Slow Hard Drive

[_Callum]

Hello,

 

A WD 1TB Blue drive that I use for mass storage on my PC has recently become very slow. Attached is a Crystal Disk Mark screenshot showing the very low results. Task Manager also shows the drive as 100% disk usage.

Could anyone help with this?

 

Thanks

[Guest]

How much speed did it lose?

[Radium_Angel]

4 minutes ago, _Callum said:

100% disk usage.

So what's using it?

[_Callum]

7 minutes ago, Berkomeister said:

How much speed did it lose?

Around 90 mb/s read and about 50 mb/s write

[_Callum]

7 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

So what's using it?

System reads 21,127,131 B/sec and I've looked online and tried stopping some services but it hasn't helped

[Kon-Tiki]

Did the drop in speed happen gradually or out of the blue, how full is your drive? Also, did you check the SMART values of your drive already and if so are they ok?

[_Callum]

3 minutes ago, Kon-Tiki said:

Did the drop in speed happen gradually or out of the blue, how full is your drive? Also, did you check the SMART values of your drive already and if so are they ok?

I've used 307gb on the drive, the SMART status is good. The speed felt about half a few days ago but today and yesterday it's been unusably slow

[Kon-Tiki]

Is the 100% disk usage also present after a reboot without any programs (manually) started, after the computer has been idle for two or three minutes? You could also check the default programs starting on boot/ login and check whether programs are shown that you don't actually need to run in the background.

[Boomwebsearch]

5 minutes ago, _Callum said:

I've used 307gb on the drive, the SMART status is good. The speed felt about half a few days ago but today and yesterday it's been unusably slow

 

Would recommending having a backup of your data on another drive/s, hard drives don't do that well as modern OS drives, would recommend having an SSD such as the one linked within this post for the OS and to accelerate frequently accessed programs and files.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-Performance-Internal-SP256GBSS3A55S25/dp/B075RJS55D

[_Callum]

2 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Would recommending having a backup of your data on another drive/s, hard drives don't do that well as modern OS drives, would recommend having an SSD such as the one linked within this post for the OS and to accelerate frequently accessed programs and files.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-Performance-Internal-SP256GBSS3A55S25/dp/B075RJS55D

I don't use it as a boot drive, I have a SSD for that. This drive is used for mass storage of pictures, videos, etc.

[_Callum]

4 minutes ago, Kon-Tiki said:

Is the 100% disk usage also present after a reboot without any programs (manually) started, after the computer has been idle for two or three minutes? You could also check the default programs starting on boot/ login and check whether programs are shown that you don't actually need to run in the background.

Yes, it is present at all times. I have reduced start up programs as much as possible.

[Boomwebsearch]

Just now, _Callum said:

I don't use it as a boot drive, I have a SSD for that. This drive is used for mass storage of pictures, videos, etc.

 

Try installing and running Western Digital's Data Lifeguard software to check your drive for issues. I know that you have said that SMART reports no issues, although I have seen drives that have issues pass SMART tests and report issues in the manufacturer's drive test software (ex. SeaTools for Seagate drives and WD Data Lifeguard for Western Digital drives, etc).

 

https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3

[_Callum]

9 minutes ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Try installing and running Western Digital's Data Lifeguard software to check your drive for issues. I know that you have said that SMART reports no issues, although I have seen drives that have issues pass SMART tests and report issues in the manufacturer's drive test software (ex. SeaTools for Seagate drives and WD Data Lifeguard for Western Digital drives, etc).

 

https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?p=3

I ran the Western Digital Data Lifeguard software and the test result was PASS. Do you have any other recommendations that could fix this?

[Boomwebsearch]

16 minutes ago, _Callum said:

I ran the Western Digital Data Lifeguard software and the test result was PASS. Do you have any other recommendations that could fix this?

 

What motherboard and CPU are you using (use System Information to find out if you aren't sure), a BIOS update could help potentially? Use your SSD (if it is a SATA SSD) or another SATA drive that you may have and connect with the same drive connectors used for the HDD to check that the problem is not with a SATA port on your motherboard or the data/power connectors or connect to another SATA port with different connectors?

[_Callum]

2 hours ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

What motherboard and CPU are you using (use System Information to find out if you aren't sure), a BIOS update could help potentially? Use your SSD (if it is a SATA SSD) or another SATA drive that you may have and connect with the same drive connectors used for the HDD to check that the problem is not with a SATA port on your motherboard or the data/power connectors or connect to another SATA port with different connectors?

It's a Lenovo ideapad 320 15-ABR laptop, I updated the BIOS about a month ago.

[Boomwebsearch]

13 minutes ago, _Callum said:

It's a Lenovo ideapad 320 15-ABR laptop, I updated the BIOS about a month ago. I put the drive in a different system and the same problem persists

 

Then it's an issue with the drive itself, backup your data to another drive/s and file a warranty claim to send the drive back to the manufacturer for a replacement/repair/refund if you are still under the warranty time-frame, don't attempt to repair the drive unless you have a certified clean room and are a professional since it could result in permanent damage to your drive and/or data.

[_Callum]

1 hour ago, Boomwebsearch said:

 

Then it's an issue with the drive itself, backup your data to another drive/s and file a warranty claim to send the drive back to the manufacturer for a replacement/repair/refund if you are still under the warranty time-frame, don't attempt to repair the drive unless you have a certified clean room and are a professional since it could result in permanent damage to your drive and/or data.

The system responsiveness isn't an issue on my desktop, but the read and write speeds are mostly the same. I will see if I can get a RMA however.

[Radium_Angel]

7 hours ago, _Callum said:

The system responsiveness isn't an issue on my desktop, but the read and write speeds are mostly the same. I will see if I can get a RMA however.

If you use task manager, you can sort by drive usage, if it's at 100%, task manager should show what's hogging the system, post a screen shot here so we can further look into the issue

[_Callum]

12 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

If you use task manager, you can sort by drive usage, if it's at 100%, task manager should show what's hogging the system, post a screen shot here so we can further look into the issue

Hi 

 

I have attached a screenshot of Task Manager

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, _Callum said:

I have attached a screenshot of Task Manager

Thank you.

 

Looks like Windows update is running and chewing up the drive

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-modules-installer-worker-high-cpu-disk-usage/#:~:text=Windows Modules Installer Worker High CPU or High Disk Usage&text=2] The usage may also,scan your computer for malware.

 

[_Callum]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Thank you.

 

Looks like Windows update is running and chewing up the drive

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/windows-modules-installer-worker-high-cpu-disk-usage/#:~:text=Windows Modules Installer Worker High CPU or High Disk Usage&text=2] The usage may also,scan your computer for malware.

 

Thank you, I did look at Windows Update and it wasn't doing anything but it was probably doing it without saying. I'll try stopping the service and see if that helps. 

[Radium_Angel]

1 minute ago, _Callum said:

Thank you, I did look at Windows Update and it wasn't doing anything but it was probably doing it without saying. I'll try stopping the service and see if that helps. 

Or, if you know your system is up to date, temporarily disable the service, see if disk usage returns to normal