Heavy CPU usage when accessing SATA drive

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 09:03

Hi There,

I have been victim of extreme PC lag during working over the past 3 weeks, and I couldnt work out what was causing it.

However after careful diagnostics, I have found out that 1 of my SATA drives (160gig) which is my main work drive, causing the PC to almost grind to a halt whenever the drive is either read from or written to.

I know defragging etc can speed up a drive, but this is immensely slow and I dont think its just a defrag that will solve it.

I have other SATA drives, which are all fine and I dont experience any problems from

Does anyone have any idea why this may be?

Could it be the drive is on its way out?

Any help greatley appreciated

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 09:17

nope!

Straight forward drive only, no partition!

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 10:09

Nope, sorry, you misunderstood me, when I said main work drive, I meant the drive with all my work on

Not windows install....

I have 4 drives in here, doing digitial video and having large photoshop files requires lots of space.

So I really dont think fragmenting/defragmenting is the issue here.

It actually blocks up the pc so much, the mouse doesnt even move sometimes!

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 10:36

uh oh

I just run that util.......... oh dear, looks like my drives fitness is slightly low!! I think it needs to get to the gym more often!!

Seriously though, is there any cure for this or is the drive knackered?

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 10:52

more analysis

I have just used the online check thing (excellent util) heres what it brought back:

Bearning in mind this has most of my work and is critical, is it suggested that I sort out a new drive pretty quick?

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 11:40

the primaryIDE are both set to UDMA,

however on the secondary, it looks like one is set to PIO mode... I cant change the auto detection either, could this be the problem?

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 12:38

yep all backed up daily, but even so to lose a days work could be pretty annyoing

I think i will try unplugging a couple of other drives, just check to see if it is a heat / power issue, then if its still knacked order a replacement

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 13:24

the others are running hot too, but that could be a knock on effect of that 1 drive over heating, as they do sit pretty close together, I will try now and see what happens with just 2 drives going

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 14:12

ok powered off for 30 mins, spaced the drives better and turned on a couple of spare fans.

The temp is a lot lower but the drive is still reading as screwed under SMART.

maybe the over heating killed it and now there is no going back! its only a 150gig drive so a replacement could be worth it just for peace of mind

scooter41 · 2 Jun 2006 at 14:37

yep the rest of the drives are fine, just this one, which is my oldest SATA too, probably 3 years old now, and it makes some funny noises sometimes!