PC slow - don't know why

[bigseb]

Yesterday my PC was fine. Worked perfectly. Switched it of and went to bed.

Today there's something horribly wrong. It takes longer to boot up And then it hangs while doing the simplest task. Eg: open a folder then a subfolder. Normally thats two clicks and its there. Now it takes 3-4 minutes just to open a folder and display its content. Starting task manager took 3 minutes and in it I noticed that the System Idle Process is using 99% of the CPU. Rebooting hasn't help. Takes a long time to shutdown and a long time to start up again.

Again, yesterday it was fine. Today it isn't. Nothing was changed.

Please help.

 

[bigseb]

Just now, after reboot 6 or 7, I get this message during boot-up. Not sure if its related to this...

 

[whs]

Let that chkdsk run. The problem seems to come from your disk.

 

[bigseb]

Have you seen this before? Could it be serious or just some glitch that'll magically come right? (hoping for the latter... )

 

[whs]

Yes I have seen that before. In those cases it is usually best to replace the disk asap. But wait and see what chkdsk says.

In any case I would make an image of the disk now. Use the WinPE CD of Macrium. You can download the iso from my OneDrive. Burn that to CD and boot the system with the CD.

Here is a tutorial on how Macrium works.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/73828-imaging-free-macrium.html?ltr=I

 

[bigseb]

Thanks.

What caused this though? Trying to understand. Things is, if its the C: drive then easiest thing to do is just reinstall the OS and software. No biggie. If its the D: then its more of a problem as that's where I store all my data... work files, personal files, etc. I am more concerned about not losing that.

Or is a hardware problem i.e. the disk (or whatever) is just failing and needs to be replaced?

 

[bigseb]

UPDATE:

Unplugged the D: drive (storage) and started the PC... ran beautifully. Plugged D: drive back in and we're to the stone age. Clearly the D: drive is the problem. Here's my question: what's causing this? Is it a hardware problem or has something simply become corrupted on the drive? I ask as I cannot copy anything large off the drive, it fails.

I really want to recover what's on there. 8 years of family photos along with various work files... can't afford to lose it. Will the macrium route even work considering I can't even copy stuff onto a flash drive?

Cheers.

 

[bigseb]

Another question:

I want to plug the D: drive into a different PC and test it there. Should I use a USB connector (have an adapter for USB to HDD) or connect it as it was in my PC (don't know the name of connector that in the case, sorry). Would that make a difference?

Cheers

Edit: is this drive saveable? It not even a year old. Would a format fix this?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

I wouldn't worry right now about "testing" it or understanding what's wrong.

I'd worry about trying to save whatever is on it as you say that stuff if very important.

I'd first try to make an image of that drive as it now is without any further attempts at repair or recovering files.

After you have an image of that drive stored on some other drive, then worry about testing it or recovering files.

 

[bigseb]

Been going through the help link s above... is there one that isn't video based? I dn't have the bandwidth to watch videos and would prefer something in text form...

Thanks.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Download Macrium Reflect

If you are referring to Macrium, you can download a trial version from the above link and figure it out on your own, by reading tutorials, or by looking at the help files on the Macrium web site.

 

[bigseb]

I am really struggling with this. Downloaded the iso WHS's link and burned it to disc (checked the 'make bootable' option) butvwhen I started up the machine this was the message I got:



I have no idea where to go from here. Please bear in mind I am not a computer fundi like the rest of you. What may seem obvious to you is not to me.

The faulty d: drove is curremtly not plugged in so at least thats safe. But I need this to work so all input is appreciated. I feel though as if I'm not getting enough information (as evidenced by my poor results so far). Where am I going wrong?

 

[RolandJS]

How much is your data worth? If time's really running out, take it to a business-oriented computer store/tech place and pay them to image all of your D onto a USB external HD. Now, today. If no monies for such a service, today, buy an external USB HD, with Macrium Free booted or installed and ran from Drive C, do at least one if not two images of your data partition/drive.

Awhile back, my laptop's HD SMART warned me of impending failure. I had HD-spin hours, not days. I managed a fast backup image, then replaced the HD, reImaged everything back.

 

[bigseb]

The data is very valuable so yeah I have thought of going to a specialist service for this. But I like to understand what causes these sort of things (its not the first time this happened) and how I can fix it myself.

That iso I downloaded is not doing the job. Most likely this is down to something I am doing wrong. perhaps I dhould go the install route. Today I will also get quotes from2-3 companies that can do this for me.