Optimize Drives Schedule - Change in Windows 8

How to Change "Optimize Drives" Schedule Settings in Windows 8 and 8.1

information   Information
Optimize Drives, previously called Disk Defragmenter, helps to optimize the different types of drives that PCs use today. No matter which type of drive your PC uses, Windows automatically chooses the optimization that's right for your drive.

By default, Optimize Drives runs automatically on a weekly schedule during the time you have set for automatic maintenance. But you can also optimize drives on your PC manually.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off drives to be optimized automatically on a schedule, and to change the frequency of the optimization schedule in Windows 8.

You must be signed in as an administrator to be able to do the steps in this tutorial.

warning   Warning
Do to a bug in Optimize, your SSD drive(s) may be defragged instead of Trimmed when it is optimized automatically on a schedule. Because of this, it is highly recommended to turn off scheduled optimization for all of your SSD drives to avoid potentially shortening their life.

For more on this, see: Why Windows 8 defragments your SSD and how you can avoid this |



Here's How:

1. In Windows Explorer, click/tap on Computer, select a HDD or SSD, click/tap on Manage tab or Drive Tools contextual tab, and Optimize button. (see screenshot below)
Computer.jpg

2. Do step 3, 4, or 5 below for what you would like to do.

3. To Turn Off Scheduled Optimization of All Drives in Windows 8
A) Under Scheduled optimization, click/tap on the Change Settings button. (see screenshot below)​
HDD.jpg
B) If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.​
C) Uncheck the Run on a schedule box, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)​
Schedule-Off.jpg
D) Go to step 6 below.​

4. To Turn On Scheduled Optimization of Drives in Windows 8
NOTE: This is the default setting.
A) Under Scheduled optimization, click/tap on the Turn on button. (see screenshot below)​
Schedule-On-1A.jpg
B) If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.​
C) Go to step 5 or 6 below.​

5. To Change Settings of Turned On Drive Optimization Schedule in Windows 8
NOTE: This step will be to change the frequency to run on a schedule, and to select drives you want to optimize on a regular schedule.
A) If you have not already, you will need to step 4 above to turn on scheduled optimization.​
B) Under Scheduled optimization, click/tap on the Change Settings button. (see screenshot below step 3A)​
C) If prompted by UAC, then click/tap on Yes.​
D) Next to Frequency, click/tap on the drop down list, then click/tap on Daily, Weekly, or Monthly for how frequent you want the schedule to run. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: By default, the schedule for optimization is weekly and runs during Automatic Maintenance.​
Schedule-On-1.jpg
E) Check or uncheck if you would like to be notified if three consecutive scheduled runs are missed. (see screenshot below)​
Schedule-On-2.jpg
F) Next to Drives, click/tap on the Choose button. (see screenshot above)​
G) Check or uncheck the boxes of the drives that you want to include or exclude in scheduled optimization. You can also uncheck the Automatically optimize new drives box if you do not want new drives added to scheduled optimization. Click/tap on OK when finished. (see screenshot below)​
NOTE: If Windows 8 can't optimize a drive, it won't offer the drive as an option for Automatic Maintenance.​
Schedule-On-3.jpg
H) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below step 5E)​

6. When finished, click on Close. (see screenshot below step 3A or 4A)


That's it,
Shawn


 

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Last edited:
How to schedule specific time of day?

Is there any way to select a specific time of day for the schedule? This is possible in Windows 7, and is useful to avoid conflicting with other scheduled tasks, such as back-ups.

UPDATE/SOLVED: Found the Windows 8 Task Scheduler: Edit triggers for task. Windows 8 makes one have to dig a little deeper!

Rob
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 and 8
Hello Rob,

Glad you got it sorted. By default, the schedule for optimization is weekly and runs at the same time set for Automatic Maintenance. 3AM by default.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Thanks, Shawn. I'm trying to set things ups so there's no conflict with my scheduled disk backup imaging. I guess 3:00 A.M. is not the best time, however, I see from your tutorial that it waits if the computer's in use. Would this apply to Acronis backups scheduled for 3:00 A.M.? How long does Windows' maintenance session usually take?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 and 8
You're welcome Rob.

The maintenance session varies to much from system to system to be able to give a time frame. I'd say give it about an 1 hour window between the two just to be extra safe.

I would recommend to set it to run when the computer will we awake, or let it wake the computer.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
In regards to your warning about the bug possibly defragging instead of TRIMming...I think the system does not defrag SSDs, it seems it does nothing when set to auto, as seen in the dates of my snippet, the HDD is defragged automatically on a schedule but the SSD partitions are not touched even though I have them scheduled. I think I will heed your advice and take them off the schedule just to be safe. But do you think they are being defragged due to the bug without displaying so?

Capture.JPG
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba L305-s5919
    CPU
    Core2Duo T8100
    Memory
    4G
    Graphics Card(s)
    Weaksauce
    Hard Drives
    Crucial M4 and Mechanical mod in cd bay
    Antivirus
    Defender
Hello hotrippr,

It's been documented at the link in the warning that his SSD was defragged according to his logs.

I'd recommend to play it safe as well, and remove the SSDs from the schedule. Hopefully, it'll get fixed if it has not already.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G7 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    OCZ Series Gold OCZZ1000M 1000W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gb/s Download and 35 Mb/s Upload
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Malwarebyte Anti-Malware Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
Maybe it has been fixed. I checked my log via powershell and didn't show my ssd being defragged, I have had the SSD for a year. It only showed an error when I tried to optimize System Reserve partition. I think I will just create a schedule to TRIM in Task Scheduler for now.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Toshiba L305-s5919
    CPU
    Core2Duo T8100
    Memory
    4G
    Graphics Card(s)
    Weaksauce
    Hard Drives
    Crucial M4 and Mechanical mod in cd bay
    Antivirus
    Defender
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