100% Disk Usage.. Have tried everything!

[richard243]

Hello all, I am having the common problem of having 100% disk usage and I have tried nearly everything I have found online to help it but nothing seems to work, which kind of leads me to believe it's a failing drive but I really hope not. The main reason I think this is because if I let the computer sit for awhile without doing anything the disk usage will go down but as soon as I begin to do anything it will go right back up. But the reason I tend to think it's software related is because any drive health software I've used has said the health of the drive is good.

The main place I have seen a big performance downgrade is when I try to play a game, load times are extremely long and in open world type games (GTA etc) just moving so that the PC has to load a new area makes it lag very bad.

I'd tried numerous different things to fix it and some I can't even remember because I've been having this issue for awhile now. But I've:
Disabled Superfetch
Disabled Windows Search
Disabled probably 10 other things I read about in a desperate attempt to fix it.
I turned off something that when through all my files, it was called something like interlacing? (I know that's not the correct word but I think it's close)
And like I said, plenty of other stuff I've tried but to no avail

I really hope someone can help.

Thanks!

 

[Colif]

what are specs of PC?

Have you done a clean install?

was it indexing?

 

[samthaboy13]

what are specs of PC?

Have you done a clean install?

was it indexing?

Currently my disk usage is 100 as well and 2 days ago i reinstalled windows and reset my pc but it had no effect, im really desperate because i tried everything

 

[richard243]

what are specs of PC?

Have you done a clean install?

was it indexing?

The specs of the PC are:
i5 3570k
GTX 780
8GB of Memory
1TB HDD

Also yes it was indexing that I believe someone had suggested to turn off, which I did.

And no I have not done a clean install as I would really like to avoid doing that.

 

[samthaboy13]

Hello all, I am having the common problem of having 100% disk usage and I have tried nearly everything I have found online to help it but nothing seems to work, which kind of leads me to believe it's a failing drive but I really hope not. The main reason I think this is because if I let the computer sit for awhile without doing anything the disk usage will go down but as soon as I begin to do anything it will go right back up. But the reason I tend to think it's software related is because any drive health software I've used has said the health of the drive is good.

The main place I have seen a big performance downgrade is when I try to play a game, load times are extremely long and in open world type games (GTA etc) just moving so that the PC has to load a new area makes it lag very bad.

I'd tried numerous different things to fix it and some I can't even remember because I've been having this issue for awhile now. But I've:
Disabled Superfetch
Disabled Windows Search
Disabled probably 10 other things I read about in a desperate attempt to fix it.
I turned off something that when through all my files, it was called something like interlacing? (I know that's not the correct word but I think it's close)
And like I said, plenty of other stuff I've tried but to no avail

I really hope someone can help.

Thanks!

Hey man, i had this issue too, nothing helped me, only this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rvUGfhiIus
Let me know if it helped!

 

[richard243]

Hello all, I am having the common problem of having 100% disk usage and I have tried nearly everything I have found online to help it but nothing seems to work, which kind of leads me to believe it's a failing drive but I really hope not. The main reason I think this is because if I let the computer sit for awhile without doing anything the disk usage will go down but as soon as I begin to do anything it will go right back up. But the reason I tend to think it's software related is because any drive health software I've used has said the health of the drive is good.

The main place I have seen a big performance downgrade is when I try to play a game, load times are extremely long and in open world type games (GTA etc) just moving so that the PC has to load a new area makes it lag very bad.

I'd tried numerous different things to fix it and some I can't even remember because I've been having this issue for awhile now. But I've:
Disabled Superfetch
Disabled Windows Search
Disabled probably 10 other things I read about in a desperate attempt to fix it.
I turned off something that when through all my files, it was called something like interlacing? (I know that's not the correct word but I think it's close)
And like I said, plenty of other stuff I've tried but to no avail

I really hope someone can help.

Thanks!

Hey man, i had this issue too, nothing helped me, only this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rvUGfhiIus
Let me know if it helped!

Yes I have done that, it did not help.

 

[Colif]

Does it happen in safe mode?

what brand HDD is it?

Did you upgrade from a previous version of windows onto this win 10 install without a fresh install since? I ask as one solution to 100% usage is a fresh install as it makes windows find all new drivers and can clear out left overs from previous installs. Also might make some features of windows 10 actually work, after I did it last time, search finally worked.

I know you don't want to do one, its just a suggestion.

 

[Themastererr]

There has to be something using the Disk. Keep digging in task manager to find it.

More than likely it's Window's Defender using it's "Anti-malware service". Just disabling through settings is not enough, you need to use the registry. Older or "green" model hard drives have a hard time with Windows 10.

 

[richard243]

Does it happen in safe mode?

what brand HDD is it?

Did you upgrade from a previous version of windows onto this win 10 install without a fresh install since? I ask as one solution to 100% usage is a fresh install as it makes windows find all new drivers and can clear out left overs from previous installs. Also might make some features of windows 10 actually work, after I did it last time, search finally worked.

I know you don't want to do one, its just a suggestion.

It's a Toshiba drive, which is also why I kind of think it's a drive issue. When I built my PC it was significantly cheaper than the WD drive so that's why I went with that and it was worked fine ever since.

And yes I originally installed Windows 7 on this PC and have since done the upgrade to Windows 10 but I have had it for over a year now and the issue only started about 3 months ago.

Is there a sure fire way to tell whether your HDD is failing? I have used CrystalDiskInfo and HDD Expert which have both said my drive but before I go reinstalling Windows I'd like to know whether it's the drive failing or not.

Thanks.

 

[Colif]

does it sit on 100% in safe mode? That would help exclude many of the software causes that might be reason its at 100. Would tell you one way or other.

Does health of drive show as 100% in crystaldiskmark? I think it has a SMART test. I know hdtune does.

 

[richard243]

Well it doesn't necessarily sit on 100% even booted regularly. It goes to 100% pretty much whenever you try to do anything and under a lot of load the PC will almost completely lock up.

I've never used CrystalDiskMark, I downloaded it but don't know how to get it to test anything. I've been using CrystalDiskInfo which under health status says "Good".

 

[richard243]

Does anyone have any solutions? At this point I might as well put the thing at road on garbage day because it's useless to me if I can rewrite the programs faster than it can open them (that's a a joke I don't know the first thing about coding). I realize I haven't reinstalled windows but there's a lot of stuff I don't want to lose and don't know how to back it up so reinstalling is a last ditch effort and I'll only do it if I can guarantee my HDD isn't failing.

 

[cherry blossoms]

See if Toshiba has a diagnostics utility for hard drives. Run that or another program that can show you your smart data. The data should indicate acceptable levels, fault levels, and current levels. If you are at or near the fault levels, then probably time to backup and replace the drive.

If levels are acceptable, try a third party defragmentation program that can also defragment the MFT.

Check your startup programs, do you REALLY need everything there starting up automatically.

If using GeForce Experience, do a clean driver install and install only the video driver, PhysX, and if you need it, HDMI sound

Make sure all video recording is turned OFF, this is another reason to dump the extraneous GeForce software. Make sure windows built in video recording app in Xbox is turned off.

Try the steps detailed at: https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/fix-100-disk-usage-in-task-manager-improve-pc-performance-on-windows-10/

There are other things to try, but starting there may help make sure you've done those steps.