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Fast system choked by slow HDD

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  • 18-01-2008 1:39pm
    #1
    squibs
    Closed Accounts Posts: 975 ✭✭✭


    I have a system with a dual core athlon 4000, 2Gb of RAM, and a Maxtor 250Gb HDD with about 70Gb used. Problem is that the thing is sluggish as a stoned snail. It seems to spend most of it's time grinding away on the HDD, making the system very unresponsive, even though theres 1.5Gb RAM free and the CPU is 95% idle.

    A S.M.A.R.T. HDD health checker reckons the drive is ok. Virus and spyware checks (DATs up to date) show no infections. Any idea what might be up?


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    #2
    zAbbo
    Registered Users Posts: 11,987 ✭✭✭✭zAbbo


    Try using Diskmon to find out more on whats accessing your HDD.

    Try reading this article - http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Software_Utilities/What_is_accessing_my_hard_drive_when_I%27m_not_using_my_PC%3F.html

    Do you just have a single HDD, with OS + Apps on same HDD?

    Have you got virtual memory configured for that amount of ram? sounds like it's possibly paging a lot?

    Can you configure the HDD, some have acoustic/performance settings which have a notable impact.

    Failing all that, a defrag usually helps.

    //Edit - Disabling Indexing Service might help - start > run > services.msc - Indexing Service (Disable)


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    #3
    DonkeyStyle \o/
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,145 ✭✭✭DonkeyStyle \o/


    I've had some luck in the past disabling SMART in the BIOS... for some reason my last harddrive hated it and would sit there choking for ages before giving me a directory listing... disabling SMART solved it 100%. (the drive has functioned flawlessly for about 2 years now)

    You'd also want to make sure the drive isn't running in PIO mode... have a look in the device manager and go into the properties of your IDE controllers, it should tell you there if it's running in DMA mode or PIO mode.
    If it's in PIO, try'n change it to DMA... or if you can't then (re)install your motherboard chipset drivers and check again.

    Make sure the drive isn't making any unusual noises... weird clicking/clunking over and over while it chokes and freezes on a read... could be the drive dying.

    It's always worth checking for broken pins on your harddrive and maybe swapping the cable out... just to make sure.


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    #4
    DonkeyStyle \o/
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,145 ✭✭✭DonkeyStyle \o/


    zabbo wrote: »
    //Edit - Disabling Indexing Service might help - start > run > services.msc - Indexing Service (Disable)
    Yeah I agree with you there... additionally, I disable the system restore service... IMO it's a dirty f*cking useless pig of a process.


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    #5
    squibs
    Closed Accounts Posts: 975 ✭✭✭squibs


    Thanks for the responses. I had already disabled indexing, and it was defragged recently.

    That diskmon utility should give some more info on what is happening.


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