Computer sluggish since adding new HDD

[PascalT]

I just added a 750gb Seagate HDD to my setup and ever since it has been sluggish, especially in photoshop, but also opening up applications and overall use has been slower in speed.

I have a C: drive partitioned into 2 (C:/E and the Seagate is alone on H:. I use NTFS on both drives.

I have 2gb of RAM, using Win XP. I am using the current settings:

Processor Scheduling: Programs
Memory Usage: Programs

Total paging file size: 2750mb

C: 250-250mb
H: 2500mb-2500mb

What would be the best way to set this up? I have tried a couple of different ways but none seemed smooth. I use Photoshop and big files a lot and all of those files are located on H:.

thanks!

 

[jdw2]

Is the system only slow when you are accessing files on that new Seagate? I've seen hard drives perform very slowly when they have lots of bad sectors on them.
Seagate HDD Utility

 

[PascalT]

Hey,

no it's sluggish all around, even going through my firefox bookmarks there's some delay, or switching windows from program to program. It has only been happening since I got the new HD, which is weird to say the least. I checked for bad sectors but none were found.

Any other ideas? Thanks

 

[jdw2]

Have you tried unplugging the Segate from your computer to confirm that the slowness is indeed directly caused by it?

Another thing to check is to see if DMA is enabled:

Device Manger --> IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers --> right click on the IDE channels and go to properties --> advanced tab

 

[PascalT]

I might have found the issue. The Barracuda 11 comes with the jumper set at 1.5gb/s operation by default. I removed it and now it's at 3gb/s. Weird that they do that since most recent mobos have SATA II.

 

[PascalT]

Looks like it didn't fix it after all. I am currently using photoshop with a smallish file and stuff is laggy now. Just minimizing -> maximizing a window has a delay and even typing this is laggy. I have no clue what the problem could be. I've checked my HD for bad clusters, deleted my temp files, defragged all my drives..

any other ideas?

 

[jdw2]

Did you try unplugging the Segate to confirm that it is the problem as per my previous post?

 

[RallyMaster]

I have noticed that too when I installed a 400GB WD to my AthlonXP system that already had a 80+20GB system....but it seemed to have gone away or only occurs at Windows load.

 

[PascalT]

Yes I did JDW.. it still seemed laggy to me.

When working in Photoshop today I kept the windows task manager up and watched the CPU graph for a bit. It was like a roller coaster with huge peaks. I think i will reset my bios and see what happens.

 

[jdw2]

Alright cool now we can rule out that its the Segate . Have you tried running a diagnostic on your original hard drive as well when you tested the new Segate? If not I would try that next.

Also when you look in the task manager and see those spikes, take notice of which process is hogging the CPU. I don't use Photoshop so I'm not sure how CPU intensive it is. Do you have any kind of realtime antivirus/antispyware tools running? That can also be a possibility in the slow performance. Try disabling those.

 

[PascalT]

Yes I diagnosed the 1st HDD as well, nothing there. I even tried unplugging the new HDD again just to make sure since it's the only major change I made to my system in a long while.

I disabled my AV, scanned for spyware with 5-6 different programs, I tried different pagefile settings and I reset my bios but nothing seems to fix the issue. It's really weird because it's subtle lag. For example, if I drag my MSN window I will see duplicates behind it as I do so, and if I move my mouse up and down along my Firefox bookmarks after a few seconds it lags and skips a bunch of them.

I am not sure if this is a HD or CPU or even maybe video issues. I tried updating my motherboard/video card drivers as well.

As for the CPU spikes, it seems anything I do makes it spike. Just opening My Computer gets it to 20% and typing this message will get Firefox to 15.. it just seems like a lot to me. Anything bigger of course makes it chug nicely.

Thanks for the constant help.. I am bewildered.

 

[PascalT]

I just noticed in my computer info it says : "Physical Address Extension". It's the first time I see this. Apparently there's no way to disable it? I read it can slow down HDD access times but cannot be disabled on XP SP2 machines.

 

[jdw2]

Try checking the event viewer. Maybe there will be a clue in there.

 

[PascalT]

I found some of these in there just for today:

The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk2\D. about 6 times

An error was detected on device \Device\Harddisk3\D during a paging operation. twice

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Launch permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{DCBCA92E-7DBE-4EDA-8B7B-3AAEA4DD412B}
to the user NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM SID (S-1-5-18). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool. about 50 times

The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
Aavmker4
AFD
aswSP
aswTdi
Fips
IPSec
MRxSmb
NetBIOS
NetBT
Processor
RasAcd
Rdbss
SCDEmu
Tcpip


The device Root\LEGACY_SSFS0509\0000 disappeared from the system without first being prepared for removal.


Do any of these appear relevant?

 

[PELarson]

http://technet.microsoft.com/e...nternals/bb897426.aspx

Try pagedefrag. If the paging file is sliced, diced, and juilaned it will take awhile to run so be patient.

 

[PascalT]

My pagefile is in 1 cluster. Probably because I did a system file defrag yesterday with PerfectDisk already.

thanks for the help!

 

[jaqie]

Check for this issue:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/...e/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

I have seen many XP and 2000 installs default to PIO4 mode when they sense an issue and never go back. Enable auto speed, DMA if applicable as per that MS article above on all controller ports, PATA and SATA.

 

[jdw2]

All those failing services on boot doesn't look good. Do you have a XP Pro CD? Try doing a repair install.