Question HDD at 100% despite not using it.

[Flonne]

Some system relevant information:

OS: Windows 10
CPU: I3 10105f
GPU: 3060rtx 12gb
F: HDD: 4TB

I have a weird issue that started this week.

One of my HDDs suddenly goes at 100% usage even when i am not using it. If i am running something from my primary unit (SSD), the HDD will suddenly jump to 100% and my system will almost freeze, while the rest of HDDs are at 0%.

F: HDD is mostly a storage HDD, there are some games there, but at the time of the issue i was not running them.

This is a screenshot of how it looks when i am running some stuff on the SDD and NOTHING from F: HDD.

Looking at the resource monitor, i find that multiple applications are for some reason interacting with F: HDD:

Again, F: HDD is just a storage HDD, chrome and firefox have nothing to do with it, they are installed on the SDD. I don't know why do they have to call F: and only F: drive.

When checked the task manager to see what exactly is making F: drive going 100% it just said the "system" is doing stuff:

95 MB/S? I am running nothing there!

Here comes the weirdest thing of the whole issue: one time i caught the resource manager showing files i haven't used in months appearing there. Old games files and other stuff i haven't opened in months, or even this year. Sadly, i could not capture a screenshot of that.

I am not sure what to do, i suspect it's some kind of virus i probably whitelisted on windows defender thinking it was a false positive or some kind of spyware. If not that some kind of system error.

 

[rgd1101]

look like virtual memory is set on that hdd

 

[Flonne]

look like virtual memory is set on that hdd

Thank you for answer.

Is there a way i can check if this is what is happening?

It is true i was running some intensive applications previous to the 100% jump, but it kept at 100% even after the aforementioned application completed it's work. Even when idle it's the only HDD that shows some kind of activity (20%-40% random spikes).

Last night it kept at 100% for like 10 minutes after the resource-intensive task was completed and the application even closed.

Also, i am looking for a way to do a thorough inspection on this HDD, as the system freezing and almost crashes started this week and they are most definitely not normal, any suggestion?

I got lucky and caught the resource monitor checking a game file on F: HDD i haven't opened in quite some time:

Final fantasy xv, i haven't had the time to play that in weeks if not a month, why is it suddenly there? The same happens with other files.

 

[rgd1101]

Is there a way i can check if this is what is happening?

check your windows virtual memory settings

 

[Rokinamerica]

Is there a way i can check if this is what is happening?

Control Panel>System>Advanced System Settings>Performance>Advamced>click button for "Change" under Virtual Memory. This will show all of your drives and if any other than your boot drive has a page file.