100% Disk Usage

[billubakra]

Hi Guys,

I have this laptop which is only used in office-

HP Pavilion Notebook - 15-ab522tx Product Specifications | HP® Customer Support

From the past 2 days, as soon as it is booted the disk usage is 100% for about 15-20 minutes and then it becomes normal. In the initial 15-20 minutes it is very very slow. Few screenshots-

After boot

After it becomes normal, the disk usage keeps hitting 100% but it does not affect the speed i.e. no hang, slowness in usage

It is acting the same way like my pc's hdd-
Very slow boot and disk usage
which had to be rma'ed eventually
Current pending sector count error

The office laptop has work related softwares, no junk(pc one was junk free also) and two games which I don't play anymore. Was planning to delete Nvidia GeForce Experience as it is always in the top 10 list of disk usage. Any help?

Thanks

 

[billubakra]

@whitestar_999 @patkim @sling-shot @Desmond David

 

[whitestar_999]

May be windows defender scanning at startup.To be honest,solving such issues on win 10 is not worth the time & effort compared to just spending 1500 & getting a 120gb ssd which will solve 99.9% of such issues both currently as well as in near future.

 

[Desmond]

I think the trick is to find out what process is the culprit and remove it or disable it. Go to Task Manager > Performance > Open Resource Monitor. Then on the Resource Monitor window, go to the Disk tab and sort the "Total" column descending and see which process is the culprit. Try terminating that process and checking if the problem gets resolved. If it's a startup process, you may have to disable it.

 

[whitestar_999]

I think the trick is to find out what process is the culprit and remove it or disable it. Go to Task Manager > Performance > Open Resource Monitor. Then on the Resource Monitor window, go to the Disk tab and sort the "Total" column descending and see which process is the culprit. Try terminating that process and checking if the problem gets resolved. If it's a startup process, you may have to disable it.

May be but with win 10 & its semi annual feature updates this will more likely be going down the rabbit hole.Only relatively permanent fix for such issues is getting win 10 to run from a ssd.

 

[Desmond]

I dislike Windows more and more every month. That's why I spend most of my time in Linux these days.

 

[cute.bandar]

Most probably nvidia ke keede Why is nvidia sending and receiving network data without my permission? : nvidia *forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1054122/geforce-experience/what-is-0-dat-/2/

Fix could be as simple as:
Safe Mode > Uninstall all traces of nvidia settings / drivers > restart > install ONLY driver, no geforce experience.

 

[omega44-xt]

May be windows defender scanning at startup.To be honest,solving such issues on win 10 is not worth the time & effort compared to just spending 1500 & getting a 120gb ssd which will solve 99.9% of such issues both currently as well as in near future.

+1
If not getting an SSD, just reset OS.

@billubakra If possible just buy an SSD, clone OS to it & put your HDD in place of DVD drive with caddy. Even if some app takes some disk usage, SSDs are fast enough that it doesn't affect your daily usage.

 

[whitestar_999]

@billubakra If possible just buy an SSD, clone OS to it & put your HDD in place of DVD drive with caddy. Even if some app takes some disk usage, SSDs are fast enough that it doesn't affect your daily usage.

One small correction,Use ssd in dvd drive as it is more suitable compared to hdd that needs proper cooling(which dvd drive lacks by design),proper fitting to avoid physical movements(laptop dvd drives are not meant to hold hdd) & proper power management(some laptops dvd drive sata port enables power management by default in firmware & which may not be disabled resulting in data loss on hdd but not an issue for ssd).

 

[billubakra]

May be windows defender scanning at startup.To be honest,solving such issues on win 10 is not worth the time & effort compared to just spending 1500 & getting a 120gb ssd which will solve 99.9% of such issues both currently as well as in near future.

No WD isn't scanning anything at startup. This problem started few days back only so we can rule out WD scan thing. 120gb for 1500? Kaha se? I am not sure if I am allowed to install one, will ask. Is the disk health ok as per crystaldiskinfo?

I think the trick is to find out what process is the culprit and remove it or disable it. Go to Task Manager > Performance > Open Resource Monitor. Then on the Resource Monitor window, go to the Disk tab and sort the "Total" column descending and see which process is the culprit. Try terminating that process and checking if the problem gets resolved. If it's a startup process, you may have to disable it.

PFA

BTW took these screenshots just now, when it is running normally. Will take them after booting also.

Most probably nvidia ke keede Why is nvidia sending and receiving network data without my permission? : nvidia *forums.geforce.com/default/topic/1054122/geforce-experience/what-is-0-dat-/2/

Fix could be as simple as:
Safe Mode > Uninstall all traces of nvidia settings / drivers > restart > install ONLY driver, no geforce experience.

Will uninstall them. GFE also saves gigs of old installer files, could you help me with its location too?

+1
If not getting an SSD, just reset OS.

@billubakra If possible just buy an SSD, clone OS to it & put your HDD in place of DVD drive with caddy. Even if some app takes some disk usage, SSDs are fast enough that it doesn't affect your daily usage.

Resetting not possible due to official software's installed. What's a caddy?

 

[Desmond]

Is "System" is the culprit, that means that some update or something is going on in the background.

 

[whitestar_999]

No WD isn't scanning anything at startup. This problem started few days back only so we can rule out WD scan thing. 120gb for 1500? Kaha se? I am not sure if I am allowed to install one, will ask. Is the disk health ok as per crystaldiskinfo?

*www.onlyssd.com/buy/kingston-a400-120gb-ssd/ Disk health is ok. I guessed WD because in the 2nd screenshot of task manager Explorer is using 14.5MB/s of disk which usually happens only during windows updates/WD scans.

Caddy is an enclosure which fits in place of a dvd drive & in it you fit a ssd. *www.amazon.in/Storite-Optical-Drive-Caddy-Universal/dp/B00HD7QQQA
Your company should be able to replace hdd with ssd(assuming 120gb is enough for office usage) by contacting the AMC looking after PCs in your office.

 

[billubakra]

Is "System" is the culprit, that means that some update or something is going on in the background.

No bro system is already up to date. I have paused the updates also.

*www.onlyssd.com/buy/kingston-a400-120gb-ssd/ Disk health is ok. I guessed WD because in the 2nd screenshot of task manager Explorer is using 14.5MB/s of disk which usually happens only during windows updates/WD scans.
Caddy is an enclosure which fits in place of a dvd drive & in it you fit a ssd. *www.amazon.in/Storite-Optical-Drive-Caddy-Universal/dp/B00HD7QQQA
Your company should be able to replace hdd with ssd(assuming 120gb is enough for office usage) by contacting the AMC looking after PCs in your office.

Thanks. Is Kingston good? System is upto date and further updates are paused.
Thanks for the link. It's not about who will fit it, it's just that it is not allowed. I will have to take approval.

 

[whitestar_999]

^^Using same ssd in my laptop for an year now with no issues.Of course that doesn't mean it is 100% guarantee(& your luck seems to be bad when it comes to hdd ).

 

[billubakra]

^^Using same ssd in my laptop for an year now with no issues.Of course that doesn't mean it is 100% guarantee(& your luck seems to be bad when it comes to hdd ).

How to clone c drive to the ssd fully? And will it require any additional installations/updations?

 

[whitestar_999]

How to clone c drive to the ssd fully? And will it require any additional installations/updations?

How to clone a Windows 10 hard drive to a new SSD using Macrium Reflect • Pureinfotech
You will also need to connect ssd alongside hdd using either caddy(replacing dvd drive) or an external usb enclosure like this *www.amazon.in/External-Portable-USB3-0-2139U3-CR-Transparent/dp/B01N07NBLA

 

[omega44-xt]

How to clone c drive to the ssd fully? And will it require any additional installations/updations?

Macrium reflect is good

 

[Cool Buddy]

I have faced this issue in the past on both my home and work laptops. Never managed to figure it out. Read multiple forums and lot of posts, kept hunting for that process which is using the disk. Never found it.

If you do a Google search for this, you will realise it's far from a rare issue. It's very common and many people face it.

Easiest way is to simply reset your Windows. Getting an SSD will make it less prominent, but won't resolve the issue. A reset is the only fix.