Question PC lagging in file/web/system browsers

[LabrieD]

So I've got a PC that's running about 4.5 y/o now and within the last few months I keep running into issues where when I try to open either the windows file browser, OS stuff like device manager/updates/taskbar or my web browser (Firefox) it'll occasionally hang on those programs entirely for probably 5-10 seconds but everything else stays fine and responsive before eventually working. It doesn't happen consistently and I've run a bunch of tests on the CPU and RAM to see if it was just those parts failing and even did a re-install of Windows 10 downloaded from the Microsoft site. If anything it's just super annoying and I've exhausted the options I can think of. I've attached my specs below, so hoping someone might have some answers.

Intel Core i7-8700K Desktop 6 Core 4.7GHz
ASUS ROG Strix Z370-E Gaming LGA1151 DDR4
2x Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz
GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER 6GB
WD Black 1TB SN850 NVMe (Hosting Windows 10 Home Premium)
Samsung 970 EVO NVME SSD 1TB
Samsung 860 EVO SATA 500GB
Seagate Barricuda 4TB Internal HDD
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GS PSU

 

[raindroppilot]

It has to do with your mechanical drive. Every time you utilize something OS related the drive will power itself on so the OS can utilize it if needed. I used to have this issue. It actually isn't an issue, its just an unintended consequence of having a mechanical drive along side SSD. I haven't had a mechanical drive for a few years now, but the fix I used was changing a BIOS setting that meant the drive was always spinning / always on and this wouldn't happen.

 

[LabrieD]

It has to do with your mechanical drive. Every time you utilize something OS related the drive will power itself on so the OS can utilize it if needed. I used to have this issue. It actually isn't an issue, its just an unintended consequence of having a mechanical drive along side SSD. I haven't had a mechanical drive for a few years now, but the fix I used was changing a BIOS setting that meant the drive was always spinning / always on and this wouldn't happen.

That actually makes a lot of sense seeing as the 4TB HDD was bought in about February, which was a few weeks or so before I started having this issue. I was of the understanding that system programs wouldn't be affected if I was hosting the OS off the M2 SSD and just using the HDD for file storage or standalone programs I only use infrequently.
I'll try seeing how the system works after disconnecting it.

 

[raindroppilot]

That actually makes a lot of sense seeing as the 4TB HDD was bought in about February, which was a few weeks or so before I started having this issue. I was of the understanding that system programs wouldn't be affected if I was hosting the OS off the M2 SSD and just using the HDD for file storage or standalone programs I only use infrequently.
I'll try seeing how the system works after disconnecting it.

How did it go, mate?