Not sure of cause of hard drive issue

[Craig234]

For years, my hard drive has been a bit suspect, after days without a reboot especially it can get quite laggy, with long times accessing, sometimes for tiny actions.

But usually, a reboot gave it a temporary fix. Tonight, that got worse.

I rebooted, and started Rift. 'We cannot update your files and have to do a complete download'. Something like 15gb. No thank you, we'll try World of Tanks.

So I started World of Tanks, and trying to enter a match - witch it has done thousands of times ok - it took until 3 minutes into the match - and then 'server disconnected'.

Even now - after exiting world of tanks, and just posting this with almost nothing else running, the disk access has been constant for the last 10 minutes, and still is.

I've wondered, is there something going wrong with the 5 year old hard drive? Something wrong with the OS install? It's never been defragged - 15gb free of 1tb - but still.

 

[XavierMace]

It's never been defragged - 15gb free of 1tb - but still.

Depending on the OS, that's not a good start. Download HDTune and do both a benchmark and check the SMART status, that's a good place to start. You can also use Windows Resource Monitor to see how hard your disk is getting hit and what is writing to it.

If you've been suspicious of the drive for years, I hope you've been keeping good backups. That said, neither of those issues you just describe scream failing hard drive to me.

 

[Craig234]

Edit: I made a silly mistake. I had kicked off an AVG scan, which I rarely do, and forgot I had. (It's still going an hour later, crawling at 89%). Original post:

This is Windows 7 ultimate.

My suspicion has mainly been things taking longer to load until reboot.

That doesn't suggest hardware a lot, but I've always had a little suspicion there might be part of the drive having to be re-read as one factor.

Task manager doesn't offer any candidates - I'll check what you said.

 

[mikeymikec]

I've wondered, is there something going wrong with the 5 year old hard drive? ... It's never been defragged - 15gb free of 1tb - but still.

D: Are you trying to kill this drive? I bet that for many files the disk is having to do about two thousand more seeks than it needs to.

Please tell me that you have your important data backed up.

The main thing I wonder might be wrong with your OS install is your probable use of a pirated copy of Windows that might have been rooted from day one. I can't think of any other reason to pay approx. four times more for a Windows licence apart from Bitlocker.

 

[Craig234]

D: Are you trying to kill this drive? I bet that for many files the disk is having to do about two thousand more seeks than it needs to.

Please tell me that you have your important data backed up.

The main thing I wonder might be wrong with your OS install is your probable use of a pirated copy of Windows that might have been rooted from day one. I can't think of any other reason to pay approx. four times more for a Windows licence apart from Bitlocker.

"your probable use of a pirated copy of Windows "

Thanks for that slanderous and false statement.

Actually, it's a legal copy from a friend who works for Microsoft, from the Microsoft Store.

No, I've been meaning to pick a method to backup. I bought an external drive (a couple years ago) but haven't installed it.

The system is also on 24 hours a day, that isn't good for the drive either.

I suspect I should try to defragment. Pick a de-fragmenter and free enough space, some need less than the OS de-fragmenter.

 

[VirtualLarry]

No, I've been meaning to pick a method to backup. I bought an external drive (a couple years ago) but haven't installed it.

This is how people lose data.

I suspect I should try to defragment. Pick a de-fragmenter and free enough space, some need less than the OS de-fragmenter.

This is also how people lose data.

1. Backup!
2. Surface scan and SMART check
3. Only then, if you determine that your HDD is in perfect health, THEN Defrag.

 

[daveybrat]

First you need to free up at least 15% or more of the drive space. Then download and run this defragging program:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/auslogics_disk_defrag.html

Auslogics Disk Defrag 5.0.0.0

I use it every day at work, it's a fantastic free defrag program that is also very fast.

 

[mikeymikec]

"your probable use of a pirated copy of Windows "

Thanks for that slanderous and false statement.

It's highly probable, given the lack of features in Ultimate as well as its high price tag that anyone using it pirated it. You didn't, good for you, that's all that needed to be said. I would be surprised you can find one per thousand people on this forum who have never used pirated software, so acting like I just insulted your honour and you demand satisfaction is just a bit of an over-reaction IMHO.

No, I've been meaning to pick a method to backup. I bought an external drive (a couple years ago) but haven't installed it.

You could just drag and drop your data onto an external drive for now and decide on a longer term backup solution later.

The system is also on 24 hours a day, that isn't good for the drive either.

I suspect I should try to defragment. Pick a de-fragmenter and free enough space, some need less than the OS de-fragmenter.

I definitely would not defragment the drive until you've backed up the data; it's extra stress on a drive that you already consider to be suspect.

I'm a bit surprised by your comment that it runs 24/7 yet has never been defragged. The default setting on Win7 normally ensures that it would have been defragged on a regular basis in the background, I've seen it plenty of times in the Windows event log that Windows reported defragging a drive even while I was using the machine (for something light, e.g. web browsing).

I have a desktop with a boot SSD and data HDD in it, and have never manually defragged the HDD. Windows reports that it was last defragged 5 days ago, about 1.5 hours after I switched on my computer.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's highly probable, given the lack of features in Ultimate as well as its high price tag that anyone using it pirated it. You didn't, good for you,

Yeah, whenever you see a laptop on CL, that comes with "Windows 7 Ultimate", it's pretty-much assured that it's pir8.

 

[Smoove910]

could there be a chance that most of your disk space is used by old 'system restore' files? It's a common issue since it's enabled by default for Windows to create one every 'X' days.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ave-disk/28648a45-ac7a-4f14-95b6-cb91021566f8

 

[mikeymikec]

The system restore facility on Windows 7 calculates its usage based on a percentage of available space; if it's working, then it should be reducing the number of shadow copies as available disk space decreases.

If I were the OP, I'd hold off on playing with system restore until I had backed up my data. Then with an admin command prompt and a good few hours to spare, I would get an admin command prompt up and do chkdsk driveletter: /f /v /r.

Check the results in event viewer > windows logs > application log > source name 'wininit' after the check has completed. Also, check SMART readings with say CrystalDiskInfo. I'd probably check the SMART readings before and after the disk check.

 

[Craig234]

It's highly probable, given the lack of features in Ultimate as well as its high price tag that anyone using it pirated it. You didn't, good for you, that's all that needed to be said. I would be surprised you can find one per thousand people on this forum who have never used pirated software, so acting like I just insulted your honour and you demand satisfaction is just a bit of an over-reaction IMHO.

No, 'if you are using a pirated copy, then...' is all that needed to be said. Not 'you probably are using a pirated copy', making assumptions and insinuations that are slanderous.

People tend to project. Liars say 'everyone lies'. Thieves say 'everyone steals if they get an opportunity'. You say '999 in 1000 pirate'.

And then unable to understand why you did something wrong, you predictably turn it into an attack, I'm over-reacting. No, I'm not.

Instead of defending what shouldn't be defended, try to listen and learn how you did something wrong so you do it better next time.

I don't think you meant to offend, and that you are trying to be helpful otherwise.

You could just drag and drop your data onto an external drive for now and decide on a longer term backup solution later.

I definitely would not defragment the drive until you've backed up the data; it's extra stress on a drive that you already consider to be suspect.
I'm a bit surprised by your comment that it runs 24/7 yet has never been defragged. The default setting on Win7 normally ensures that it would have been defragged on a regular basis in the background, I've seen it plenty of times in the Windows event log that Windows reported defragging a drive even while I was using the machine (for something light, e.g. web browsing).

I have a desktop with a boot SSD and data HDD in it, and have never manually defragged the HDD. Windows reports that it was last defragged 5 days ago, about 1.5 hours after I switched on my computer.

That's news to me. What I meant was, I've never manually defragged the drive. On the other hand, since it's always had about 1% free, I question if Windows did either.

 

[Craig234]

The system restore facility on Windows 7 calculates its usage based on a percentage of available space; if it's working, then it should be reducing the number of shadow copies as available disk space decreases.

If I were the OP, I'd hold off on playing with system restore until I had backed up my data. Then with an admin command prompt and a good few hours to spare, I would get an admin command prompt up and do chkdsk driveletter: /f /v /r.

Check the results in event viewer > windows logs > application log > source name 'wininit' after the check has completed. Also, check SMART readings with say CrystalDiskInfo. I'd probably check the SMART readings before and after the disk check.

Thanks to each of the posters who are offering suggestions.

I suspect I don't have system restore activated. I think I used to and now it's off, that I went to rollback and it said I have no restore points.

Is that chkdsk /f /v /r good for the SSD as well as the hard drive?

What backups would be suggested? I could hook up the external hard drive (think I need to get a cable), or use something online...

 

[Craig234]

could there be a chance that most of your disk space is used by old 'system restore' files? It's a common issue since it's enabled by default for Windows to create one every 'X' days.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...ave-disk/28648a45-ac7a-4f14-95b6-cb91021566f8

I don't think so. I think I previously cleaned those up.

It's more like, I have over 1,000 games on Steam, and a small percent are installed I 'mean to get around to trying'.

When I go to free them up, I say 'I want that one, I want that one'. I just need to delete.

It's even worse on my PS3. I haven't loaded a game in 2 years because the drive is full with game saves, wasting PS+, and I haven't quite figured out migrating to a bigger drive.

 

[Craig234]

An example of the sort of anomalous behavior:

I was on Amazon, and clicked the button to change the ship-to. It opened a window to list the options, but just sat with the spinning wheel forever, not showing them.

I clicked the button again and it immediately popped up the window with the options.

I'll see sort of delays and timeouts that don't make much sense sometimes as server issues, and it makes me wonder, 'is the OS trying to read a bad spot on the drive?'

It's easy to see that if that WAS the case, playing a game could see bad lag if it's trying to load information and hit such an area. Not at all sure if that's the case, though.

There's probably a diagnostic somewhere that reports HD areas with slow response.

 

[Ketchup]

I have seen NFTS drives be 99% full and still operate. They wine about running out of space, but they still operate (very slowly).

Having said that, I don't know that there is much I can do to help you until you get the space issue taken care of. Anything you do to test or just plain use this drive is going to take a good bit of time, so cleaning up the drive or transporting data to a larger drive should be your first priority.

 

[Craig234]

What's a quick easy way to back up some directories?

Windows explorer copy to the SSD? Cloud point to directory and it's copied?

 

[Ketchup]

Cloud takes forever, but would work as a set it and forget it I suppose, and many places offer free cloud space (if you trust them). A spare drive would be faster, but might take more work.

 

[Craig234]

I'm thinking of just backing up some more important things that don't take a lot of space before defragging, but a nice easy way to do it would be handy.

Hopefully nothing goes wrong, I don't even know where my Windows copy is now (somewhere in clutter), and would have to have to try to rebuild it.

 

[sm625]

One thing is certain running a 1 TB drive with 15GB free space is going to shorten your life. You should never run with less than 15% free space and you should keep it defragged, if you want it to live a long time. The free space itself isnt that much of an issue, its jsut that its near impossible to defrag with so little free space.