Seagate Barracuda SSHD very slow

[Mark Kaine]

I'm having trouble with this drive since I bought it a year ago,  sometimes it's working normally, but usually it's incredibly slow,  first I noticed this in usebenchmark which complained about it being way too slow, especially but not only in 4k reads / writes, I've also confirmed this multiple times with Crystaldiskmark.  For comparison my about 10 year old Toshiba SSHD performs much better and is considerably faster. 

 

 

I've checked and exchanged Sata cables multiple times,  switched slots, even over multiple builds this Seagate Barracuda SSHD appears to be borked,  and incredibly slow... 

 

Is there anything I could do? Maybe a firmware update or should I just try to return it to Amazon?  I know it's maybe a bit late to do that,  but I'm honestly a bit miffed about the whole situation and would like at least some compensation / exchange,  should still have (2 years) warranty too.  I'm in EU if it matters. 

 

Any advice you guys could give? 

 

 

 

 

[Skiiwee29]

how full is it?

[Mark Kaine]

Just now, Skiiwee29 said:

how full is it?

74%

 

I've also thought about that... but I don't think that could be the cause as it isn't even close to being full? 

[Skiiwee29]

Have you checked to see if there is any tools for updating firmware or troubleshooting from the Seagate website? The way an SSHD works is that everything is stored mechanically with a small amount of SSD cache for common programs to help boost there speeds, similar to how optane works. 

[Mark Kaine]

2TB Seagate Barracuda (SSHD)



 

 

 

Toshiba SSHD for comparison sake:

 

[Mark Kaine]

43 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Have you checked to see if there is any tools for updating firmware or troubleshooting from the Seagate website? The way an SSHD works is that everything is stored mechanically with a small amount of SSD cache for common programs to help boost there speeds, similar to how optane works. 

I checked some time ago, there were no firmware updates available,  I can try checking again. 

 

And yes I know how a SSHD works -  it's great,  especially for gaming - the problem is this Seagate drive is really outrageously slow,  4k reads/writes are basically non existent. 

 

Userbench doesn't even test it,  just gives me a red exclamation mark ! 

 

EDIT: "There is no firmware update available for this model"

 

I guess I'll best return / rma 

[BiG StroOnZ]

19 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I checked some time ago, there were no firmware updates available,  I can try checking again. 

 

It might simply need a Defrag (Analyze the disk in question first):

 

[Mark Kaine]

3 minutes ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

 

It might simply need a Defrag (Analyze the disk in question first):

 

Nah, that's not it,  I do this weekly, but thanks for the suggestion. 

 

The drive has had issues since it was new tbh,  but it took me some time to realize it unfortunately...  And it doesn't really help that,  once in a blue moon,  it actually shows the speeds it *should* have...  So yeah,  very annoying and something is obviously broken,  4k speeds are basically flatlining... 

[BiG StroOnZ]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

The drive has had issues since it was new tbh,  but it took me some time to realize it unfortunately...  And it doesn't really help that,  once in a blue moon,  it actually shows the speeds it *should* have...  So yeah,  very annoying and something is obviously broken,  4k speeds are basically flatlining... 

 

Unfortunately those specific drives are known for having issues. If you do some light research this is easy to discover. Sucks that it took you time to realize it. 

 

If you value any of the data on the drive, probably time to back it up and move on to something else. These Computes are pretty nice for the money:

 

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16822184773

[Mark Kaine]

Ok, this is a longshot and probably unlikely,  but I noticed some time ago Windows did place some (apparently duplicate) files/folders on exactly this drive - which isn't my OS drive 

 

Could that maybe have messed something up? 

 

I tried removing the folders but obviously I,  as the owner of this PC, do not have the permission to do so,  I can't even access some of these folders... 

 

Yes, I know it's unlikely, just really the only irregular thing that I see with this drive,  besides its abysmal speeds.

 

Maybe I could just nuke those folders,  I don't think WINDOWS even uses them tbh,  because the exact same folders are also present on the OS drive...? 

 

Suspect folders are marked red :

 

 

( yeap, I have a lot of mods!  ) 

 

Still those dumb windows folders irritate me so much, especially because this drive apparently doesn't work as it's supposed to (and was never meant to be a Windows update trash collection either...) 

[Mark Kaine]

32 minutes ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

 

Well, unfortunately those specific drives are known for having issues. If you do some light research this is easy to discover. Sucks that it took you time to realize it. 

 

If you value any of the data on the drive, probably time to back it up and move on to something else. These Computes are pretty nice for the money:

Yeah, you're right, especially those Barracudas and Firecudas seem to have issues... It's just my Toshiba SSHD has none of those issues...  Maybe I get one of those then, they're also really cheap because they're older models now... 

 

But yeah, definitely suspected something fishy going on with this Seagate drive for a while now, and I'll take your suggestion into consideration also, thanks!

 

 

[BiG StroOnZ]

34 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ok, this is a longshot and probably unlikely,  but I noticed some time ago Windows did place some (apparently duplicate) files/folders on exactly this drive - which isn't my OS drive  Could that maybe have messed something up? I tried removing the folders but obviously I,  as the owner of this PC, do not have the permission to do so,  I can't even access some of these folders... Yes, I know it's unlikely, just really the only irregular thing that I see with this drive,  besides its abysmal speeds. Maybe I could just nuke those folders,  I don't think WINDOWS even uses them tbh,  because the exact same folders are also present on the OS drive...? 

 

Suspect folders are marked red :

 

 

Still those dumb windows folders irritate me so much, especially because this drive apparently doesn't work as it's supposed to (and was never meant to be a Windows update trash collection either...) 

 

This isn't always the case, but usually If it's Windows Update related. At least if it was done by Windows automatically, it should come up when you do Disk Cleanup on the drive:

 

Quote

 

 

 

 

 

I know you said you already know how to Optimize/Defrag. You probably also know about Disk Cleanup too, but thought it was worth suggesting in case you weren't aware.

 

29 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Yeah, you're right, especially those Barracudas and Firecudas seem to have issues... It's just my Toshiba SSHD has none of those issues...  Maybe I get one of those then, they're also really cheap because they're older models now... 

 

But yeah, definitely suspected something fishy going on with this Seagate drive for a while now, and I'll take your suggestion into consideration also, thanks!

 

Toshiba, HGST and Western Digital have historically been known to be more reliable than Seagate with most models of HDDs. However, as of recent, data shows that Seagate has improved exponentially compared to in the past in the reliability department. Though, there is plenty of information around that says stay away from the SSHD stuff (regardless of manufacturer). As they don't offer much of an advantage over a traditional HDD (and typically have QC problems):

 

 

Pretty much find an HDD that has the capacity you are looking for, and the price you are willing to pay for that capacity. Couple that with a nice cache size, and you are generally good to go.

 

Hope you get everything sorted out!

[Mark Kaine]

11 minutes ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

 

35 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ok, this is a longshot and probably unlikely,  but I noticed some time ago Windows did place some (apparently duplicate) files/folders on exactly this drive - which isn't my OS drive  Could that maybe have messed something up? I tried removing the folders but obviously I,  as the owner of this PC, do not have the permission to do so,  I can't even access some of these folders... Yes, I know it's unlikely, just really the only irregular thing that I see with this drive,  besides its abysmal speeds. Maybe I could just nuke those folders,  I don't think WINDOWS even uses them tbh,  because the exact same folders are also present on the OS drive...? 

 

Suspect folders are marked red :

 

 

Still those dumb windows folders irritate me so much, especially because this drive apparently doesn't work as it's supposed to (and was never meant to be a Windows update trash collection either...) 

 

This isn't always the case, but usually If it's Windows Update related. At least if it was done by Windows automatically, it should come up when you do Disk Cleanup on the drive:

 

Quote

 

 

 

 

 

I know you said you already know how to Optimize/Defrag. You probably also know about Disk Cleanup too, but thought it was worth suggesting in case you weren't aware.

 

 

Yeah, I tried that,  nothing comes up, except temp files and shader cache,  both always with 0kb,  I can choose system files but same thing,  nothing there...

 

It's kinda like Windows has forgotten about these folders or something and it is slightly suspicious because exactly that drive is the one having issues..  And yes of course this was done by Windows automatically,  I  would never ever move windows files around... and I have OCD,  you have no idea how much these folders annoy me on a drive that's strictly meant for my games lol.

 

15 minutes ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

Pretty much find an HDD that has the capacity you are looking for, and the price you are willing to pay for that capacity. Couple that with a nice cache size, and you are generally good to go.

 

Hope you get everything sorted out!

Yes, I see,  I knew "some" SSHDs have issues,  I didn't know it's widespread though,  just got lucky with the Toshiba maybe,  but alright I'll just order a new,  standard 7200 HDD then,  I'd rather get a SSD,  but at the capacity I need I can't afford a SSD right now. 

 

And thanks again. 

 

 

[BiG StroOnZ]

42 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Yeah, I tried that,  nothing comes up, except temp files and shader cache,  both always with 0kb,  I can choose system files but same thing,  nothing there...

 

It's kinda like Windows has forgotten about these folders or something and it is slightly suspicious because exactly that drive is the one having issues..  And yes of course this was done by Windows automatically,  I  would never ever move windows files around... and I have OCD,  you have no idea how much these folders annoy me on a drive that's strictly meant for my games lol.

 

Yes, I see,  I knew "some" SSHDs have issues,  I didn't know it's widespread though,  just got lucky with the Toshiba maybe,  but alright I'll just order a new,  standard 7200 HDD then,  I'd rather get a SSD,  but at the capacity I need I can't afford a SSD right now. 

 

And thanks again. 

There's definitely a few ways to get permissions to delete the folders in question. The usual quickest way is to try deleting them in safe mode first. Then, if that doesn't work, you are going to have to Google a guide that teaches you how to gain permissions to the folders (if you haven't attempted this crapshoot already). Sometimes they still involve the dirty work being done in safe mode (as a sidenote). But, there are many different methods though, so, Google them on your own accord (rather than me offering a variety of links).

 

While I understand your frustration with the folders, I have a few of these on some of my old drives that I still use. That, for instance, at one point had OS installs on them, and what not. Most of the time, I wasn't able to gain full access to the folders and had to try tons of workarounds - which in the end - resulted in me only able to delete the contents inside, but the folders themselves still remaining intact. While not a total success, I still consider this a victory. This might be something that will also occur on your end; something to keep in mind. 

 

If you want to wait until Black Friday, you will probably be able to get a 2TB SSD of some brand, for under $200 (but I'm not imagining for anything less than $160-ish). At that price though, you are looking at some quite large HDDs capable of 200-ish MB/s Read/Writes. That also means, for instance, you can get two of the drives I linked above (the Seagate Compute) run them in Raid 0, have more capacity than the 2TB SSD, and have relatively similar performance as the more expensive SSD option as well.

 

Regardless of what you end up doing (or the outcome), good luck to you and you're very welcome. 

[Mark Kaine]

Ok I removed the drive for testing... I definitely feel my games and everything run smoother but that could be my imagination, need to test it a little bit more - however I do have another issue now I don't understand... 

 

When I'm using Windows snip it doesn't save anymore... It's weird because I never had it save on the now removed Seagate drive,  always on C drive and also that's where it's installed obviously - it still works but I can't save - no error message nothing? 

 

Is this normal and is there any fix until I actually replace the now removed drive as that will take a few days to arrive? 

@BiG StroOnZ  maybe you have an idea why that's happening you seem to know more about this windows stuff than me,  I can't make any sense of it haha

 

PS: it seems it created new "pictures" and  "videos" folders on the C drive (since those were actually on the now removed drive) but it's not saving there either,  it simply doesn't save at all!?

 

 

 

[BiG StroOnZ]

17 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Is this normal and is there any fix until I actually replace the now removed drive as that will take a few days to arrive? 

@BiG StroOnZ  maybe you have an idea why that's happening you seem to know more about this windows stuff than me,  I can't make any sense of it haha

 

PS: it seems it created new "pictures" and  "videos" folders on the C drive (since those were actually on the now removed drive) but it's not saving there either,  it simply doesn't save at all!?

 

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the Windows Snip function, therefore I don't want to give you misinformation. But I did quickly bring up this supposed fix, while searching for an answer:

 

Quote

I finally managed it. The problem occurs if you don't have My Pictures folder in the place pointed in registry:

 "HKEY_CURRENT-USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders"

I've deleted that folder - I don't need it so that's why save stopped working.

 

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/Lync/en-US/3baa3e47-c843-492b-8e30-91d6a53562e4/snipping-tool-will-not-save?forum=w7itproinstall 

 

Although, I would do a slightly deeper dive, because it seems this is a Windows 7 fix (however, it wouldn't hurt to at least check the registry to see if the entry is the same). Seems there are some other alternative proposed fixes listed on that website too.

[Mark Kaine]

28 minutes ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

 

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the Windows Snip function, therefore I don't want to give you misinformation. But I did quickly bring up this supposed fix, while searching for an answer:

 

 

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/Lync/en-US/3baa3e47-c843-492b-8e30-91d6a53562e4/snipping-tool-will-not-save?forum=w7itproinstall 

 

Although, I would do a slightly deeper dive, because it seems this is a Windows 7 fix.

I see, thanks for looking for a solution.  That looks a bit more difficult than I'd hoped for lol. Especially because if I get a new hard-drive it could get messed up again - or it might still not even work... 

 

You know if that program doesn't work correctly anymore, who knows what else isn't working anymore, just because I removed a none OS drive.

 

Oh well I think it's better if I won't do anything about it now until I get  the new drive and will see what it does then.

[BiG StroOnZ]

28 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I see, thanks for looking for a solution.  That looks a bit more difficult than I'd hoped for lol. Especially because if I get a new hard-drive it could get messed up again - or it might still not even work... 

 

You know if that program doesn't work correctly anymore, who knows what else isn't working anymore, just because I removed a none OS drive.

 

Oh well I think it's better if I won't do anything about it now until I get  the new drive and will see what it does then.

 

Registry stuff is actually really easy, especially if you find a step by step guide. Really all you would want to do is before hand is create a restore point, and also backup the registry before making changes. 

 

I understand your hesitance though if you haven't done it before. At the very least, if you had to do it again, you would already know how (something to keep in mind).

To see if there's anything unusual going on, OS Related, run the "sfc /scannow" command:

 

Quote

 

• Press Windows logo+"R" on the keyboard together, type "cmd", then tap "Enter"
• Type "sfc /scannow" in the command line, press "Enter"

 

 

https://www.fonepaw.com/windows/snipping-tool-not-working.html

 

This is a lot simpler than attempting Registry fixes, as the process is completely automated. When your new drive comes in and you want to start any of these troubleshooting processes, reply to this thread if you need any tips or if you want to try at least this one now.

 

Good luck!

[Mark Kaine]

8 minutes ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

 

Registry stuff is actually really easy, especially if you find a step by step guide. Really all you would want to do is before hand is create a restore point, and also backup the registry before making changes. 

 

I understand your hesitance though if you haven't done it before. At the very least, if you had to do it again, you would already know how (something to keep in mind).

To see if anything OS Related is unusual I recommend running the "sfc /scannow" command:

 

 

https://www.fonepaw.com/windows/snipping-tool-not-working.html

 

This is a lot simply than attempting Registry fixes, as the process is completely automated. When your new drive comes in and you want to start any of these troubleshooting processes, reply to this thread if you need any tips.

 

Good luck!

 

Thanks. Alright I'll keep that in mind - I'm not really familiar with registry stuff although I did a few things that were incredibly easy - like disabling driver updates or removing NZXT CAM software in startup since it didn't remove itself after deinstalation. 

 

However I'm still wary when I don't know exactly what to do... 

 

As for sfc / scannow,  did they fix this? 

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-sfc-scannow-cant-fix-corrupted-files-after-update/

 

 

Last time I tried it came up mostly with errors it couldn't fix,  should I just ignore the error messages?   I mean it's possible it's still working,  mostly? 

 

Seems to be a Windows defender related bug - but also generally with hash checking I suppose.  o.o

[BiG StroOnZ]

12 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Thanks. Alright I'll keep that in mind - I'm not really familiar with registry stuff although I did a few things that were incredibly easy - like disabling driver updates or removing NZXT CAM software in startup since it didn't remove itself after deinstalation. 

 

However I'm still wary when I don't know exactly what to do... 

 

As for sfc / scannow,  did they fix this? 

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-sfc-scannow-cant-fix-corrupted-files-after-update/

 

Last time I tried it came up mostly with errors it couldn't fix,  should I just ignore the error messages?   I mean it's possible it's still working,  mostly? 

 

Seems to be a Windows defender related bug - but also generally with hash checking I suppose.  o.o

"/scannow" normally doesn't have any issues fixing errors; there have been cases though where even I have experienced it not able to fix errors.

 

However, in these cases, there are alternative commands you can run - like the following DISM commands:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

I've always had success with the above commands. There are even more that I can probably dig up, but I find in many of these instances, installing a "feature update" is simply better. As in many ways, it is akin to a fresh install or upgrade install. So if you haven't installed version 1909 yet, this might be another avenue for you to take alternatively. 

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, BiG StroOnZ said:

scannow normally doesn't have any issues fixing errors; there have been cases though where even I have experienced it not able to fix errors.

I know yeah, it usually works but it's broken since July update 19 and it was still broken in 1903, I don't know if it was fixed in 1909.. doubtful though?   Not sure. 

Can you try it out?  I know it's broken in my win ver,  1903...

 

https://borncity.com/win/2019/07/11/windows-july-9-2019-updates-breaks-sfc/

 

 

Edit:  oh I see,  they say DISM commands might fix this issue,  I'll give it a try! 

[BiG StroOnZ]

34 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I know yeah, it usually works but it's broken since July update 19 and it was still broken in 1903, I don't know if it was fixed in 1909.. doubtful though?   Not sure. 

Can you try it out?  I know it's broken in my win ver,  1903...

 

https://borncity.com/win/2019/07/11/windows-july-9-2019-updates-breaks-sfc/

 

 

My point though, is that if you update directly to 1909, is it might fix the Windows Snip function automatically (meaning, you won't even have to worry about running "/scannow" or any other repair commands).

 

Make sure you do a restore point before you update though. 

 

Regardless, I ran "sfc /scannow" and it seems to be running properly. Even sucessfully did the repairs too:

 

 

Don't forget to run CMD Prompt as Admin.

[Mark Kaine]

Nice.  Seems they fixed it