[SOLVED] Occasionally, HDD gets super slow

[zvi1977]

I have 2 drives: OS and main programs are installed on SSD, while data and additional soft are installed on HDD.
I’m having very awkward issue once a day (or once in a couple of days) the HDD becomes very slow (to such extent that PC is struggling to run a conventional video – less than 720P). Benchmarking with CrystalDiskMark shows less than 1MB/s read/write. When the PC reaches that state - none those actions help: reboot, shutdown, plug-out the cord. The only thing that temporary solves this problem is disconnecting and reconnecting the PSU cable (not the data cable) from the HDD itself. Then HDD gets to normal and Benchmark shows about 195/75 MB/s read/write. So I’m forced to conduct this annoying procedure frequently.

It’s important to note that:

- This issue happens to HDD only, never SSD

- I’ve tried several HDDs, all of them eventually encounter the issue

- I’ve tried, with no luck, connecting HDD to different SATA slots with different cables (power and sata)


I wonder which component may cause it: Motherboard ? PSU ?

Thanks in advance .


My PC Spec:


PSU: ANTEC PSU 600W VP600 Plus

CPU Type QuadCore Intel Core i7-4770, 3733 MHz (38 x 98)

Motherboard Name Intel Meadow Creek DH87MC

Graphic adapter Radeon RX 580 Series (8 GB)

Disk Drive SanDisk SSD PLUS 480 GB (480 GB, SATA-III)

Disk Drive ST2000DM008-2FR102 (2 TB, 5000 RPM, SATA-III)

Optical Drive Optiarc DVD RW AD-7200S (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:12x,

System Memory 16344 MB (DDR3 SDRAM)

DIMM2: Crucial CT51264BA160B.C16F 4 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM (11-11-11-28 @ 800 MHz) (10-10-10-27 @ 761 MHz) (9-9-9-24 @ 685 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 609 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 533 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 457 MHz) (5-5-5-14 @ 380 MHz)

DIMM3: Crucial CT102464BD160B.C16 8 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM (11-11-11-28 @ 800 MHz) (10-10-10-27 @ 761 MHz) (9-9-9-24 @ 685 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 609 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 533 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 457 MHz)

DIMM4: Crucial CT51264BA160B.C16F 4 GB DDR3-1600 DDR3 SDRAM (11-11-11-28 @ 800 MHz) (10-10-10-27 @ 761 MHz) (9-9-9-24 @ 685 MHz) (8-8-8-22 @ 609 MHz) (7-7-7-19 @ 533 MHz) (6-6-6-16 @ 457 MHz) (5-5-5-14 @ 380 MHz)


DVD+RW:20x/8x, DVD-RW:20x/6x, DVD-RAM:12x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)

 

[Grobe]

From what you wrote here, it seems to be two or three possible causes for this:

• The SATA cable.
• Sata controller.
• Software (i.e. chipset driver).

The steps to try to solve this problems should therefore be (do a test after each step to see if that solves the issue):

• Replace the SATA cable.
• Relocate the SATA cable to another SATA connector - preferable to another SATA controller if possible.
• The software issue can be more tricky to figure out. The first that come to my mind is the most brutal way, to reinstall the OS. However, there are possibilities out there otherwise. You can f.ex. get a Linux distro (for this purpose I'd suggest Linux Mint) that can run the desktop directly from the ISO file (flash to a usb stick or burn to a DVD) - the important thing is you don't touch OS drive nor doing any installation whatsoever. Look at the tool that have name "Disks" (full name is "GNOME Disks" but in menu it's normally just labeled "Disks"). From the menu of this program, you're able to both perform a benchmark AND get the s.m.a.r.t. data for the disk.

 

[zvi1977]

From what you wrote here, it seems to be two or three possible causes for this:

• The SATA cable.
• Sata controller.
• Software (i.e. chipset driver).

The steps to try to solve this problems should therefore be (do a test after each step to see if that solves the issue):

• Replace the SATA cable.
• Relocate the SATA cable to another SATA connector - preferable to another SATA controller if possible.
• The software issue can be more tricky to figure out. The first that come to my mind is the most brutal way, to reinstall the OS. However, there are possibilities out there otherwise. You can f.ex. get a Linux distro (for this purpose I'd suggest Linux Mint) that can run the desktop directly from the ISO file (flash to a usb stick or burn to a DVD) - the important thing is you don't touch OS drive nor doing any installation whatsoever. Look at the tool that have name "Disks" (full name is "GNOME Disks" but in menu it's normally just labeled "Disks"). From the menu of this program, you're able to both perform a benchmark AND get the s.m.a.r.t. data for the disk.

Thank you for a detailed and proffecional advice , will try the solutions , focus on the software one , as I already tried replacing Sata cable and relocating to different slot .
The most amazing thing about my issue is that reconnecting the PSU cord doesn't help, while reconnecting HDD power (not data) cable does (at least temporary)...

 

[Grobe]

The most amazing thing about my issue is that reconnecting the PSU cord doesn't help, while reconnecting HDD power (not data) cable does (at least temporary)

Try to use another power cable, just to try.