Question Laptop: SSD freezes but HDD works fine!

ismmostaar1

Honorable
May 28, 2018
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- Laptop Dell Latitude E6230
- Core i5 2nd gen
- 8GB Ram DDR3
- Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64bit
- Hard drive option 1: SSD Kingston KC600 (512GB)
- Hard drive option 1: HDD HGST Z7K (320GB)

So I tried replacing the hard drive of this laptop that i use for study to make it load apps and videos faster, after couple weeks of normal use the laptop would occasionally freeze and the fan would run faster almost all the time, just doing basic work and shifting between folders it would freezes for few seconds it's very annoying, and the apps and videos takes longer to load as if i'm using an HDD, sometimes Photoshop would load at 10 seconds and sometimes it'll either take a whole minute to load or freezes and not load, CrystalDiskMark test shows that the speed is still as good as the first day, and the startup time is still fast, even CrystalDiskInfo health status is fine, i also re-applied thermal paste to make sure it's not a heat problem but nothing changed
Then I replaced back the new SSD with the old HDD and this freezing problem not happening any more, though the CrystalDiskMark test result shows that the old HDD is much slower than the new SSD, but in reality it's not, any thoughts or advice on this? please if there's a recommended Article or YouTube video that a i should follow please link it, thanks.
 

ismmostaar1

Honorable
May 28, 2018
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How full is each of the drives?
They are both spitted into two partitions, disk C is 100GB in HDD and is 120GB in SSD, there's nothing stored on disc C except for the operating System so at least 50GB of free space in disk C, while disk D has around 50GB of free in HDD, was this info enough?
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
As I understand the post thus far:

The SSD is a Kingston product, capacity 512 GB with 120 GB being used by C:

The HDD is a HGST product, capacity 320 GB with 100 GB being used by C:

In both cases, my thought is that not enough space is being allocated for C: where the OS resides.

Moving thread from Laptop Tech Support to Storage.

Please post the Disk Management screenshot(s) so the existing partitions and sizes can be seen.
 

ismmostaar1

Honorable
May 28, 2018
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10,535
Moving thread from Laptop Tech Support to Storage.

Please post the Disk Management screenshot(s) so the existing partitions and sizes can be seen.

HDD​

nnzr.png

kjfo.png

SSD

rezr.png

9v0x.png

nxkr.png


NOTE:
Not that i know better than you, but i don't think it is a problem of disk space, i have used this SSD with my desktop PC for a month before replacing it with an NVME and never had a problem with it, the NVME in my desktop PC currently have only 50GB of free space and everything runs well, i bet it has something to do with the Bios or maybe it needs some advanced settings tweaking so it it'd work with this old laptop, the HDD works fine in this laptop but the SSD would freeze for few seconds every few minutes, and the apps do not load fast, even though the OS starts fast and the speed tests given are good, it's like if the laptop is not designed for SSDs!
 
Last edited:

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Good work.

= = = =

For the most part the disks and partitions appear to be okay. There may be other posts about the disk configurations being presented.

My general rule of thumb is a minimum of a 256 GB drive for the OS.

Both drives are partitioned to be less than that: HDD = 106 GB and the SSD = 150 GB.

= = = =

The next thing that caught my attention is: "SSD would freeze for few seconds every few minutes,"

Very helpful.

You can use Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free) to observe system performance. Use all three tools but only one tool at a time,

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Leave the tool window open and viewable. Browse, game, work as normal while watching the tool window.

The objective is to discover what happens or changes when the SSD freezes.

What resources are being used, what is using any given resource, and to what extent?

Something that is different when the SSD is being used versus the HDD.

Those freezes are likely to stand out - especially in the graphical representations.

The reason could be the OS, some app, some utility. Perhaps trying to backup, phone-home, or update.

Also: There are two other tools that can be used. If the freezes are being caused by some error then you may be able to learn more by looking in Resource Monitor/History and Event Viewer. Either one or both tools may be capturing some error code, warning, or even an information event just before or at the time of the freezes.

My suggestion is to start with the SSD. Premise being that something will stand out with respect to when the freezes occur.

Take your time, be methodical and simply watch. No need to rush or start making changes. Simply post what is observed.