defragment and Optimize your drives”.
   
2. On the “Defragment and Optimize your drives” window. Make sure that your SSD is categorized as an SSD.
   
3. If it’s not, then you can set it as a SSD on your bios. This way, you don’t have to exclude your SSD or disable any scheduled defragmentation.
   

Disclaimer: Modifying BIOS/ complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring
of BIOS/CMOS settings can be solved. Modifications of the settings are at your own risk.

Hope this helps.

Let us know if you got the help you needed.

Regards,

Srimadhwa B

Microsoft Community-Moderator

 

unlock hdd

Hi Johan,

It is possible that your
HDD was unreadable
causing the error message to appear. We recommend that you perform these troubleshooting steps and check if there are any changes:

• 
  Shutdown
  your
  PC.
  
• 
  Unhooked
  the
  HDD
  and
  turn on
  your
  PC.
  
• 
  Reconnect
  your
  HDD
  and
  restart
  your
  PC.
  

If the issue persists, we suggest that you contact your
laptop/computer's manufacturer
for further assistance.

Update us on how it goes.

Regards.

 

How to change a HDD being listed as SSD

Hi Peter,

Welcome to Microsoft Community and thank you for your interest in Windows 10.

I will definitely assist you, as per your query.

Based on the description, please be informed that manually we cannot change the SSD to HDD. However, let’s try running hardware troubleshooter and check if it helps. Follow the below steps:

• 
  Press Windows + X keys on the keyboard and select Control Panel.
  
• 
  Type Troubleshooting in the search bar on the Control Panel.
  
• 
  Click on Small icon on the left navigation pane.
  
• 
  Click on Troubleshooting and click on
  Hardware and Device.
  
• 
  Click on Advanced on the Hardware troubleshooter dialog box and click on Run as administrator (Enter the credentials if required).
  
• 
  Click on Next and follow onscreen instruction complete the Hardware troubleshooter.
  

If the issue remain the same after hardware troubleshooting, I suggest you to go to BIOS and check what is HDD is listed on BIOS and let us know.

Hope the above information helps. If you need further assistance with Windows, let us know and will be glad to help.