Suddenly, massively slow harddrive.

[Alleya]

I have a large SATA harddrive that I use for data storage (my system/programs living on the SSDs). Yesterday it was working just fine. Last night, windows update and the obligitory self-restart while I was sleeping took place, and when I woke up my harddrive is incredibly, incredibly slow. Merely opening a folder takes a few good seconds, and depending on the size of the content within it, loading the actual contents to be viewed in explorer can take much, much longer. All the stuff is accessible--eventually. Only this storage drive is affected.

chkdsk did not find any file system errors or bad sectors. I switched the SATA cable to one I know works, but to no avail. I can hear the harddrive seek at regular intervals even when it's not being accessed, making a sort of "chunk...chunk...chunk" sound. It's not an alarming sound, it's the sound it's always made when seeking, it's just ticking like a clock suddenly. A disk speed benchmark is clocking it at 5mb/s for a sequential read and 6mb/s for a seq. write. I'm stumped.

[xerodok]

My first recommendation would be to back up all that stuff ASAP before it actually crashes.

Best method:

Make a WinRAR file of the entire content of the dying HDD onto your SSD or external HDD.

[Mafai]

Would you hear sounds from a SSD drive? I thought they have no mechanical parts so it shouldn't be making noises?


Would a failing secondary lag the system?

[Isiolia]

Would a failing secondary lag the system?

Usually will, if you (or the OS) are trying to access it.

[Alleya]

Would you hear sounds from a SSD drive? I thought they have no mechanical parts so it shouldn't be making noises?


Would a failing secondary lag the system?

The storage drive is mechanical. The other drives are SSD and are functioning fine. It's just the mechanical one acting slow.

Is it possible that the windows update just wiped out all the indexed crap and it's having to rebuild it?

[shiarua]

The storage drive is mechanical. The other drives are SSD and are functioning fine. It's just the mechanical one acting slow.

Is it possible that the windows update just wiped out all the indexed crap and it's having to rebuild it?

Bad sectors. Happened to one of my storage drives about a month ago. Backup everything you can on it and replace it.

[Caiyuo]

The storage drive is mechanical. The other drives are SSD and are functioning fine. It's just the mechanical one acting slow.

Is it possible that the windows update just wiped out all the indexed crap and it's having to rebuild it?

If you think this is a possibility (I have no idea) you can try disabling the indexing service and see if, after a reboot, anything changes?

If not and it's a problem with the physical disk, something like CrystalDiskInfo or HD Tune Pro might show whether it's reporting errors, reallocated sectors or any other indications or failing. Think the latter is paid software, but p. sure the former isn't.

[Bardicrune]

Most likely failing HDD as others have said. Back up immediately and then check the manufacturer's website for a testing utility. I know Western Digital and Seagate both have them. You'll probably see bad sectors, or SMART errors on it.