storage Help with data transfer rarities.

[Osil1]

I think i have a problem because my hdd does a very weird thing when trying to install or recognize files from a game. (Is not an old hdd and its 1TB capacity from WD). As you can see on the image it does that ramp-up (to 35 MB/s) and drop (to less than 1MB/s) constantly and i don´t know what to do. The disk has a lot of space remaining btw. Also, ive tried disabling WPR (it was already disabled), Connected User Experiences and Telemetry, installed all drivers.I have my OS on a nvme m.2 drive, and my proccesor is a R7 3700X @ Stock (if needed to know).It also behaves like this when trying to copy files from another hdd (same model 1tb with 150GB of remaining space and 2yrs old) Going up to 130 MB/s (or more) and dropping completely. All my drives are healty according to CrystalDiskInfo.

Also, inbetween this process i can hear the processor cooler (i think it is because what i can see in HWMonitor) ramping up and dropping aswell.
 

(if i leave it there it will finish the process, but sometimes would lagg my pc and make me restart).
 

(It behaves like this also when i try to copy files from the second hdd to the first one too)

[Senzelian]

Do you defrag the drive frequently?

[Osil1]

1 minute ago, Senzelian said:

Do you defrag the drive frequently?

Idont think so, i just upgraded this pc, swapping from intel to amd keeping my drives, it has days old so i left everything as windows 10 offers after a clean install.

[Senzelian]

1 minute ago, Osil1 said:

Idont think so, i just upgraded this pc, swapping from intel to amd keeping my drives, it has days old so i left everything as windows 10 offers after a clean install.

Try that first then. Usually Windows 10 should automatically defrag harddrives in regular intervals, but I'd do it manually now to see whether it makes a difference or not.

[Osil1]

26 minutes ago, Senzelian said:

Try that first then. Usually Windows 10 should automatically defrag harddrives in regular intervals, but I'd do it manually now to see whether it makes a difference or not.

Ok, i´ll check that but i think it wont make a difference since windows 10 has changed some things to their defrag system (or so i´ve read). But thanks anyways.

[mariushm]

A failing power connector (loose connection) or sata cable may cause the hard drive to turn off and on and windows (and the sata controller) is smart enough to tolerate that and just wait until the drive spins back up to resume data transfer.

You may want to check the SMART information to see if there's some warning signs.

Maybe change sata cable or move sata cable to another connector - sometimes the connectors on the motherboard get dirty or oxidized and inserting and pulling out the connector several times can be enough of a friction to remove that crap from the contacts and get a better contact with the sata data cable.

Wiggle the sata power connector or use another.

 

You could also use a software like HD Tune - https://www.hdtune.com/ - to scan the disk for problem areas ... see the Health tab.

 

Another good software you can use is WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics : https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en

It works with non-WD drives as well.... here's proof, screenshot taken as I write this message:

 

 

You can right click on a drive and select quick test or extended test which are read only and report information

 

It may be the case that some area of the drive is developing bad sectors and each time the drive tries to write in that area the drive has to retry writing some sector (a few kb of information) several times or has to read and check integrity , which slows the overal speed and makes the drive look like it's pausing or slowing down.

 

I found WD Data Lifeguard diagnostics is very good at forcing a mechanical drive to test itself and mark bad areas as having bad sectors by using the ERASE option ... this will overwrite all disk surface and make the drive test each sector for integrity and failing sectors would be marked as bad or reallocated, so drive won't try to write in that weak area again.

Not though that ERASE will cause the drive to be full erased, no partitions (drive letters), no recoverable data.

 

So only do it if you backed up all your data. 

Once that is done and you reset the pc (recommend shut down, wait a few seconds, start, to be sure the firmware inside the drive reloads and all that) you can use HD Tune again and see if you have bad sectors on the drive.

IF so, you can create partitions strategically sized to avoid those problem areas and continue to use the drive. For example if on a 2 TB drive you have bad area at 1700 GB, you could make a partition of 1650 GB, one from 1651 to 1750 (around the bad stuff) and a partition from 1751 to 2000 GB ... and only give letters to first and third partition ... so now you have 1900 GB of usable space

 

 

[Osil1]

7 hours ago, mariushm said:

A failing power connector (loose connection) or sata cable may cause the hard drive to turn off and on and windows (and the sata controller) is smart enough to tolerate that and just wait until the drive spins back up to resume data transfer.

You may want to check the SMART information to see if there's some warning signs.

Maybe change sata cable or move sata cable to another connector - sometimes the connectors on the motherboard get dirty or oxidized and inserting and pulling out the connector several times can be enough of a friction to remove that crap from the contacts and get a better contact with the sata data cable.

Wiggle the sata power connector or use another.

 

You could also use a software like HD Tune - https://www.hdtune.com/ - to scan the disk for problem areas ... see the Health tab.

 

Another good software you can use is WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics : https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en

It works with non-WD drives as well.... here's proof, screenshot taken as I write this message:

 

 

You can right click on a drive and select quick test or extended test which are read only and report information

 

It may be the case that some area of the drive is developing bad sectors and each time the drive tries to write in that area the drive has to retry writing some sector (a few kb of information) several times or has to read and check integrity , which slows the overal speed and makes the drive look like it's pausing or slowing down.

 

I found WD Data Lifeguard diagnostics is very good at forcing a mechanical drive to test itself and mark bad areas as having bad sectors by using the ERASE option ... this will overwrite all disk surface and make the drive test each sector for integrity and failing sectors would be marked as bad or reallocated, so drive won't try to write in that weak area again.

Not though that ERASE will cause the drive to be full erased, no partitions (drive letters), no recoverable data.

 

So only do it if you backed up all your data. 

Once that is done and you reset the pc (recommend shut down, wait a few seconds, start, to be sure the firmware inside the drive reloads and all that) you can use HD Tune again and see if you have bad sectors on the drive.

IF so, you can create partitions strategically sized to avoid those problem areas and continue to use the drive. For example if on a 2 TB drive you have bad area at 1700 GB, you could make a partition of 1650 GB, one from 1651 to 1750 (around the bad stuff) and a partition from 1751 to 2000 GB ... and only give letters to first and third partition ... so now you have 1900 GB of usable space

 

 

Thanx for the answer, i have to say that i tried replacing the sata power cables and the data cables and at first it seemed solved, but a few minutes later it was dropping again. To test i decided to leave only the m.2 nvme (aorus rgb 520) with the system in it (and some files to try copying them to a new folder inside the same m.2) but nothing... The performance doesn´t drop to 0 but it drops heavily to 80 MB/s or so. (Also i´ve tried the scans you recommended and they say all my drives are healthy).(This is with just the m.2 connected)

[Osil1]

On 5/30/2020 at 4:26 PM, Osil1 said:

Thanx for the answer, i have to say that i tried replacing the sata power cables and the data cables and at first it seemed solved, but a few minutes later it was dropping again. To test i decided to leave only the m.2 nvme (aorus rgb 520) with the system in it (and some files to try copying them to a new folder inside the same m.2) but nothing... The performance doesn´t drop to 0 but it drops heavily to 80 MB/s or so. (Also i´ve tried the scans you recommended and they say all my drives are healthy).(This is with just the m.2 connected)

Hey, so i finally solve this problem. I had to COMPLETELY errase disk partitions on os drive and make a full clean windows installation!