Defragment Android? DON’T make that mistake

The hard disk (HDD) of a PC is defragmented to increase speed and storage. But, is it possible to defragment an Android? It is necessary?

In a computer, defrag the hard disk can improve the speed of reading (opening files or programs), as well as organize or join the pieces of files scattered on the disk and thus optimize the use of storage.

Why shouldn’t I defragment my Android cell phone

But an Android mobile or cell phone does not have a hard drive. The files are stored in a memoria flash called NAND Flash, which is the same memory used by SSDs or solid state drives. This technology is totally different from a hard disk and in this case defragmentation is not applicable. It is useless and is in fact counterproductive.

Defragmenting your Android cell phone (its NAND flash memory) will NOT reorganize the pieces of files scattered around the memory. Consequently, it is not going to make it faster or increase the available space. Defragmenting is necessary in a normal hard disk, because having moving parts, the head is able to save data in different sectors of the disk, and so it happens with use. But a NAND storage is a chip. It has no moving parts.

And even if you could perform a defragmentation process on your Android, what you would be doing is reducing the useful life of the phone’s flash memory. This is because this type of storage has a limited number of “write cycles”. And defragmenting would be unnecessarily consuming those cycles.

TRIM, the equivalent of defragmenting

However, there is an “equivalent” to defragmentation for Android. It is a process called TRIM. The TRIM makes it possible to clean junk from the memory of the cell phone efficiently and thus improves the writing speed. Therefore, the speed of tasks such as downloading and installing apps or file management can be improved.

And a great app for this task is LagFix, an advanced tool that does its job in one click, but is recommended only for advanced users, who have root permissions.

LagFix is ​​capable of “defragmenting” the internal memory of practically any device with Android 4.0+. Most devices with an older version of Android come with internal memory that is not supported by LagFix (they do not come with eMMCs type memory), so this application will not have any effect on those devices.

Important: First, this tool requires that the Android mobile be root. Second, using this app on certain phones may render them unusable, according to the developer, due to the device manufacturer. Using LagFix has been confirmed to kill phones like the Samsung Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note, Acer A210 / A211, and LG O2x. Before using it, check the app’s ratings on Google Play to see if someone else has successfully tested it on your phone model. Create a full system backup before using it (nandroid backup) and be prepared to revive your phone in case something goes wrong.

With careful consideration of the above, download and install LagFix de Google Play. Click on the “LagFix” tab and then click on the “Run!” Button. (The default / data and / cache check boxes are fine to start with.)

To check the effectiveness of LagFix you can use the application to see the memory speed AndroBench: Run a “Micro” benchmark before and after using LagFix. Check how much the values ​​increase after using LagFix (especially those related to «Write»). If you don’t see any changes, try restarting your phone after using LagFix and check again. I have noticed positive results on my Samsung Galaxy S3 mini (Jelly Bean 4.1+), although I have to run it frequently. The paid version allows you to run the app automatically from time to time.

TRIM no longer required

Indeed, if you have a modern cell phone, it is NO longer necessary to do the TRIM mentioned above to optimize memory operation. Today’s Android phones already perform this procedure automatically, so you don’t have to worry. If you have a cell phone made years ago, then yes.