High Disk Usage on SSD for No Reason

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Amurensy

Amurensy

PCHF Member
Mar 14, 2024
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Hello, I'm desperate about this issue. I've formatted my PC several times because I can't find a solution to this. It turns out that the PC (usually after downloading something heavy) becomes excessively slow, and I see that disk usage rises above 70% even when absolutely nothing is being done. I've tried everything, searched all over the internet, and done everything, but I still don't understand the reason. I know the SSD IS NOT damaged because it's new and I've checked it with CrystalDiskInfo and HD Sentinel; the SSD is in good condition...

I've tried:
- Disabling services: Sysmain, Telemetry, Windows Search (also Compatibility Appraiser from Task Scheduler).
- Disabled EnablePrefetcher in the registry (value = 0).
- Updated all available drivers.
- Updated all Windows updates.
- Checked the storahci.sys issue in the registry (MSI Supported = 0).
- Optimized all Windows settings (background apps, location, etc.).
- chkdsk and sfc doesn't show any problem

I just can't understand what the cause of the high usage is. My PC specifications are:
  • - CPU: Intel Core i5 3470 3.20GHz
  • - RAM: 12GB DDR3
  • - Graphics: Nvidia GT 710
  • - SSD: Kingston A400 480GB
  • - Windows 10 Home
The attached screenshots show a clear example. For this example, I've closed all open and background programs. As you can see, the disk is above 50% despite having nothing open. By the way, I formatted the computer yesterday, so no, it doesn't have any viruses. I've only downloaded things from Steam and utility software programs as vs code, git, etc.

1710454744715.png

1710454752662.png
 
xrobwx71 said:
This would be interesting to know what this is.


How long does the high disk usage last after the Large download?
Click to expand...
So, the behavior is like this (most of the time). PC is running ok, disk at 0-15%, then, when I start some download heavier than (let's suppose) 4GB, after the download is done, the disk is at his maximum, for example, 2 days ago I did a fresh install to the PC, install the utilities (vs code, git, etc) and some games (Valorant 40GB, PSO2 128GB), all good at that point, and because I have done a fresh install before, I already know that those performance problems seems to be not there when I do a fresh install, at least for the first days after the fresh installation. Then, the next day (yesterday) I noticed that the problem was back.

Now, before the fresh install I did (so, like 3-4 days ago), I was installing PSO2, that is 128GB, after steam downloaded like, 40GB, then system begun to rise a lot, and disk usage was high. This happens always with any download, and it's curious because I had another disk, an HDD that has like 5 y/o, and when I downloaded ANYTHING heavyer on that specific disk, the system was ok, it's like it only happens when I download something on the SSD (that doesn't have even a year).

Someone would thing that the problem is the SSD, but that doesn't explain why after a fresh install, I can download everything of any size of GB and the problem doesn't exist. It always come up days later.

OH, and answering your question, on past W10 installations, the disk usage was high just until a couple hours of normal use on the PC, this means anything that means a lot of resources, like using the browser of file explorer. The problem also didn't fix by restarting the computer of turning it off for hours (or even the enxt day), it need to have some time of normal (low) use.
 
Amurensy said:
The problem also didn't fix by restarting the computer of turning it off for hours
Click to expand...
Right but what happens if you finish a large download, then leave it on for a few hours? Does the activity return to normal?

My train of thought is, it could be several things like telemetry, virus scanning, indexing, etc. Turning it off would interrupt these things and most would resume after a restart.

I see CCleaner in there. How often do you use this? For instance, if you clear the prefetch then Windows will rebuild the prefetch which can cause momentary high usage. It's all dependent on how speedy your PC is as well.
 
xrobwx71 said:
Right but what happens if you finish a large download, then leave it on for a few hours? Does the activity return to normal?

My train of thought is, it could be several things like telemetry, virus scanning, indexing, etc. Turning it off would interrupt these things and most would resume after a restart.

I see CCleaner in there. How often do you use this? For instance, if you clear the prefetch then Windows will rebuild the prefetch which can cause momentary high usage. It's all dependent on how speedy your PC is as well.
Click to expand...
I haven't tried letting it rest for a couple hours, but I would pressume that it'll keep going through high disk usage. About the services like Telemetry, Indexing and Sysmain, all of them are disabled, I always go checking on them on the services.msc. I doubt it is virus, since I did a fresh install a couple days ago and the problem came back at the second day.

I use CCleaner like 3-4 times a week, but yes, I have seen that the EnablePrefetcher key on the registry always enables by itself every day, I put it on 0 and 2 days later it's back to 3. I haven't find a way to stop it from getting autoenabled.
 
From Speccy.....

D:\ is low on space.
C:\ isn't bad, but getting tight.
There are some SMART errors; AF, B0, C3.
Remove the 2 15 year old 2GB memory sticks and just try running one the 8GB stick in the first slot.
Your BIOS is K51 v01.58 from 2013 - HP is showing K51 v01.87 from 2019. That's 30'ish updates you have missed, maybe one of them could help.
See here for version history - https://support.hp.com/us-en/driver...orkstation/model/5260569/swItemId/wk-235114-2

Also, remove Driver Booster. I've never seen a driver update program that is trustworthy. Most are malicious or try to install other crap. These sort of programs are offering a service for a problem that doesn't exist. Get your driver from the manufacture website yourself.
 
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Bruce said:
From Speccy.....

D:\ is low on space.
C:\ isn't bad, but getting tight.
There are some SMART errors; AF, B0, C3.
Remove the 2 15 year old 2GB memory sticks and just try running one the 8GB stick in the first slot.
Your BIOS is K51 v01.58 from 2013 - HP is showing K51 v01.87 from 2019. That's 30'ish updates you have missed, maybe one of them could help.
See here for version history - https://support.hp.com/us-en/driver...orkstation/model/5260569/swItemId/wk-235114-2

Also, remove Driver Booster. I've never seen a driver update program that is trustworthy. Most are malicious or try to install other crap. These sort of programs are offering a service for a problem that doesn't exist. Get your driver from the manufacture website yourself.
Click to expand...
Ok, I'll do that, I'll also be updating you guys in here if it keeps happening
 
Bruce said:
From Speccy.....

D:\ is low on space.
C:\ isn't bad, but getting tight.
There are some SMART errors; AF, B0, C3.
Remove the 2 15 year old 2GB memory sticks and just try running one the 8GB stick in the first slot.
Your BIOS is K51 v01.58 from 2013 - HP is showing K51 v01.87 from 2019. That's 30'ish updates you have missed, maybe one of them could help.
See here for version history - https://support.hp.com/us-en/driver...orkstation/model/5260569/swItemId/wk-235114-2

Also, remove Driver Booster. I've never seen a driver update program that is trustworthy. Most are malicious or try to install other crap. These sort of programs are offering a service for a problem that doesn't exist. Get your driver from the manufacture website yourself.
Click to expand...
Ok at this moment, I have done everything u mention, except removing the other 2 ram slots, because when I tried, the computer wouldn't start, saying that the memory size was different from the previous start. So I had to put it again :T

Also I don't understand about the SMART errors, there is something I should need to do? like sfc o something like that?
 
Some PC's detect when the memory changes and because we were the cause it is OK to accept that message and continue on with the boot. So try taking them out again.

The SMART errors aren't critical, more of an alert than an alarm. But worth keeping an eye on to see if they change. On a new drive, they probably shouldn't be there so they could account for some of your issues - time will tell. Trying another SSD will certainly test that theory.

And no, nothing you can do.
 
Bruce said:
Some PC's detect when the memory changes and because we were the cause it is OK to accept that message and continue on with the boot. So try taking them out again.

The SMART errors aren't critical, more of an alert than an alarm. But worth keeping an eye on to see if they change. On a new drive, they probably shouldn't be there so they could account for some of your issues - time will tell. Trying another SSD will certainly test that theory.

And no, nothing you can do.
Click to expand...
Ok, I'll try again tomorrow >_>, this time I'll continue with the boot to see if it lets me continue with less ram than the previous startup.
 
Bruce said:
Some PC's detect when the memory changes and because we were the cause it is OK to accept that message and continue on with the boot. So try taking them out again.

The SMART errors aren't critical, more of an alert than an alarm. But worth keeping an eye on to see if they change. On a new drive, they probably shouldn't be there so they could account for some of your issues - time will tell. Trying another SSD will certainly test that theory.

And no, nothing you can do.
Click to expand...
Today i unplugged those 2 old RAM's, it didn't fix the problem, as soon as I turned on again, the problem was still there, a high disk usage again, there's something else I can try? like disabling something or idk
 
Yup, it's there again, and if you are wondering, no, steam is not the cause, since a lot of times I have booted the PC and both Steam and Riot Client didn't use not even 30% of disk, and if I close it, the disk will just point at another different process using high disk.

1710859633435.png
 
Have you disconnected D:\ drive?
Did you get the latest BIOS firmware update?
Are all traces of Drive Booster removed?
 
Bruce said:
Have you disconnected D:\ drive?
Did you get the latest BIOS firmware update?
Are all traces of Drive Booster removed?
Click to expand...
Yes, D:\ drive has been disconnected for months by now, since someone at Microsoft Forum told me that it could be the reason of the performance problem (it wasn't, so I'll plug it again later).

Yes I did get the latest BIOS update (the 30'ish).

I'm removing some Driver Booster empty folders right now, but I've using it for a while, even when I had a hard drive, it never gave any problem of any kind, I know how to install anything without all that bloatware.
 
Oh btw, if you are talking about the current D:\ drive, is just a second partition of the same SSD
 
Amurensy said:
but I've using it for a while, even when I had a hard drive, it never gave any problem of any kind,
Click to expand...
This is an example of anecdotal evidence which is not really evidence at all. What is evidence that these driver booster programs are bad are the many, many reputable techs and experts across the web who have a lot of experience in troubleshooting and in a lot of cases, backed by education and research. They all agree that the driver booster apps are bad.
 
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