Constant 100% Hard Drive Activity

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  1. Posts : 36
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86 OEM
    Thread Starter
       #11

    Greg S said:
    richc46 said:
    Type process explorer in search, for valuable information on what program is running and using resources.
    Hmm, wouldn't one need to have Process Explorer on board.

    Canowyrms, what security apps do you use?
    Comodo internet security.


    I have installed process explorer and have been monitoring it both when my hard drives are normal and when the activity is spiked to 100%. I do not know which drive it is, but I know its not my main (C) drive, because I experience no performance loss.
    What exactly is it that I'm looking for? I have looked in my processes to see what process uses the most, and nothing I terminate seems to affect the drive activity. Ive even had it to the point where my ATI display drivers have been exited just in an attempt to see what causes it.
    The problem really worries me because I leave my computer on A LOT over night and when I'm out for the day
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4,517
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #12

    Couple things it may be:
    Do you have Music/Videos/Pictures Etc on another Drive other than C?

    Its possible it Windows Media Player is updating librarys, fetching artwork,thumbnails, applying tags etc to your media in its librarys.
    If you interupt it before its finished it will just resume later.
    However, once it finishes, it should not do anymore scanning unless you add more to the librarys.

    Of course other things are Indexing, Pre-fetch
    (but these should calm down after the initial scan/setup)

    Another thought:
    Windows back up isnt running is it?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7
    Windows 7
       #13

    Wishmaster said:
    Couple things it may be:
    Do you have Music/Videos/Pictures Etc on another Drive other than C?

    Its possible it Windows Media Player is updating librarys, fetching artwork,thumbnails, applying tags etc to your media in its librarys.
    If you interupt it before its finished it will just resume later.
    However, once it finishes, it should not do anymore scanning unless you add more to the librarys.

    Of course other things are Indexing, Pre-fetch
    (but these should calm down after the initial scan/setup)

    Another thought:
    Windows back up isnt running is it?
    Oh, that reminds me.

    I had hard drive activity at times when I wasn't coming back from sleep/hibernation. I fixed that by disabling Superfetch, haven't had that problem since then and performance hasn't suffered at all.

    My problem now is hard drive activity for a minute or two after coming out of hiberantion.

    So, yesterday I completely disabled hibrid sleep via an elevated command console. Coming back today took a fraction of the time, but still wasn't instant like it was with XP. I'd say the change from disabling hibernation was from about 60 seconds to 15 seconds.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,289
       #14

    Hi Flubb,

    Process Explorer is totally inadequate for identifying whats using your hard-drive.

    Open the Resource Monitor included with Windows 7, Its capable of showing exactly what applications are using what Hard-Drive and what files plus its current total usage.

    Just type Resource Monitor into the start-menu and open it, from there you can identify whats causing all the hard-drive activity

    Constant 100% Hard Drive Activity-resmon.jpg

    Steven
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 36
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86 OEM
    Thread Starter
       #15

    Wishmaster said:
    Couple things it may be:
    Do you have Music/Videos/Pictures Etc on another Drive other than C?

    Its possible it Windows Media Player is updating librarys, fetching artwork,thumbnails, applying tags etc to your media in its librarys.
    If you interupt it before its finished it will just resume later.
    However, once it finishes, it should not do anymore scanning unless you add more to the librarys.

    Of course other things are Indexing, Pre-fetch
    (but these should calm down after the initial scan/setup)

    Another thought:
    Windows back up isnt running is it?
    I do have a lot of media on the other 3 drives but I don't think my windows media player is up to the tasks you listed. I attempted the WMP11 modification and now the network service crashes on boot. I havent touched WMP in ages. I will take a look at the settings and get back to you on that one. As for indexing and prefetch.. I know indexing is disabled, and I have just disabled prefetch. As far as I know, windows backup is disabled. I prefer Acronis :) I will post back with any new information.

    Flubb said:
    Oh, that reminds me.

    I had hard drive activity at times when I wasn't coming back from sleep/hibernation. I fixed that by disabling Superfetch, haven't had that problem since then and performance hasn't suffered at all.

    My problem now is hard drive activity for a minute or two after coming out of hiberantion.

    So, yesterday I completely disabled hibrid sleep via an elevated command console. Coming back today took a fraction of the time, but still wasn't instant like it was with XP. I'd say the change from disabling hibernation was from about 60 seconds to 15 seconds.
    I have never made use of sleep and/or hibernate.

    dmex said:
    Hi Flubb,

    Process Explorer is totally inadequate for identifying whats using your hard-drive.

    Open the Resource Monitor included with Windows 7, Its capable of showing exactly what applications are using what Hard-Drive and what files plus its current total usage.

    Just type Resource Monitor into the start-menu and open it, from there you can identify whats causing all the hard-drive activity

    Steven
    Thanks dmex! I will keep an eye on this!
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 1,289
       #16

    Canowyrms said:
    Thanks dmex! I will keep an eye on this!
    LOL, I have no idea why I thought Flubb was the thread starter or why I addressed him instead
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 173
    Windows 7
       #17

    Check out this article about optimizing for better performance: Optimize Windows 7 for better performance- this should help.

    Tara
    Windows Outreach Team
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 36
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86 OEM
    Thread Starter
       #18

    Im not seeing anything noticeably different before and during the activity spike unfortunately..
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 10
    Win7 & XP
       #19

    Download xperf and run these commands:
    >xperf -on fileio+disk_io_init+drivers -maxfile 30 -filemode circular
    <wait for a spike, and type the following command a couple of seconds after the spike>
    >xperf -d diskspike.etl

    Then upload diskspike.etl so that we can have a look at it.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,309
    Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit
       #20

    it is possible there is a memory leak if this happens and the system runs out of physical memory it will use virtual memory AKA the swap file which resides on the hard drive this could explain the hard drive activity
      My Computer


 
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