Computer lagging when accessing hard drives sometimes

[fustercluck]

When I'm using applications that open up my documents (like if I'm looking for a place to extract something with winrar or if I want to add an mp3 file to my playlist in winamp) my computer seems to freeze for a bit, like when you accidentally click on the Floppy Disk drive (A and you're computer tries to access it for a while but can't find it since it's not actually there

Anyways, I don't know what it's doing, maybe it IS actually trying to read the floppy drive. If I just open windows explorer it doesn't freeze at all though, only when I'm accessing my HDD/files from other applications.

 

[Dizzymon]

Have you done a defrag of your HD? How much disk space is left? Hope there aren't any malware/spareware stuff on your system. Check it thoroughly to see what shows up.

 

[fustercluck]

My system is spyware/virus free. Haven't done a defrag in a while but I think the problem is it's stalling when trying to read the CD rom drive or something similar. It makes a big buzzing noise when the drives show up.

 

[Denithor]

I think I've seen behavior like this before, with certain CDs in the drive. When I open like Windows Explorer it spins up the DVDRW to see what's on the disc and the whole system hesitates until the action is complete.

I've never been able to figure out why, it only seems to happen with certain discs. If I leave the drive empty or have other discs in there, no problems.

 

[fustercluck]

Ah, yeah must be something to do with the disc in there (GTA4). SecureROM or some crap