slow deleting of files

peter tron · 9 Feb 2020 at 09:48

sometimes it takes up to 10secs to delete files.

1) i have booted into safe mode and diagnostic mode, and the problem went away.

2) selective startup with microsoft services hidden didn't work, the problem was still present.

3) i have ran avast and malwarebytes scans and nothing was flagged.

apologies if the answer is obvious, but i just do not know how to proceed with what step one showed me

Glanza · 9 Feb 2020 at 15:52

Are you deleting them off your main drive or a secondary / storage drive?

b00merang69 · 9 Feb 2020 at 16:16

If the files are tiny like thumbs and a lot of them etc it can be slow even on a SSD then same again to empty the bin.

https://superuser.com/questions/148...les-super-slowly-can-anything-be-done-to-spee

https://superuser.com/questions/76906/deleting-large-amount-of-files-in-windows-is-slow/292153

jsmoke · 9 Feb 2020 at 16:17

There's a few settings regarding this to do with error checking and caching and fragmentation. I can't really remember the details though .

b00merang69 · 9 Feb 2020 at 16:21

Windows has been like this forever, Windows Explorer is not that efficient at certain tasks, there are alternatives if you move/delete files all day long.

something daft already!! · 9 Feb 2020 at 16:43

How large are these files and are you doing multiple files at the same time? Where are the files located, on an SSD, HDD or flash drive? Are you already using the drive to access data at the same time? Is it the system drive or an attached one?

peter tron · 9 Feb 2020 at 21:56

it is the main ssd drive.

but the same happens with the second backup internal hd & backup external SSD's.

like i said, i have tested the deletion of the same group of small/large files in three boot modes (safe, diagnostic & clean).

safe and diagnostic are the only ones where the deletion of those same groups of files is not a problem.

the deletion hangs at 99% for 10secs, and i'm positive that never used to happen.
plus it happens with small and large files.

this has only tended to happen when the os is tied up with multiple tasks at once?

hornetstinger · 9 Feb 2020 at 22:01

Does take a while if tens of thousands of files and going into recycle bin, not straight delete (hold down shift)

Quartz · 9 Feb 2020 at 22:04

peter tron said:
safe and diagnostic are the only ones where the deletion of those same groups of files is not a problem.

Which anti-malware programs do you have running? Mass deletion of files can be a malware behaviour.

peter tron · 10 Feb 2020 at 07:56

hornetstinger said:
Does take a while if tens of thousands of files and going into recycle bin, not straight delete (hold down shift)

there isn't mass deletions of files.

it can be one folder with 500mb or three folder with a combined count of 1gb.

it doesn't matter if it is one folder with a 5mb file, or a folder with a 4gb file, it still takes the same amount of time to delete.

Quartz said:
Which anti-malware programs do you have running? Mass deletion of files can be a malware behaviour.

no, i am the one deleting the files, not malware.

Quartz · 10 Feb 2020 at 09:31

peter tron said:
no, i am the one deleting the files, not malware.

I realise that but your AV software will be checking to make sure. Possibly hence the slowdown.

peter tron · 10 Feb 2020 at 12:20

Quartz said:
I realise that but your AV software will be checking to make sure. Possibly hence the slowdown.

i see what you mean,

i have avast and malwarebytes (both the free versions).
malwarebytes is the one i run manually, while avast runs at startup.

i was actually trying to disable it at startup to test that it was one of the 3rd party programs that might have been causing the issue.
i suppose i could just disable the shields for 10 mins?
a shot in the dark, but possibly the problems started to happen around the same time as i renewed my free version of avast, but my memory is very foggy on the dates.

all i know is that it is related to some progg/app.