Problem with the pc 100% activity on the hard drive and lagging badly.

[Sturmgewehr86]

I am having the current problem with my pc.After the instalation of Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x 64 all is ok but after a few weeks , sometimes even a week when i turn on my pc i get a lot of loading from my hard drive , windows loads for like 5-10 minutes and it is laggu like hell.In task manager my CPU usage and RAM usage are at about 15%/ 1gb but the stupid hard drive is at 100% activity with a clicking sound every 5 second coming from the pc.I was thinking it might be hardware problem but i keep a system image of my fresh windows install to quickly return the windows to a working state.It goes again for about 1-2 weeks without problem and i get this garbage again.Does anyone know what may cause this and if you encountered similiar problem?Here is my configuration.

Mainboard-Asus P5N-E sli
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @2,66 GHZ
Memory - 4GB DDR2 800Mhz
Video- Nvidia GTS 450
Hard Drive- 2x Samsung HD321KJ SCSI Disk Device

Any help the break me out of the vicous cycle 1 week re image will be appreciated.(i think i also used another distribution of windows 7 at some point same shit).

[Afrospinach]

Now, is this possibly just windows automatically doing a defrag? I think you can schedule it for a time that is less intrusive if that is the case. If you right click on your HDD in uh, file manager?(actual name escapes me right now and win 8 is too cool for program names) you should be able to dig through the tools tab to see when a defrag was last run.

[Sturmgewehr86]

It isn't defragment i had it turned off.The pc lag starts on the initial windows screen and user selection.

[daytonbrown]

Check if you have Windows Backup turned on and it's possibly backing up.

[Sturmgewehr86]

Check if you have Windows Backup turned on and it's possibly backing up.

Similliar to defragment the schedule is turned off, if i need back up i do it manually.

[Saphyron]

I would try put in a new HDD then see if it does the same. if it does not then its the HDD if it does well then its something else. Never experienced the problem.

What you can do is press: ctrl+left shift+esc to open task manager.
Then you go to performance and click on resource monitor. in resource monitor it shows the disc write speed. when it goes nuts you should be able to see what happens and which program is using it.

But tbh it sounds like a faultry HDD, but could easily be wrong.

[Sturmgewehr86]

I would try put in a new HDD then see if it does the same. if it does not then its the HDD if it does well then its something else. Never experienced the problem.

What you can do is press: ctrl+left shift+esc to open task manager.
Then you go to performance and click on resource monitor. in resource monitor it shows the disc write speed. when it goes nuts you should be able to see what happens and which program is using it.

But tbh it sounds like a faultry HDD, but could easily be wrong.

I am currently running HDTune for error checking ,but i belive the start up check didnt show anything wrong with the disks.And as i mentioned it leads me to belive it is a software thing the fact everything works fine after a re-image.

[Saphyron]

then try that option i gave you will see which program is using up all your disk

[Deleted]

NSA are backing up your entire hard drive, its a new feature with windows 7

Seriously though check the following
- Windows indexing and how to disable it Here
- Type Resource into your "search programs and files" in the start menu, go to disk and find out what is causing the problem.

[skitszo]

maby you just have old technology? i notice your hard drive is not a sata drive.....could replace it with a sata drive....your mainboard supports sata 2.0

you could try a fresh install; just make sure you delete all partitions and have a complete unallocated drive.

check your memory? see if you have a bad memory stick. I use a flash drive with memtest on it.

can also just do all the basics. uninstall hardware items and reseat them.
blow it all out.
i know you said you use HD monitor....try Crystaldiskinfo and see if it gives you good or caution reading.

If its not hardware.....then i'd go with the new OS install.

[fixx]

Would guess HDD fail if you've done clean install of windows because your hardware is pretty old. Check for S.M.A.R.T. error report of the drives.

Other possibility could be some virus.

[skitszo]

if its a virus; formatting the drive and new install of OS will get rid of it. If the image is clean then the virus is coming from someplace else.

[tielknight]

i notice your hard drive is not a sata drive

Oh but it is a SATA drive, check for yourself in the specifications page.

If you didn't notice anything with crystaldiskmark, try defraggler and check the "health" tab and see if anything looks bad and keep a eye on the temps as well. You can also check the fragmentation level with it as it seems to catch alot more than windows defragger(had run windows defragger on a friends desktop and it found it to be 6%, ran defraggler and it found it to be 31% with alot of system files in there).

That or it could just be old-age, turning the desktop on/off every day isn't very good on the HDD's lifespan either(thats why i've been using sleep mode mostly ever since i got my new drive, only rebooting every few weeks when updating or cleaning out dust).

[fixx]

That or it could just be old-age, turning the desktop on/off every day isn't very good on the HDD's lifespan either(thats why i've been using sleep mode mostly ever since i got my new drive, only rebooting every few weeks when updating or cleaning out dust).

Aggressive sleep mode on HDDs is what wears those down fastest. It's the starting and stopping of the motor and not power cycling that is the problem.

[skitszo]

I've seen way to many laptops with corrupt boot ups with windows configure events with improper shut downs. I'd recommend proper shutdowns; but i suppose if your a tech you can do anything you want. 8}

he did say scsi.....seemed odd but i didn't bother making sure...

[tielknight]

he did say scsi.....seemed odd but i didn't bother making sure...

You probably should as it's completely normal Here's mine as a example.

[Afrospinach]

- Windows indexing and how to disable it Here

I recall my win 7 PC also had ceaseless bouts of HDD activity when it was new too, I drew the conclusion that is what it was at the time, but it went away all by itself in a month or so. Maybe OP is kind of creating his own issue by constantly reimaging?

Also, there is a tool out there for win that can tell you what is actually accessing you HDD at any given time, I forget the name but it should not be hard to track down, maybe be helpful.

[Deleted]

As mentioned search indexing (since Search 3.0) doing it's file property indexing, can cause some operation system lagging. And the resource monitor should show what processes are using that harddrive.