100% HDD Usage - Spikes to 100% while RAM usage stays low

[NoahsArk]

So this problem has been going on for about a month now, well, at least that is when I noticed the issue. I recently built a new PC and played the Battlefield 1 open beta which is when I noticed the issue. The usage is not constantly at 100% but it just seems to randomly spike. I have tried all the basic steps such as disabling the windows search feature, superfetch, and all of that fun stuff but that did not seem to work. I have 8 gigs of ram but it does not ever seem to go above 60%. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[Colif]

did you touch your page file? if not, don't, just asking

try a defrag, i doubt its the reason but it might help (unless hdd is actually an SSD, in which case, don't defrag it)

download this and use it to see whats using the hdd: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396 - this link explains how to use it: http://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson2/

 

[NoahsArk]

did you touch your page file? if not, don't, just asking

try a defrag, i doubt its the reason but it might help (unless hdd is actually an SSD, in which case, don't defrag it)

download this and use it to see whats using the hdd: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396 - this link explains how to use it: http://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson2/

I will go ahead and try that. I have not touched my page file though. Thank you for the recommendations! I'll let you know what happens.

 

[tsnor]

Google "windows resource monitor". Run that in the background with the DISK tab open. When you hit a disk spike look and see what processes have disk IO. Look to see if your disk is running hard, or if it seems to be idle. A burst of disk activity can be either a lot of IO, or a small bit of IO with IO errors (bad spot on disk, etc.) causing error redrives.

common ways to start resource monitor (from www.digitalcitizen.life/how-use-resource-monitor-windows-7) "..Type resmon.exe into the Start Menu search box and press enter. Go to "All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Resource Monitor". Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-Del on your keyboard, to open the Task Manager. Then go to the Performance tab and click on the Resource Monitor button..."

Running applications like chrome while you are gaming can cause this, so can the various background fix downloaders for flash, etc. You should be able to see who is doing it from resource monitor.

What kind of HDD did you install? Each maker has their own diagnostic test. Download the test and run it, you are looking for the long version of the SMART test. That will rule out disk failing. (If the disk is failing you want to copy off the data ASAP, bad disks don't get better, they fail hard.)

Aside, if disk storms are causing you grief and you find out they are normal windows stuff, a 500GB SSD is less than $150...

 

[NoahsArk]

Google "windows resource monitor". Run that in the background with the DISK tab open. When you hit a disk spike look and see what processes have disk IO. Look to see if your disk is running hard, or if it seems to be idle. A burst of disk activity can be either a lot of IO, or a small bit of IO with IO errors (bad spot on disk, etc.) causing error redrives.

common ways to start resource monitor (from www.digitalcitizen.life/how-use-resource-monitor-windows-7) "..Type resmon.exe into the Start Menu search box and press enter. Go to "All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Resource Monitor". Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-Del on your keyboard, to open the Task Manager. Then go to the Performance tab and click on the Resource Monitor button..."

Running applications like chrome while you are gaming can cause this, so can the various background fix downloaders for flash, etc. You should be able to see who is doing it from resource monitor.

What kind of HDD did you install? Each maker has their own diagnostic test. Download the test and run it, you are looking for the long version of the SMART test. That will rule out disk failing. (If the disk is failing you want to copy off the data ASAP, bad disks don't get better, they fail hard.)

Aside, if disk storms are causing you grief and you find out they are normal windows stuff, a 500GB SSD is less than $150...

Thank you for the response! For some reason the OfficeClickToRun.exe always seems to be the service or task that has the most disk activity on my computer. That and the updater for Bitdefender. I googled around for those things and I have seen that many people have had problems with them. I have also seen that if you disable the Office Click to Run you will not be able to open up a lot of your Microsoft Office products. I have a WD Blue 1 TB HDD; I ran the "Quick Test" in the "Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics" tool and it passed the SMART test. I guess I will run the "Extended Test" later tonight to see what results come back from that. I will post back later when I get the results. Thank you again!

 

[NoahsArk]

Google "windows resource monitor". Run that in the background with the DISK tab open. When you hit a disk spike look and see what processes have disk IO. Look to see if your disk is running hard, or if it seems to be idle. A burst of disk activity can be either a lot of IO, or a small bit of IO with IO errors (bad spot on disk, etc.) causing error redrives.

common ways to start resource monitor (from www.digitalcitizen.life/how-use-resource-monitor-windows-7) "..Type resmon.exe into the Start Menu search box and press enter. Go to "All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Resource Monitor". Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-Del on your keyboard, to open the Task Manager. Then go to the Performance tab and click on the Resource Monitor button..."

Running applications like chrome while you are gaming can cause this, so can the various background fix downloaders for flash, etc. You should be able to see who is doing it from resource monitor.

What kind of HDD did you install? Each maker has their own diagnostic test. Download the test and run it, you are looking for the long version of the SMART test. That will rule out disk failing. (If the disk is failing you want to copy off the data ASAP, bad disks don't get better, they fail hard.)

Aside, if disk storms are causing you grief and you find out they are normal windows stuff, a 500GB SSD is less than $150...

I went ahead and ran the DLGDIAG - Extended Text and it passed . Any other recommendations?

 

[tsnor]

Google "windows resource monitor". Run that in the background with the DISK tab open. When you hit a disk spike look and see what processes have disk IO. Look to see if your disk is running hard, or if it seems to be idle. A burst of disk activity can be either a lot of IO, or a small bit of IO with IO errors (bad spot on disk, etc.) causing error redrives.

common ways to start resource monitor (from www.digitalcitizen.life/how-use-resource-monitor-windows-7) "..Type resmon.exe into the Start Menu search box and press enter. Go to "All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Resource Monitor". Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-Del on your keyboard, to open the Task Manager. Then go to the Performance tab and click on the Resource Monitor button..."

Running applications like chrome while you are gaming can cause this, so can the various background fix downloaders for flash, etc. You should be able to see who is doing it from resource monitor.

What kind of HDD did you install? Each maker has their own diagnostic test. Download the test and run it, you are looking for the long version of the SMART test. That will rule out disk failing. (If the disk is failing you want to copy off the data ASAP, bad disks don't get better, they fail hard.)

Aside, if disk storms are causing you grief and you find out they are normal windows stuff, a 500GB SSD is less than $150...

I went ahead and ran the DLGDIAG - Extended Text and it passed . Any other recommendations?

That's good. Means your disk is OK.

Earlier you noted that you had a lot of disk activity from OfficeClickToRun.exe and updater for Bitdefender. Do they do enough IO to account for your bursts of disk activity? If so, temporarily turn them off to confirm.

If the IO is reasonable and you want the programs that are causing the IO then it is time to consider an SSD. WD Blue 1 TB is a fairly slow but cheap drive often used in "best pc for $500" type builds. Solid, but not fast. The WD black at 1TB used to be just a renamed blue with longer warranty, the larger black drives used to be much faster. But SSDs are so cheap now and so much faster it's hard not to get one. Samsung EVO at 240 GB ($115 Amazon) or 500 GB ($158) are good choices. Use along with your 1 TB drive.