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I am currently configuring a Thinkpad E540, having inserted a 256 GB M.2 SSD into the corresponding slot, in order to run Windows 8 from the SSD instead of using the preconfigured 16 GB SSD as a cache for the hard drive.
All was well at first, but now any attempt to install software will result in the error message
Windows API error 302: This volume is too fragmented to complete this operation.
Needless to say, on an SSD fragmentation shouldn't be an issue. I tried running the drive optimization tool of Windows 8 (which defragments HDDs, and sends TRIM commands to SSDs) but it helped only briefly (so briefly actually, that it might have been mere coincidence that there was any effect at all).
Any idea what might be causing this?
*edit* Some new insights that I have gained since:
- Rebooting temporarily removed the issue. Running the optimizer tool is not required.
- It reappears after some time.
- Note that the drive has 140 GB of which only 60 GB have been used. Trim shouldn't be an issue yet!
- On the other drive E:, also on the SSD, I have not seen the issue yet.
- Moving data to the C: drive works fine under Linux.
- Even
echo test > testmay fail on C: (in the home directory) - Even reading the event log may fail at that point.
kdb
Posted 2014-12-14T22:07:29.473
Reputation: 1 076
5Regarding "fragmentation shouldn't be an issue": it still happens on SSDs; it's just that fragmented files can be accessed as quickly as non-fragmented ones, so you don't get the performance degradation that you'd get from fragmentation on a hard drive. – Wyzard – 2014-12-14T23:07:00.027
2Is it coming up for all software? – Canadian Luke – 2014-12-14T23:14:32.160
Actually file fragmentation is simply irrelevant consider the device will itself fragment a file. Which devoce are you trying to install too? – Ramhound – 2014-12-15T00:32:23.273
I am trying to install to the C: Drive which corresponds to the first 140GB of the SSD. Curiously right now the error doesn't occur, but previously it reappeared after trimming the device and rebooting. – kdb – 2014-12-15T12:54:11.967
The error just appeared again... So it really is kind of unpredictable right now. Also note that only 60 of 140 GB on this drive are currently used actually! – kdb – 2014-12-15T13:07:01.120
Also, now that the issue has reappeared, it applies even if I try to run
echo test > testin an administrator commandline window (i.e. the drive is effectively read-only). It does not appear on the other drive E: on the same SSD. – kdb – 2014-12-15T13:16:23.640Fragmentation isn’t irrelevant because filesystems only care about block addresses. If it says “too fragmented”, it is. @kdb Did you install Windows yourself, formatting the partition while doing it? Or is it perhaps the OEM installation? – Daniel B – 2014-12-15T13:42:24.847
It is an installation using Lenovo's Windows 8 recovery disk, albeit to the M.2 slot, which normally is used only for a cache SSD on this configuration. I have read reports of successfully installing Windows to this slot though. Also by now when I boot into Windows, the desktop appears but no interaction with any elements is possible (only hard-reset remains possible). – kdb – 2014-12-15T13:43:47.650
2Restoring Windows 8 from an image created with
ntfsclonehas solved the issue, so I think it may have been a failed update. – kdb – 2014-12-16T11:12:16.3001I read that defragmenting SSD's is very bad for it. Therefore I advise against it. – AdmiralThrawn – 2014-12-16T14:48:02.343
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There is a Hanselman blog post about fragmented SSDs, the conclusion is that defrag is also needed for SSD's
– Cerveser – 2014-12-17T14:46:07.603Fragmentation is ALWAYS an issue irregardless of disk type because if certain blocks are allocated in such a way that the the number of serial free blocks is less than what we want, we won't be able to allocate so many serial free blocks (since they simply don't exist). Granted, it's easily worked around by not requiring a serial number of free blocks and I'm having a hard time believing this issue would show up if there's 80/140 GB left. I'm not sure if Windows provides a way to request serial disk blocks. Usually the OS manages that kind of low level disk interaction and programs use files. – Kat – 2014-12-18T19:02:50.020
@Cerveser Good link, but it sounds like defrag is really needed for the Windows OS/FS more than for the physical drive itself. – Joe M – 2014-12-19T00:07:42.903
The issue was solved in a manner that doesn't really constitute a question; Should I just vote to close the question? – kdb – 2014-12-29T19:11:10.070
1@kdb, Because answer found, You can (may be even must) make answer on own question and accept it. Then it closed automaticaly. – Mikhail Moskalev – 2014-12-29T19:27:23.827