Hard Drive at 100% when downloading?

[ErickD24]

This may be normal, but this is my first built pc. It is a 1TB western digital blue drive, and when downloading or updating a game, my computer seems to almost freeze (for example, I'm creating this because Planetside 2 was updating and my computer crapped out).

This computer is nearly brand new. Almost 3 weeks old now, it's been running fine since. Is this normal? My disk usage was at 100%....

Thanks,
Erick

 

[Boogieman_WD]

Hey there, ErickD24.

Sorry to hear about the issues with your drive. I'd suggest that you backup any important data which you might have on that it, just to be on the safe side. After that go ahead and download DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostics) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see if any errors or bad sectors pop-up. Here's how to do that: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows. I'd suggest that you check if all cables are properly connected and you could also try the drive with a different computer or at least with a different SATA port and cable on yours, to see if the same issue occurs.
What OS are you using? Maybe you could try disabling BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) and Superfetch. Those 2 services are sometimes the cause for 100% disk usage.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

 

[ErickD24]

Hey there, ErickD24.

Sorry to hear about the issues with your drive. I'd suggest that you backup any important data which you might have on that it, just to be on the safe side. After that go ahead and download DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostics) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see if any errors or bad sectors pop-up. Here's how to do that: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows. I'd suggest that you check if all cables are properly connected and you could also try the drive with a different computer or at least with a different SATA port and cable on yours, to see if the same issue occurs.
What OS are you using? Maybe you could try disabling BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) and Superfetch. Those 2 services are sometimes the cause for 100% disk usage.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

Thank you for the great advice. I've disabled BITS and superfetch and I will tell you the results. As for now, I'm going to hold off on the DLG, however if this problem occurs again I'll try it out.

It wasn't really a big problem in the first place as I don't download massive files all too often, but your input was appreciated

Thanks,
Erick

 

[ErickD24]

Hey there, ErickD24.

Sorry to hear about the issues with your drive. I'd suggest that you backup any important data which you might have on that it, just to be on the safe side. After that go ahead and download DLG (Data Lifeguard Diagnostics) and run both tests (Quick and Extended), to see if any errors or bad sectors pop-up. Here's how to do that: How to test a drive for problems using Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows. I'd suggest that you check if all cables are properly connected and you could also try the drive with a different computer or at least with a different SATA port and cable on yours, to see if the same issue occurs.
What OS are you using? Maybe you could try disabling BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) and Superfetch. Those 2 services are sometimes the cause for 100% disk usage.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

Just to update you, I haven't tried some immense downloading since I've changed my settings, but I have noticed what seems to be a pretty big performance enhancement in normal activities. It might just be me, but I think this is the cause haha.

 

[Boogieman_WD]

This is normal. Even though those services can be helpful, sometimes they seem to be a bit overwhelming and start "hogging" the HDD all for themselves, thus resulting in a worse system performance overall.
Hopefully everything remains as it is now - fast and without a hitch.