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Is Windows 11 25H2 damaging the storage on Snapdragon tablets?
Critical Issue: SSD Misidentification on Surface Pro 12
Owners of the Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch (ARM) tablet must be aware of a potentially harmful software bug. Reports indicate that Windows 11 version 25H2 incorrectly identifies the internal UFS4 SSD as a mechanical Hard Disk Drive (HDD). Consequently, the operating system attempts to defragment the drive rather than issuing the appropriate TRIM commands. This behavior was first highlighted by the German tech outlet Dr. Windows and corroborated by users on Microsoft Learn forums in late 2025.
Technical Implications
This error poses a risk to hardware longevity. Solid State Drives (SSDs) and mechanical HDDs require different maintenance protocols:
- HDDs benefit from defragmentation, which reorganizes data physically to speed up read times.
- SSDs use flash memory. Defragmenting them writes unnecessary cycles to the memory cells without improving performance.
If Windows treats the UFS storage as an HDD, it performs write-intensive defragmentation. This process accelerates wear on the memory cells, potentially shortening the lifespan of the drive.
Affected Hardware Specifications
The issue appears specific to the “Copilot+ PC” units released around September 2025. The core configuration involves:
- Model: Surface Pro 12-inch (2025 release).
- Processor: Snapdragon® X Plus (Octa-core ARM).
- Storage: UFS (Universal Flash Storage) interfaces, typically 256GB or 512GB.
- OS: Windows 11, specifically version 25H2.
Diagnostic Inconsistencies
Troubleshooting threads on Microsoft Learn reveal a conflict within the system’s reporting tools. Users noted that while the winsat command-line tool correctly detects the hardware as an SSD, the Windows System Information tool labels it a “Fixed Drive.”
This mislabeling triggers the native “Defragment and Optimize Drives” tool to default to HDD behavior. Attempts to force the correct behavior via PowerShell commands (such as Optimize-Volume -ReTrim) have reportedly failed for affected users, returning errors or failing to execute the TRIM function.
Advisory and Mitigation
As of January 2026, Microsoft has not released a definitive patch to resolve this detection bug. If you own a Surface Pro 12 with a Snapdragon processor, you should take immediate preventative action:
- Check Drive Status: Open the “Defragment and Optimize Drives” tool in Windows.
- Verify Media Type: Check if your C: drive is listed as a “Solid State Drive” or a “Hard Disk Drive.”
- Disable Schedule: If it is listed as a Hard Disk Drive, click “Change settings” and uncheck “Run on a schedule.”
Disabling the automatic schedule prevents the system from running harmful defragmentation cycles in the background until a firmware or OS update rectifies the identification error.