Large Storage Drive using up a lot of CPU power

[chuckywang]

Hello, I have a rig (see sig) that has my primary 80 gig hard drive plus a 160 gig storage drive. The storage drive is almost full (9 gigs left). Whenever I access that drive through Windows Explorer, even just viewing the files on that drive (almost all the files are in the root directory of the storage drive), it always utilizes a lot of CPU power. I have a 2.4 Ghz P4, overclocked to 3.0 Ghz (but this also happens when not overclocking). Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Is this a documented problem with Windows XP Pro?

Thanks.

 

[Budman]

Make sure DMA is enabled on that drive,sounds like it's disabled.

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.aspx?i=67

 

[DaveSimmons]

You probably have a lot of archives in the root, and XP seems to try to be "helpful" and look at them for you whenever you navigate to the drive.

Just create some folders and drag files into them, and see if that helps. You also might be able to find things faster if you don't pile everything together in one spot.

 

[MobiusPizza]

Originally posted by: Budman
Make sure DMA is enabled on that drive,sounds like it's disabled.

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.aspx?i=67

Unlikely, Windows XP enables DMA by default


Check your chipset/IDE controller drivers.

 

[imported_Phil]

The problem is 99% likely to be that XP is attempting to query the files in the root of the drive - if you have a lot of video files that change on a regular basis, Windows will make thumbnails of those movies. The easiest way to stop this is to turn off Tiles or Thumbnails view - use List or Icons and you should be set.

Try a chkdsk /f too.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: Phil
The problem is 99% likely to be that XP is attempting to query the files in the root of the drive - if you have a lot of video files that change on a regular basis, Windows will make thumbnails of those movies. The easiest way to stop this is to turn off Tiles or Thumbnails view - use List or Icons and you should be set.

Try a chkdsk /f too.

Even if I view 'Details' and not 'Thumbnails'?

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: Phil
The problem is 99% likely to be that XP is attempting to query the files in the root of the drive - if you have a lot of video files that change on a regular basis, Windows will make thumbnails of those movies. The easiest way to stop this is to turn off Tiles or Thumbnails view - use List or Icons and you should be set.

Try a chkdsk /f too.

Even if I view 'Details' and not 'Thumbnails'?

Details should be okay.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
You probably have a lot of archives in the root, and XP seems to try to be "helpful" and look at them for you whenever you navigate to the drive.

Just create some folders and drag files into them, and see if that helps. You also might be able to find things faster if you don't pile everything together in one spot.

Yeah, putting them in folders is faster, but it's still slower than normal. Even simple things like highlighting files and scrolling up and down takes up a lot of CPU power (like 40-70%).