Copying files become slow

medley

medley

medley

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I have 3 HD's, all SATA. I also have an external hard drive. Copying files to and from the external is fine as normal but copying to and from the sata drives is very slow all of a sudden. I'm using Windows XP SP 2 by the way.

Example:

350mb file = 2 minutes -- Usually takes about 15-20 seconds
80mb file = 25 seconds -- Usually takes around 5 seconds

Doesn't sound that slow but it is when it comes down to larger files.

I don't have a new install or anything like that. Haven't formatted for about a year and a half (nearly had to format about a month ago but fixed a problem). Write cache is enabled on all files.

During the copying process the general speed of other applications and windows becomes slower as well.

Oh and a final point: the hard drive space on all drives is around 30% left or more. Opening files, accessing files is perfectly fine and nothing has changed in that regard so it wouldn't be a power or cable issue would it?
 
Check the properties of the various SATA controller channels in device manager. My first guess would be that one of the drives has dropped into PIO mode, the fact that everything else slows down could be due to the increased CPU usage that PIO mode causes.
 
Hiya, thanks for the feedback. I'm struggling to find this PIO setting in the properties of the hard drive. I've googled it and someone says:

"Goto the advanced tab when you right click a HD in device manager."

Theres nothing when I right click or goto properties that mentions 'advanced'
 
If you're gonna be shuffling files around you'll need to perform regular defrags.

Are you defragging?
 
I hadn't planned on doing so anytime soon. Last time i tried it crashed half way through

Would like to see if its this PIO thing first but need to find the option to adjust it before trying 3 diff defrags
 
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Just done a HD tune check on one of them now (never used this program before):

2mwcd4p.jpg
 
rpstewart said:
Do you get the slowdown when copying files to a different drive or to a new location on the same drive?
Click to expand...

Or both I think. Let me double check first

Ye both. a 600mb folder located on my C: drive says will take 4 minutes to copy to the desktop. When I copy that same folder to my external it says 20 seconds
 
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After fiddling around copying files I've realised its only 1 of the 3 hard drives that is performing slowly. I didnt notice this first time around because i have a lot of partitions and it can be quite confusing.

Its the C: drive which XP is installed on that is performing the slowest. The rest are fine. From what i've read, there are no such modes as DMA and PIO when it comes to SATA drives, am i right?

This problem is also effecting video recording. I just ran a fraps video of a game to record to my C: drive. The stuttering was unbearable. 2/3 second stutters while it recorded. I changed the destination to where the .avi ends up to my normal drive and it was absolutely perfect.
 
K doing one now. On Stage 2! :D

****. The window just shut when i had it alt tabbed, is that normal?
 
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Sorry to bump my own thread but i still havent found a solution to my problem (wont bump it again honest!)

Heres what i've done so far:

Virus scan + Spyware just incase on the drive in question
Swapped the SATA cables around on the hard drives
Ran 2 other HD tune checks on the other hdds and the CPU usage is around 6%
Checked the controllers are all set to DMA and not PIO mode
Ran a Western digital diagnostic / error check thingy me bob

Haven't done:
Defrag. Left my pc on while i went out yesterday and it was only on 7% after 2 hours. That was only 1 half of the partition as well. Will try to do it overnight

Opened photoshop before and that has become choppy and less responsive since this problem arose. Games and less intensive programs compared with photoshop seem perfectly fine though
 
medley said:
Sorry to bump my own thread but i still havent found a solution to my problem (wont bump it again honest!)

Heres what i've done so far:

Virus scan + Spyware just incase on the drive in question
Swapped the SATA cables around on the hard drives
Ran 2 other HD tune checks on the other hdds and the CPU usage is around 6%
Checked the controllers are all set to DMA and not PIO mode
Ran a Western digital diagnostic / error check thingy me bob

Haven't done:
Defrag. Left my pc on while i went out yesterday and it was only on 7% after 2 hours. That was only 1 half of the partition as well. Will try to do it overnight

Opened photoshop before and that has become choppy and less responsive since this problem arose. Games and less intensive programs compared with photoshop seem perfectly fine though
Click to expand...


How much space is left on the drive you are trying to defrag? Is it more than 15%?
 
60% left i think

My feeling is this 'slow problem' i'm having is probably effecting the defrag process as any other intensive program i seem to use is effected too
 
I had something similar with a drive becoming very slow, nothing in windows would report an error, eventually the DOS diagnostic tool for the drive picked up an error and the drive went back for replacement.
You say the diagnostic tool says it is ok but i would keep an eye on that, may be run it every day or some thing for a while, it might not be picking up the problem yet ?
 
Yep. On the menu it says OK about 4/5 times under different sections. So you are thinking even a format may not solve the problem?

I would hate to format the drive and still encounter the same problem. I would say the drive is around 2 years old (roughly).
 
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