WD HDD Slow response times/disk thrashing

[Jonathan_28]

My issues started last year (Windows 8), I ended up replacing the hard drive; however the same issues continue (just upgraded to win 10).

Pretty much any action causes disk thrashing (audible), sitting idle disk response times are around 50 ms. when any action is taken this goes into the thousands. You can hear this starting during the boot process. for instance when locked, login in takes 10 secs for desktop icons to appear on files. Startup diagnostics report disk, memory etc, all fine. SMART results in no errors.

I don't think its a hard drive issue, but any interaction with the hard drive seems to be slow.

I have run Hard Drive Sentinel, but I'm not sure how to interpret the results.
I have IOMeter installed but not sure what tests to run.

What can or should I do to troubleshoot this?

SystemInfo

Windows 10, started on windows 8.0
processor AMD A10-5700 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.4 GHz
10GB ram
64 bit
current HD 2 TB WD Black


I ran windlg quick test and extended test, looks ok.

Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD2003FZEX-00Z4SA0
Unit Serial Number: WD-WMC130E44581
Firmware Number: 01.01A01
Capacity: 2000.40 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 12:52:53, December 21, 2015

Test Option: EXTENDED TEST
Model Number: WDC WD2003FZEX-00Z4SA0
Unit Serial Number: WD-WMC130E44581
Firmware Number: 01.01A01
Capacity: 2000.40 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 16:51:23, December 21, 2015


Hard disk sentinel information below

Thanks,
Jonathan

Hard Disk Summary
Hard Disk Number,0
Interface,"S-ATA Gen3, 6 Gbps"
Disk Controller,"AMD SATA Controller (AHCI) [VEN: 1022, DEV: 7801] Version: 1.3.1.68, 3-31-2013"
Disk Location,"Bus Number 1, Target Id 0, LUN 0"
Hard Disk Model ID,WDC WD2003FZEX-00Z4SA0
Firmware Revision,01.01A01
Hard Disk Serial Number,WD-WMC130E44581
Total Size,1907726 MB
Power State,Active

Logical Drive(s)
Logical Drive,C: [OS]
Logical Drive,D: [Recovery Image]

ATA Information
Hard Disk Cylinders,3876021
Hard Disk Heads,16
Hard Disk Sectors,63
ATA Revision,ATA8-ACS
Transport Version,SATA Rev 2.6
Total Sectors,488378646
Bytes Per Sector,4096 [Advanced Format]
Multiple Sectors,16
Error Correction Bytes,0
Unformatted Capacity,1907729 MB
Maximum PIO Mode,4
Maximum Multiword DMA Mode,2
Maximum UDMA Mode,6 Gbps (6)
Active UDMA Mode,6 Gbps (6)
Minimum multiword DMA Transfer Time,120 ns
Recommended Multiword DMA Transfer Time,120 ns
Minimum PIO Transfer Time Without IORDY,120 ns
Minimum PIO Transfer Time With IORDY,120 ns
ATA Control Byte,Valid
ATA Checksum Value,Valid

Acoustic Management Configuration
Acoustic Management,Not supported
Acoustic Management,Disabled
Current Acoustic Level,Default (00h)
Recommended Acoustic Level,Default (00h)

ATA Features
Read Ahead Buffer,"Supported, Enabled"
DMA,Supported
Ultra DMA,Supported
S.M.A.R.T.,Supported
Power Management,Supported
Write Cache,Supported
Host Protected Area,Supported
Advanced Power Management,Not supported
Extended Power Management,Not supported
Power Up In Standby,Supported
48-bit LBA Addressing,Supported
Device Configuration Overlay,Not supported
IORDY Support,Supported
Read/Write DMA Queue,Not supported
NOP Command,Supported
Trusted Computing,Not supported
64-bit World Wide ID,0150E04E9BAE1B85
Streaming,Not supported
Media Card Pass Through,Not supported
General Purpose Logging,Supported
Error Logging,Supported
CFA Feature Set,Not supported
CFast Device,Not supported
Long Physical Sectors (8),Supported
Long Logical Sectors,Not supported
Write-Read-Verify,Not supported
NV Cache Feature,Not supported
NV Cache Power Mode,Not supported
NV Cache Size,Not supported
Free-fall Control,Not supported
Free-fall Control Sensitivity,Not supported
Nominal Media Rotation Rate,7200 RPM

SSD Features
Data Set Management,Not supported
TRIM Command,Not supported
Deterministic Read After TRIM,Not supported

S.M.A.R.T. Details
Off-line Data Collection Status,Successfully Completed
Self Test Execution Status,Successfully Completed
Total Time To Complete Off-line Data Collection,19860 seconds
Execute Off-line Immediate,Supported
Abort/restart Off-line By Host,Not supported
Off-line Read Scanning,Supported
Short Self-test,Supported
Extended Self-test,Supported
Conveyance Self-test,Supported
Selective Self-Test,Supported
Save Data Before/After Power Saving Mode,Supported
Enable/Disable Attribute Autosave,Supported
Error Logging Capability,Supported
Short Self-test Estimated Time,2 minutes
Extended Self-test Estimated Time,218 minutes
Conveyance self-test estimated time,5 minutes
Last Short Self-test Result,Successfully Completed
Last Short Self-test Date,12/21/2015 11:58:22 AM
Last Short Self-test Duration,2 minutes
Last Extended Self-test Result,Never Started
Last Extended Self-test Date,Never Started
Last Conveyance Self-test Result,Never Started
Last Conveyance Self-test Date,Never Started

Security Mode
Security Mode,Supported
Security Erase,Supported
Security Erase Time,210 minutes
Security Enhanced Erase Feature,Supported
Security Enhanced Erase Time,210 minutes
Security Enabled,No
Security Locked,No
Security Frozen,Yes
Security Counter Expired,No
Security Level,High

Serial ATA Features
S-ATA Compliance,Yes
S-ATA I Signaling Speed (1.5 Gps),Supported
S-ATA II Signaling Speed (3 Gps),Supported
S-ATA Gen3 Signaling Speed (6 Gps),Supported
Receipt Of Power Management Requests From Host,Supported
PHY Event Counters,Supported
Non-Zero Buffer Offsets In DMA Setup FIS,Not supported
DMA Setup Auto-Activate Optimization,"Supported, Enabled"
Device Initiating Interface Power Management,Not supported
In-Order Data Delivery,Not supported
Asynchronous Notification,Not supported
Software Settings Preservation,"Supported, Enabled"
Native Command Queuing (NCQ),Supported
Queue Length,32

Disk Information
Disk Family,Caviar Black
Form Factor,"3.5"" "
Capacity,"2000 GB (2000 x 1,000,000,000 bytes)"
Number Of Disks,?
Number Of Heads,?
Rotational Speed,7200 RPM
Rotation Time,8.33 ms
Average Rotational Latency,4.17 ms
Disk Interface,Serial-ATA/600
Buffer-Host Max. Rate,600 MB/seconds
Buffer Size,65536 KB
Drive Ready Time (typical),? seconds
Average Seek Time,? ms
Track To Track Seek Time,? ms
Full Stroke Seek Time,? ms
Width,101.6 mm (4.0 inch)
Depth,147.0 mm (5.8 inch)
Height,25.4 mm (1.0 inch)
Weight,750 grams (1.7 pounds)
Required power for spinup,? mA
Power required (seek),? W
Power required (idle),? W
Power required (standby),? W
Manufacturer,Western Digital Corporation
Manufacturer Website,http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware, Jonathan!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your performance issues with the WD Black HDD! I'd suggest you to backup the data from the drive somewhere else before proceeding with the troubleshooting!
You definitely did a good job running both the QUICK and EXTENDED tests from WD's DLG tool, however, I'd kindly ask you to share the SMART data results from the extended test. You should be able to see a small button above the listed drives in the utility, where you can see the SMART attributes and their raw value.

I'd also suggest you to do some swapping internally and try the WD Black in a different SATA port on the motherboard using a different SATA cable. Make sure everything is mounted properly and there are no loose cables. I guess I'd also check the motherboard manufacturer's website for any SATA controller/chipset updates for your model.

Keep me posted with the troubleshooting & Good luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Jonathan_28]

Thanks SuperSoph_WD for the response. Due to the holidays it took me a couple days. I have tried a couple different cables and SATA slots, with the same results. Since the board previously worked, it seems like this "issue" should be detectable, so far it just seems slow. In the SMART results everything had a green check, but 3 had warranty 1.
Attribute Name, ID, Value, Threshold, Worst, Warranty
Raw Read Error Rate, 1, 200, 51, 200, 1
Spin Up Time, 3, 147, 21, 147, 1
Reallocated Sector Count, 5, 200, 140, 200

Are the above expected or are those issues?

Any other ideas for troubleshooting?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[Jonathan_28]

here is a screenshot of the partitions.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Happy New Year, Jon!

I'm sorry for the late response but I was on a holiday leave. It seems like the bad sectors could be increasing their number in the future if the attribute is with warranty 1. So I'd say that things would probably get worse. I'd advise you backup the data from the WD Black somewhere else ASAP. You can even try creating a system image on an external, so you'd be able to recover the OS and all your data afterwards. When you have the data safe and sound somewhere else, you should probably contact our customer support and let them know about the issues with the WD HDD. Once you have sent your RMA request directly to them, you should be able to receive a replacement soon enough. Here are a couple of links from our knowledge base that can shed some light on the procedures:
Warranty Policy: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=7kyBXe
Packing Instructions: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=3PeqCY
WD Support Contacts: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=WkgKkX

Hope these help you. Keep me posted.
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Jonathan_28]

is there another tool that I can run that would confirm the bad sectors? If they are bad, I thought they get marked as such and are not used.

Thanks for the continued reply's!
-Jon

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, Jon!

I totally understand! I'd want to benchmark the results, too. In this thread you will find some good third-party testing tool suggestions, too: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility

Let me know what those results show as well. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Jonathan_28]

Thanks SuperSoph_WD, I guess my question really is that why are you recommending that I pursue a replacement when the windlg software is reporting all tests pass?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there again, Jon!

This WD Black is your booting and storage drive, I'm recommending you to have a copy of your data somewhere else. Despite the fact that the tests show a PASS, those 3 SMART attributes indicate that you should be careful. Bad sectors cannot be repaired and they are not that many, but the system will mark them as unusable.

However, the audible disk trashing is pretty concerning because it most probably indicates an internal hardware failure, which cannot be fixed. (This is something that diagnostic tests could potentially miss when reporting results because it's a physical damage) Odds are the drive's performance won't increase, though.

Don't get me wrong, whether or not you will RMA the WD Black is entirely up to you. I'm just suggesting a solution that might give you some peace of mind.

For further assistance and an additional opinion regarding the WD hard drive, I'd suggest to use the links in my previous post and get in touch with our customer/technical support.

Hope I was helpful, though. Best of luck!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[Jonathan_28]

Thanks SuperSoph_WD, I'll start the RMA process with WD!