Hard disk always active and computer is very slow

[Gil]

Hi all.
I'm running Win7 Ultimate 64bit.
This is my rig:
CPU: Intel E8500 @ 3.45GHz (OC)
RAM: OCZ Titanium 2x2GB @ 1152MHz FSB432x8.0
MB: Gigabyte EX38-DS4 (BIOS F3)
GPU: ATI Palit 4870 1GB Dual Edition

I have WD HDD 500GB Sata2 and WD HDD 160GB Sata1 for my videos and music only.
The main HDD has two partitions C (100GB) and E (400GB).

I believe my computer is quite good and fast. At least it used to be. From some reason in the past month the HDD is grinding like a maniac and it makes everything slow. After each restart I have to wait at least 5 minutes for it to relax so I can launch applications.

I haven't installed anything dubious and I regularly check for viruses with NOD32 and spywares with SpyBot and also use windows defender and firewall. I also use Ccleaner for registry and cache files cleanup.

At system startup I'm running these applications:
1. Windows Sidebar
2. RocketDock
3. Stikynotes
4. Realtek ravcpl64.exe (sound thingy)
5. ESET NOD32

Disabling these apps didn't solve nor improve anything. My computer is powerful enough to handle these apps quickly.

These are the non-windows services that are running on startup:



And this is a screenshot of my HDD activity after startup:



Not long ago I could launch several apps simultaneously and they'd show up very quickly (firefox, office outlook, MSN messenger, Skype, Photoshop CS4).
I used to wait 10 seconds for Photoshop CS4 64bit to fully open with all the additional plugins, now I have to wait about 30 seconds!

Please don't tell me to reinstall Windows. But I'm open for other suggestions

Anymore info that can shed some light?

Thanks

Gil

 

[not so gray matter]

It sounds like you've got hardware issues...

Download this cd/dvd iso and boot from it: Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

Once you've booted from it, use the hardware diagonistic utilities to diagnose problems.

 

[Gil]

It sounds like you've got hardware issues...

Download this cd/dvd iso and boot from it: Ultimate Boot CD - Overview

Once you've booted from it, use the hardware diagonistic utilities to diagnose problems.

Can you please provide me with a link for an ISO file? I have no idea how to create a boot CD from EXE files like the website provides. The other links of ISO files lead me to a forum and I didn't see where to download from.
Thanks.

 

[CommonTater]

Not long ago I could launch several apps simultaneously and they'd show up very quickly (firefox, office outlook, MSN messenger, Skype, Photoshop CS4).
I used to wait 10 seconds for Photoshop CS4 64bit to fully open with all the additional plugins, now I have to wait about 30 seconds!

Please don't tell me to reinstall Windows. But I'm open for other suggestions

Anymore info that can shed some light?

Thanks

Gil

When's the last time you defragmented your disk?

Defraggler - File and Disk Defragmentation - Free Download

Also what antivirus are you using? Some of them (Norton in particular) can lag a system almost to death.

 

[not so gray matter]

First go to this page and choose one of the ISO links to download from (NOT .exe or .zip) If you can't find one, use this link: ISO Image

Now that you have the ISO image, download an ISO burner like IMGBurn

Insert a blank CD, Open IMGBurn, Choose Write, Choose the ISO, Burn at a slow speed.

 

[Ztruker]

They are all there, ZIP, EXE and ISO. Click on Download UBCD on the left then scroll down and select the one you want to download.

 

[squall leonhart]

just an idea... but make sure UDMA is enabled in device manager. PIO Compatibility can explain all the symptoms.

 

[Gil]

Not long ago I could launch several apps simultaneously and they'd show up very quickly (firefox, office outlook, MSN messenger, Skype, Photoshop CS4).
I used to wait 10 seconds for Photoshop CS4 64bit to fully open with all the additional plugins, now I have to wait about 30 seconds!

Please don't tell me to reinstall Windows. But I'm open for other suggestions

Anymore info that can shed some light?

Thanks

Gil

When's the last time you defragmented your disk?

Defraggler - File and Disk Defragmentation - Free Download

Also what antivirus are you using? Some of them (Norton in particular) can lag a system almost to death.

I use defrag every two weeks. Last time was two day ago. I wrote that I'm using NOD32 as anti-virus software.

 

[Gil]

just an idea... but make sure UDMA is enabled in device manager. PIO Compatibility can explain all the symptoms.

Where do I find UDMA? Can you please elaborate?

notsograymatter I'm downloading now. Thanks. I hope I'll have time to run the test this evening.

 

[squall leonhart]

This depends on the SATA/IDE controller in use, can you post what is listed under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers?

 

[Gil]

This depends on the SATA/IDE controller in use, can you post what is listed under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers?

There you go:




By the way, how to I use the UBCD after I load it?

 

[Desslok]

I had a similar issue and traced it to being multiple AV and antispyware. It seemed like there was some contention between them, and hte drive was just constantly churning. It seems that the antispyware apps are doing more "real time" scanning now whereas before they just scanned when you ran them. I uninstalled all of them, and just loaded MS Security Essentials and it is fine now.

 

[Gil]

I had a similar issue and traced it to being multiple AV and antispyware. It seemed like there was some contention between them, and hte drive was just constantly churning. It seems that the antispyware apps are doing more "real time" scanning now whereas before they just scanned when you ran them. I uninstalled all of them, and just loaded MS Security Essentials and it is fine now.

As far as I know, NOD32 real time protection works only when you save, open, execute files or browse to a website with harmful content.

Other the NOD32, I don't have real time 3rd party app protection running. I run them when I need them. Only Windows Defender loads on startup.

 

[Bill2]

If you open task manager and click resource monitor in performance task, you can see which apps are using your disk and which files they're accessing and also CPU and ethernet usage. Windows search, indexing service, superfetch, scheduled defragmentation, scheduled system restore, other scheduled tasks (check in Task scheduler) are some common culprits. Try disabling them one by one to see if it helps, then reenable the ones you want to keep.

 

[Gil]

The following services/scheduled tasks are disabled from day one:
Indexing
defrag

I have cleanmem running every 30 mintues. I use some of black-viper's recommended settings for happier computer. Disabling unwanted services.

How do I use UBCD?

 

[squall leonhart]

CleanMem?

get rid of it, such apps completely mess up the memory management on windows.

The properties for each IDE Channel will state whether DMA/UDMA or PIO is used on the Advanced Settings Tab.

following on Bill2's advice, SysInternals contains several utilities which can help find out what processes are spamming the drive.

 

[Gil]

CleanMem?

get rid of it, such apps completely mess up the memory management on windows.

The properties for each IDE Channel will state whether DMA/UDMA or PIO is used on the Advanced Settings Tab.

following on Bill2's advice, SysInternals contains several utilities which can help find out what processes are spamming the drive.

Cleanmem actually does a good job.
Regardless, what exactly should I first disable? Can you please give me detailed steps so I can produce clearer summery?

Thanks for the help so far

 

[squall leonhart]

not disable, you should ensure all the Sata channels are running with DMA enabled, Multiword DMA 2 for optical drives, and Ultra DMA 5 or higher for HDD's.

 

[Gil]

not disable, you should ensure all the Sata channels are running with DMA enabled, Multiword DMA 2 for optical drives, and Ultra DMA 5 or higher for HDD's.

Where's can I find it? I looked in Device Manager and I didn't see such thing.

 

[squall leonhart]

Its in the properties for the ATA Channels.