Win 7 - Hard Drive Hangs (freezes) HELP !

velfaires

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Jan 17, 2009
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Hi! I'm having a slight issue with my self-built system that I can't seem to find an answer to online. Basically, my non-operating system hard drives (2 & 3 below) hang for 2-4 seconds when I initially try to access them. For example : After powering the pc, I can zip through HD 1 instantly after logging in. When I try to access files on HD 2 or 3, it freezes for about 2-4 seconds (Windows does not freeze). I can browse through the folders but if I try to access any file, even a notepad file, it hangs for 2-4 seconds. It seems to be waking the hard drives up or something because the hard drives don't freeze after this. They just freeze when I first try to access them.

But lets say I browse the internet for 40 minutes, then try to access HD 2 or 3, it hangs.

If I'm continuously accessing the drive, this doesn't happen. Like when I'm watching a movie on HD 2, it doesn't hang at all when I try to access other files on the drive (like 2 hours into the movie). What could be causing this problem? I used to run WinXP on a different rig with worse disks, and I was able to access everything instantly. Any thoughts?

Here is my setup & thanks in advance for any advice or help with this issue :


HD 1 (operating system) : 80gb Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2GC
HD 2 (3 partitions) : WD 640gb - 6401AALS
HD 3 (5 partitions) : WD 1TB - 1002FAEX

i7 920
P6TD 02
XFX 5870
X-FI Titanium Pro
6GB DDR3 Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D
Pioneer 22+ DVDR
Silverstone ST1000-P
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
HAF 932
 
Solution
Chances are they're being spun down due to Windows Power Management. Check the "advanced" section of your power settings to see how long Windows waits before powering down disk drives and adjust it to "never" if necessary.

velfaires

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Jan 17, 2009
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I've never adjusted power settings before, thanks for leading me to this. In Win7, in my control panel, I select "Power Options" and there are 3 plans : Balanced, Power Saver, and High Performance.

It is currently set to Balanced. "Put The Computer to Sleep" is set to 30 minutes. Under advanced power settings, "Turn off hard disk after" is set to 20 minutes.

If I select High Performance, "Put The Computer to Sleep" is set to never, "Turn off hard disk after" is set to 20 minutes.

The only setting I've changed thus far is under the Balanced plan, setting the hard drives to sleep "Never". Will update with results later -


The bigger (newer) question is - Which plan should I select? If I select High Performance, will it wear down my pc? Will it put greater strain on my mobo, cpu, or disks? What are the benefits?

 

velfaires

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Jan 17, 2009
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After a couple of tests, adjusting the power settings fixed my problem. Thank you, I'll post in the power section about what consequences if any occur with adjusting power settings.

Thanks again for your time, I appreciate it.