Large File Transfers Crashes Windows

[ronbo613]

I started having a problem with Windows 7 crashing when I transfer large files from one hard drive to another. As you can see in my sig, I have a number of hard drives and it's pretty much the same deal for all of them The large file transfer(usually 2G or larger), starts out fine, then slows to a crawl, then freezes the system. Sometimes it does it, sometimes it doesn't. I searched for a reason, but there doesn't seem to be any definitive solution.

Since it's the same for all the drives, it might be an issue with the operating system or motherboard, I'm not sure. This is the kind of problem that can have a number of causes, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas.

 

[Elixer]

What does event viewer show ?
I would also test the RAM with memtest86+ running overnight, to make sure there are 0 errors.

 

[C1]

WIN 7 is VISTA.

The issue you describe reminds me of why I eventually downgraded to XP.

I do lots of video and that requires manipulation and management of rather large files.

Long story short, VISTA seems to have issues running with certain hardware (can be network and/or file handling particularly with external drives).

At the time, the easiest solution was to go to XP, but for you now it might be to try Win 10.

 

[XavierMace]

WIN 7 is VISTA.

The issue you describe reminds me of why I eventually downgraded to XP.

I do lots of video and that requires manipulation and management of rather large files.

Long story short, VISTA seems to have issues running with certain hardware (can be network and/or file handling particularly with external drives).

At the time, the easiest solution was to go to XP, but for you now it might be to try Win 10.

LOLWUT?

OP: Which drives are hooked to which ports and are these copies transferring files between drives on the same chipset or split between the two?

 

[ronbo613]

OP: Which drives are hooked to which ports and are these copies transferring files between drives on the same chipset or split between the two?

All the SATA ports on the mobo have drives connected; four Intel, two Marvell and there is one drive connected to a PCI-E SATA card. The file transfer problems occur on all the drives. The problem seems worse when I "cut and paste" as opposed to "copy and paste", but because the crashes are so random, I can't be sure. The event viewer has no record of any problems, but that may be a problem as well.

I added a new video card not long ago that takes a six pin power connection. Is it possible that the 750w PSU is failing or does not have enough juice for all these hard drives and the video card? What part of the process would the RAM play in transferring files from disc to disc?

 

[mikeymikec]

The data goes via RAM disk to disk unless I'm very much mistaken.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_memory_access

Could the problem be PSU related but more about the power connectors? Could you disconnect all unnecessary disks for a test, leave two connected but with different SATA power cables? If that works, move up to using two on the same cable, and so on.

 

[Dahak]

I would boot a live linux like ubuntu, install it to a flash drive and see if the issue still happens. if so it might be hardware related, if not might point more to os related.

Now when you say it does it to all drives. have you tried each drive individually. ie
Drive1 copy to Drive 2
Drive1 copy to Drive 3
Drive1 copy to drive 4,5,6
Drive2 copy ....... ect

 

[ronbo613]

The data goes via RAM disk to disk unless I'm very much mistaken.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_memory_access

Could the problem be PSU related but more about the power connectors? Could you disconnect all unnecessary disks for a test, leave two connected but with different SATA power cables? If that works, move up to using two on the same cable, and so on.

I don't think the RAM is the problem, but I'll run Memtest to be sure.

I was going to unplug a couple drives and see if the problem persists.

I would boot a live linux like ubuntu, install it to a flash drive and see if the issue still happens. if so it might be hardware related, if not might point more to os related.

Now when you say it does it to all drives. have you tried each drive individually. ie
Drive1 copy to Drive 2
Drive1 copy to Drive 3
Drive1 copy to drive 4,5,6
Drive2 copy ....... ect

I've been backing up data, transferring files from one drive to another, but I have not done a methodical transfer of the same files. Pretty sure the issue is common to all disc drives.

Might have to try the linux boot.

 

[mikeymikec]

It seems a bit too specific to be RAM, but it's worth getting out of the way (e.g. overnight as someone else suggested).

Is this the system spec that's in your sig? Has it been working for some time then recently started going up the creek?

 

[ronbo613]

Is this the system spec that's in your sig? Has it been working for some time then recently started going up the creek?

Yes, that's my system in the sig. I don't move very large files all the time but I do move fairly large MP4 video files(1-5G) on a regular basis and never had a problem. When I move a larger quantity of large files one after another this problem seems to happen. The problem may have been around for awhile, I just never noticed it.

The problem is kind of random as well. This morning, after booting up the computer, I moved the same files that crashed my rig yesterday and they transferred very quickly and without issue. I monitored the situation with HW Monitor and the Windows Resource Monitor and saw nothing unusual. No problems when the computer is cold, but chokes after being on all day; a temperature issue somewhere? Or just another random situation?

This looks like the kind of annoying, but thankfully, non-critical problem that is going to take some time and observation to figure out.

 

[sm625]

Back when I was using XP, I had to copy my files in blocks becasue that sort of thing would happen if I tried to copy more than about 3-4 GB in one operation. Never saw this problem with 7. Shrug. Try killing processes until you are left with the barebones and then try copying. Also, you could try copying from one partition to another partition on the same drive. If that works better that might tell you something.

 

[ronbo613]

Back when I was using XP, I had to copy my files in blocks becasue that sort of thing would happen if I tried to copy more than about 3-4 GB in one operation. Never saw this problem with 7. Shrug. Try killing processes until you are left with the barebones and then try copying. Also, you could try copying from one partition to another partition on the same drive. If that works better that might tell you something.

Really nothing else running besides the basics and the copying process. The system crashed while copying from one folder to another on the same drive.

I've searched this matter and there seems to be so many different scenarios, going to have to carry on with the computer work and look for random irregularities that may or may not be part of the problem. If it is a sputtering hardware failure, time will tell. If it's a Windows thing, well, Windows.

 

[mikeymikec]

No problems when the computer is cold, but chokes after being on all day; a temperature issue somewhere? Or just another random situation?

Sounds to me like a failing component, a cap in the PSU perhaps. I usually see it the other way around, that a computer fails in the first fifteen minutes of a cold start, then will run fine afterwards, it means that a component acts up when its not at its "ideal" temp (either a more contracted or expanded state).

Have you tried more generic tests to stress the PC, like Prime95?

 

[GlacierFreeze]

I'm guessing Mobo or PSU.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are you running anti-virus?

 

[ronbo613]

Have you tried more generic tests to stress the PC, like Prime95?

I've been running Prime 95 for the past few hours and watching Hardware Monitor; no failures and all the voltage and temperature readings are normal.

I'm guessing Mobo or PSU.

I hope it's not the motherboard. I know this computer is getting old, but it still works fine and I was hoping to get into the Windows 10 era with it.

Are you running anti-virus?

Yes. Eset NOD32. Probably the only non "core" thing that runs at startup.

 

[ArisVer]

Try with a different file manager, not the Windows one.

 

[ronbo613]

Try with a different file manager, not the Windows one.

I move a lot of files around between a number of drives, if there is a better alternative to Windows Explorer, I'd be willing to give it a try.

Any suggestions as to a good replacement file manager for Win 7?

 

[Puffnstuff]

The last time I had issues with file transfers there was a failing component. W7 shouldn't have any issues with moving large files, I've done it before without incident.

 

[bigboxes]

I'd say failing mobo, but could be PSU. I'd hook up a working PSU and see if the problem goes away. If not, I'd suspect the mobo.

 

[ronbo613]

I'd say failing mobo, but could be PSU. I'd hook up a working PSU and see if the problem goes away. If not, I'd suspect the mobo.

Anything but the motherboard...

 

[ArisVer]

File managers. I only know of CubicExplorer and xyplorer and I believe there are many around. I have installed the former in Windows 7 but have not really used it.

Something worth mentioning. Suppose I have ten files and I want to copy them. If I copy file 1, then file 2, then file 3 (etc), BEFORE the first operation finishes, file copy starts to crawl and sometimes (most of the times?) stops/crashes. If I select all of them they are copied fine without problems.

 

[mikeymikec]

If it was a file manager issue, 999/1000 you could do Ctrl+Alt+Del, kill explorer and restart it.

I've been running Prime 95 for the past few hours and watching Hardware Monitor; no failures and all the voltage and temperature readings are normal.

Hmm, I'm leaning towards the board now but it still could be the PSU. Have you tried either a live CD (Linux) and testing with that, as well as trying a transfer to each disk combination, and disconnecting disks to as few a number at a time as possible? I think if the last option made a difference then it still could be the PSU.

 

[jkauff]

The system crashed while copying from one folder to another on the same drive.

I often get slowdowns when the drive is trying to read and write at the same time, especially with large video files.

I'm wondering why you're doing this. It doesn't make sense to back up to the same drive, you'll be totally screwed if the drive goes bad. Why do you need two copies on the same drive?

 

[Mushkins]

Are you running anything that could be saturating your read/write on the disk otherwise? Not the same thing, but there's a bug with utorrent on windows 8.1 where you add a large (5gb+) torrent to the download list and windows defender goes NUTS and totally saturates your disk read/write to the point where the system locks up.

If something is saturating your disk IO, your file transfers could simply be "waiting" for their turn to read/write and ultimately timing out or crashing explorer. I'd definitely test with a linux live cd to see if its a software issue before replacing a motherboard.