Moving large files + Intel Optane = disaster?

[Jacksonyoung]

Alright so here's the laptop specs:

Product number
4SY34UA
Product name
HP Pavilion - 15-cs0061cl
Microprocessor
Intel® Core™ i7-8550U (1.8 GHz base frequency, up to 4 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology, 8 MB cache, 4 cores)
Memory, standard
8 GB DDR4-2400 SDRAM (1 x 8 GB)
Video graphics
Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Hard drive
1 TB 5400 rpm SATA w/ 16GB of Intel Optane Memory

OS:

Windows 10 Home 64 bit with all updates

 

So here is what happens. I have an external drive with 30 GB worth of files on it. I move the 30 GB music folder onto the desktop of the laptop. It moves at the USB 2.0 speeds for about 5 minutes, then I notice (in Task Manager) the C:/ drive usage spike to 100% and the write speed of the drive drop from about 30 MB/s to around 5-6 MB/s. Sometimes, the drive will stop writing altogether and sit at 100% with no response time (0 ms) for a few seconds, then proceed at the slowed speeds. As time goes, it slows down more and more until it's < 1 MB/s. Pausing or stopping the file transfer does not stop the 100% disc usage of the C:/ drive. Stays at 100% usage with around 1 MB/s-ish read writes on the C:/ drive. I hop over to the Processes tab and notice that it's "System" using up most, if not all, of the disc usage. From here on, the drive will spike to 100% usage from System if I attempt to do anything (load Google Chrome, open File Explorer, open Start Menu). A task that normally takes .001 seconds like opening Start Menu now takes 10 seconds. Rebooting went from a 30 second wait to a 5 minute wait. I was able to resolve this by eventually getting to Command Prompt, running chkdsk /f /r, running Disk Cleanup, running a defrag then rebooting. I hopped on the HP site and download driver/firmware updates for the Seagate HDD, Micron SSD, downloaded the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology software and updated the BIOS. Drive is back to normal, but the same exact thing happened again with a different batch of files from a different external drive.

 

I have a feeling it's the Intel Optane memory not giving the HDD a chance to set the files down and place them somewhere before Intel Optane jumps in and decides if it should be cached. I tried experimenting with turning Intel Optane off through the Intel Rapid Storage Technology software, but this caused my laptop to freeze for several hours. I could move the mouse cursor around but that's it. It's currently still on the Step 1 of disabling the Intel Optane.

 

Any thoughts? This is a brand new laptop that was bought from a store.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Jacksonyoung
Added additional steps performed between attempts

[Aprilfooldude]

The Optane algorithms are most likely trying to cycle the files through the drive, but then realizing that they are in use, so it reads it from the drive while it is writing, instead of writing directly to the optane module. It's a caching issue from the sound of it.

[Aprilfooldude]

Try updating your drivers and downloading new software updates for pre-installed system related applications

[Jacksonyoung]

1 minute ago, Aprilfooldude said:

Try updating your drivers and downloading new software updates for pre-installed system related applications

I hopped on the HP site and download driver/firmware updates for the Seagate HDD, Micron SSD, downloaded the latest Intel Rapid Storage Technology software and updated the BIOS. I will edit the post to mention that was done between attempts. Thank you for your response!

[Juular]

Are you sure your HDD are working fine ? Check it's SMART status.

[Kilrah]

How much free space on the drive? Sounds like it may be either close to full, or failing. Behavior is typical of hitting bad sectors while trying to write.

[Jacksonyoung]

1 minute ago, Kilrah said:

How much free space on the drive? Sounds like it may be either close to full, or failing. Behavior is typical of hitting bad sectors while trying to write.

1 TB of total space.

At the time of moving the files, around 850 GB of free space.

[Jacksonyoung]

9 minutes ago, Juular said:

Are you sure your HDD are working fine ? Check it's SMART status.

Once this computer boots up and gets to desktop, I shall check for that.

However, no success in booting it up. I shut it down w/ the power button and am stuck on a black screen after the HP logo went away.

 

[Juular]

Just now, Jacksonyoung said:

Once this computer boots up and gets to desktop, I shall check for that.

However, no success in booting it up. I shut it down w/ the power button and am stuck on a black screen after the HP logo went away.

That's HDD issue definitely, it's dying. Don't push it, make some Linux live CD and backup your data first.

[Kilrah]

That's one more point towards "drive dying/dead".

[Juular]

For the future, always have CrystalDiskInfo running in background so you'll see if your drives will start to fail.

[Jacksonyoung]

8 minutes ago, Juular said:

That's HDD issue definitely, it's dying. Don't push it, make some Linux live CD and backup your data first.

Luckily I had nothing on this laptop important. Only Chrome and Minecraft. But it does bring up another question about Intel Optane - any idea if the computer will care if I replace the HDD with an SDD instead? I don't know if Intel Optane has its tendrils in the HDD and is expecting that exact HDD and will flip out if it's not that exact HDD. MicroCenter has 250 GB SSDs for cheap and I don't mind not have 1 TB of space.

[Juular]

8 hours ago, Jacksonyoung said:

Luckily I had nothing on this laptop important. Only Chrome and Minecraft. But it does bring up another question about Intel Optane - any idea if the computer will care if I replace the HDD with an SDD instead? I don't know if Intel Optane has its tendrils in the HDD and is expecting that exact HDD and will flip out if it's not that exact HDD. MicroCenter has 250 GB SSDs for cheap and I don't mind not have 1 TB of space.

You can untier and tier it again on any time, it doesn't care.