For years we’ve been told that Windows “optimizes” itself for SSDs, but I’m curious how much of that actually holds true. Here are a few things I’ve been wondering about, and I’d like to get input from other users-especially anyone who’s run their SSDs for multiple years in Windows environments.

Defragmentation: Supposedly Windows disables scheduled defrag and switches to “optimize” (TRIM) for SSDs. But I’ve noticed Windows 10/11 still runs some kind of defrag/optimize task. Is this just running TRIM, or is Windows really defragging SSDs under the hood? Safe to leave it alone or should we intervene and change settings?
AHCI/IDE Mode: Some advice online still says to check the BIOS and manually ensure AHCI mode is on for best SSD performance. Is this still necessary with modern hardware and Windows, or does the OS handle it seamlessly now?
Pagefile / Hibernation: The “disable pagefile and hibernation to save SSD writes” recommendation gets repeated a ton. But is there actually any risk to SSD lifespan if these are left enabled, especially considering modern endurance and spare capacity on most drives?
Overprovisioning and Free Space: How important is it to leave unallocated space on an SSD in 2024? Windows doesn’t warn you about this, but drive manufacturers sometimes still do in their utilities.
Firmware, Drivers, Software: Are regular firmware updates and proprietary drive management software still useful, or is Windows native support (since 8 and 10, at least) good enough for most users?
Anything else I’m missing: Have I bought into any outdated “best practices” that actually don’t matter anymore?

I’ve been running SSDs since the early SATA2 days, and honestly haven’t had one fail yet, even under fairly heavy use with Windows. But it still feels like a lot of “do this to save your SSD” advice is either ancient or just myth at this point. What are your real-world experiences? Has anyone run into SSD issues from NOT following these practices? Or is the OS finally smart enough to do the right thing by default?