I think this is all to do with file searching

lehnerus2000 · 22 Dec 2015

mipak said:

the 4 drives are all separate, all with a single partition to its maximum (save for a few meg) and all fitted internally.
the delay only happens when i'm in w/explorer details view and want to change the order of any one of the 4 columns (eg: name/size/type/date). my file/folder target can be in any of the 4 drives. as soon as i click on the particular title at the top of any one of those columns to change its order, the path name in the address bar of the file/folder in question, starts to change colour as it moves across the window from left to right and the further it goes, the slower in moves.

i've always thought this process was to do with searching thus my title at the start of this series of posts ... thumbnails & rebuilding never came into my mind and i don't remember it ever happening when i ran xp. if it didn't happen then, why now in w7?

If there are a large number of files you will see the progress highlight in the Address bar as your data is filtered.

For example, I have a directory with >1000 images in it.
When I try to sort them by "Width", there is a noticeable delay and the progress highlight appears in the Address bar.

mipak said:

i'm not sure how to check to see if there's an hdd controller problem suffice to say that all drives are always visible and accessible.

I'm not sure how you check that either.

A couple of years ago I installed a new HDD and I noticed that whenever I accessed it, there was a delay like the one you described.
I swapped the HDD SATA cable to a different SATA connector on the motherboard and the delay went away.

mipak said:

and finally, yes, there are multiple active operations running at any one time ... not many but more than one (numbers vary) ... for example, an antivirus check, music, emailing etc. etc.

I meant something like writing a video file to a partition and then trying to access (read/write) another file on the same partition (or a partition on the same HDD).

mipak · 22 Dec 2015

the first 2 points you raised to my last post is exactly the reason why i started this thread in the first place. it never happened in xp or at least, i never noticed a delay ... i'm sure i would've done. all i want to achieve is to stop the scrolling in the address bar.
the hdd controller problem ... when i put the question into google, it produced a large number of suggestions, most of which came up with a similar possible cause ... although the hard drive is physically in the computer, plugged in correctly and can be felt & heard to be working, the computer can't see it thus it can't be accessed ... there's no indication in windows explorer that it exists. in my computer, i can access all 4 drives and their contents so i've assumed that the controller is okay.
with multiple operations then my revised answer is no, i don't do anything like you suggested.
hope this clarifies.

paul1149 · 22 Dec 2015

mipak said:

my file/folder target can be in any of the 4 drives.

yes, there are multiple active operations running at any one time ... not many but more than one (numbers vary) ... for example, an antivirus check, music, emailing etc. etc.

Ok then, you have a systemic problem. To check the software, you can run Task Manager on the side to see if CPU is limiting Win Exp. when the problem occurs. Or you can run Resource Manager to watch the disk I/O more carefully.

the hdd controller problem ... when i put the question into google, it produced a large number of suggestions, most of which came up with a similar possible cause

You might be able to catch something by running GSmartControl and looking at the log tab for each drive. Or run the Conveyance Test on each of the drives if it is available.