SSD a lot slower after installing secondary HDD

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hekachu

hekachu

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Sep 18, 2013
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Hello Tom's Hardware!

I recently built a gaming computer, and decided to speed it up a bit by installing the OS on an SSD and keep games and other files on a secondary HDD. I chose the Kingston HyperX 3K 120Gb, since it's gotten pretty good reviews, and I didn't want to pay too much.
At the first startup I made sure that AHCI mode was enabled, and installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 64-bit. I got it up and running and immediately got amazed by the quick OS loading times and general responsiveness. However, after later installing an old reformatted hard drive (500Gb 7200rpm... it's about 5 years old so probably SATA 1 or 2?) the windows startup takes a lot longer. After signing in on my Windows profile the loading increased from nearly instant completion to about 20 seconds (it's not a horrible wait, but I bought an SSD for a reason) and the general responsiveness decreased a little... why is this?
I tried connecting the secondary HDD with a SATA 6Gb/s cable to both a 6Gb/s slot and a 3Gb/s slot in the mobo, to see if it made any difference, but it didn't.

Thanks in advance. :)
 
Solution
vmem
what did you put on the HDD? if there are any software components that are set to start at boot, then your boot times will increase simply because you need to wait for information to be fetched from the HDD as well as your SSD.
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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what did you put on the HDD? if there are any software components that are set to start at boot, then your boot times will increase simply because you need to wait for information to be fetched from the HDD as well as your SSD.
 
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hekachu

hekachu

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Sep 18, 2013
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Thanks for such a quick response. When I first connected the HDD it had an old windows installation and some software, but even after reformatting windows startup times were a lot slower. The HDD was completely empty... except for a partition that was probably used by the earlier installation of Vista as a "safe" copy of some sort (can't remember the correct term).
At the moment I've installed a few games on it... is it safe to remove the HDD and test if Windows would boot faster without the secondary drive?

Also, how do I make this thread unsolved? Stil new to this great forum. :)
 
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hekachu

hekachu

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Sep 18, 2013
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Alright, I'll test tomorrow, I've got too much studying to do tonight.
 
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hekachu

hekachu

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Sep 18, 2013
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RIght!

I disconnected to old HDD, and booted my pc. After signing in on my profile, it was slower than ever. So, I plugged it back where it had been, booted up the pc, and BAM: it was lightning fast!
I've no idea what caused the slowness, but I'm happy! :)
Thanks for the replies! :)

Cheers.
 
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hekachu

hekachu

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Sep 18, 2013
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UPDATE!
I didn't touch any other cables than the HDD cable, so it wasn't that...

However, it seems that the longer I keep my pc shut down, the longer it takes for windows to start and load all the stratup programs. If i close the pc and start it up again 15 minutes afterwards, windows starts in a second or so. If I keep it for a few hours powered down, it takes about 30 seconds to start. If I keep my pc shut for a day, it takes about a minute to start windows...
What is this??:??:
 
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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err, that really shouldn't be the case... what's your PSU? the only thing I can think of is a PSu warm up
 
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hekachu

hekachu

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I've got a Corsair TX650 Enthusiast Series PSU.
I was actually a little worried last sunday after working on an essay for a few hours, I noticed that there was a relatively loud buzzing from the case. I closed my pc but the buzzing continued, and I'm quite sure it came from the PSU. I could turn off the power switch on the PSU to make it silent, and turn it on again to hear the buzzing.

I kept it off for a while and read some other threads about this sort of problem on my phone, and tried plugging the power cord straight into a wall outlet, instead of a surge protector -> the buzzing stopped. I plugged it again into the surge protector and the buzzing had gone. I'll start a new thread if the buzzing returns, but haven't heard it again since then.
 
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vmem

vmem

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Feb 17, 2012
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well, I'm really not a electrician, but it seems to me that something in your PSU is not functioning properly, and is requiring some type of warm-up in order for it to send sufficient power to your PC to boot up. I would contact corsair, they're a quality company for PSUs, and should get your fixed up in no time.
 
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rounakr94

rounakr94

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Jul 28, 2013
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Make sure the sata ports to which you connected your drives(both SSDand HDD) to Master ports(usually SATA6G_01 & SATA6G_02) and not a slave port(SATA6G_03 maybe SATA6G_05) to ensure full performance. And if i were you I would get a newer sataIII HDD and throw that sataI/II HDD. Cause that hdd might die soon as its 5yrs old.
 
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hekachu

hekachu

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Sep 18, 2013
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The SSD and HDD are connected to SATA1 and SATA2 (6Gbs/s, by Intel Z77) and my Blu-Ray/DVD-drive is connected to SATA3 (3Gb/s, by Intel Z77).
SATA7 and SATA8 are also 6Gb/s, but by Asmedia ASM1061, so I made sure not to use them.

Also, the HDD seemed to be in good shape and I thought I'd save some cash... :)
let's just hope it lasts for a few more years or so. I don't really have anything else than Steam games there so if it dies, no problem, I can buy a new HDD and install the games again.
 
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