HDD 100%

Windows Pro 23H2

When downloading Updates or installing them my Hdd will be 100% usage until the task is finished.
In task manager the numbers seem quite low as far as data trransfer goes, But Drive jumps to 100% and stays there.

This appears to happen only when i am accessing the internet i.e. online game (which does'nt require constant drive access)

You're running Win11 on a hard disk drive, not an SSD?

BamaInArk said:

You're running Win11 on a hard disk drive, not an SSD?

Click to expand...

Why would that be an issue? I assure you, it is not.

BamaInArk said:

You're running Win11 on a hard disk drive, not an SSD?

Click to expand...

At least it's a Barracuda (7500RPM?).

That is normal during the updating process using an HDD, no worries. The same applies to previous versions of Windows.

Be careful not to confuse the % Active Time with the Average Response Time! It is very possible to have a high percentage of active time (even 100%), so long as you don't see that causing a high response time. What are you seeing for the response time when the % active time is high?

Just done an update:

Active time 100%

Average response time 50- 1015 ms

So, 1015 ms is definitely an issue. That is essentially 1 full second for response.

You might want to run some tests on that drive. It's possible that this drive is experiencing "issues". As always, it's also a good idea to make sure you have frequent, high-quality backups.

Pebble said:

When downloading Updates or installing them my Hdd will be 100% usage until the task is finished.

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I find that pretty normal, if it is installing an update outside of my "active hours". I have my active hours set to 3:00 AM to 9:00 PM. However I have some pretty erratic usage hours, so it sometimes starts a update install while I am working at midnight. Then the download bothers my work. During active hours, the update installs don't bother me. Also check your "Delivery Optimization" in "Settings - Windows Update - Advanced Options".

Only had this PC a month.
When i got it and installed W11 64 It took hours to install the OS and updates.
Last Cumulative update took 2 hrs 45 mins to install with the hard drive thrashing in the background.
Downloading Linux ISO took a while with drive thrashing.
HDD definately seems to be the bottleneck.
I've disabled everything i can.

I've got Kaspersky Plus installed but cant see that as a problem. On my W7 desktop with Kaspersky everything responds almost
instantly.

Judging W11 by the amout of post's concerning 100% Drive usage there is a serious problem with W11.
Rant over
I still want to resolve this issue. Is there anyone with constructive idea's?

Pebble said:

Only had this PC a month.
When i got it and installed W11 64 It took hours to install the OS and updates.
Last Cumulative update took 2 hrs 45 mins to install with the hard drive thrashing in the background.
Downloading Linux ISO took a while with drive thrashing.
HDD definately seems to be the bottleneck.
I've disabled everything i can.

I've got Kaspersky Plus installed but cant see that as a problem. On my W7 desktop with Kaspersky everything responds almost
instantly.

Judging W11 by the amout of post's concerning 100% Drive usage there is a serious problem with W11.
Rant over
I still want to resolve this issue. Is there anyone with constructive idea's?

Click to expand...

Replace with an SSD, my laptop will update in about 20 minutes. No issue with Win 11 unless you have additional apps which are causing problems.

allan said:

Why would that be an issue? I assure you, it is not.

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Well, it is the main reason for your 100% issue, so I assure you it is.

HDDS are so slow compared with SSDs.

PS - your rant later re. W11 is complete nonsense.

Pebble said:

Windows Pro 23H2

When downloading Updates or installing them my Hdd will be 100% usage until the task is finished.
In task manager the numbers seem quite low as far as data trransfer goes, But Drive jumps to 100% and stays there.

This appears to happen only when i am accessing the internet i.e. online game (which does'nt require constant drive access)

Click to expand...

These days you should only use HDD's for storing things like Multi-media, backups, office data etc. Run the OS on a smallish partition (65GB is plenty for an average domestic Windows OS) and move all other data to another device / partition. 1 or 2GB nvme's are fast and cheap these days and even older "classic 2.5 inch SSD's" are still light years faster performers than spinners. a 256GB classic SSD can be had literally for peanuts.

cheers
jimbo

Done a bit more research into the problem and going to try this:

1. Press Windows Key + R and type devmgmt.msc in the Run, hit Enter key to open Device Manager snap-in.

2. In the Device Manager window, expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and right click on Standard SATA AHCI Controller, select Properties.



3. In the property sheet, switch to Driver tab and click Driver Details.



4. If the Driver File Details window shows storahci.sys driver listed there, it means you’re running inbox driver and hence it is possible to disable MSI mode. Click OK.



5. Back on the property sheet, switch to Details tab. Against Property, select Device instance path from drop-down and note down the Value mentioned there.



Registry Disclaimer: The further steps will involve registry manipulation. Making mistakes while manipulating registry could affect your system adversely. So be careful while editing registry entries and create a System Restore point first.

6. Press W8K + R and put regedit in Run dialog box to open Registry Editor (if you’re not familiar with Registry Editor, then click here). Click OK.

7. In the Registry Editor window, navigate to following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI\<AHCI Controller Value>\Device Parameters\Interrupt Management\MessageSignaledInterruptProperties

*Substitute <AHCI Controller Value> we got in step 5.



8. In the right pane of MessageSignaledInterruptProperties key, look for the registry DWORD (REG_DWORD) named MSISupported which should be corresponding to Value 1 as its Data. Double click on the DWORD to modify its value:



9. Finally, set the Value data as 0 and click OK. Close Registry Editor and reboot. After restarting your machine, the 100% disk usage problem should disappear.

Pebble: Sooo, any result to share?

cereberus said:

Well, it is the main reason for your 100% issue, so I assure you it is.

HDDS are so slow compared with SSDs.

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Of course HD's are slower than SSD's. That doesn't mean all W11 systems should use SSD's. Personally, I do use SSD's on all of my systems - but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with using traditional drives. They'll be slower on boot and large file transfers or operations, but perfectly serviceable.

And to what rant are you referring?

steveg said:

Pebble: Sooo, any result to share?

Click to expand...

Probably bricked his pc and can't get back to us LOL, In all honesty though i'd just get an ssd or better yet an m2(Price difference isn't much) and be done with it, use the HDD as a storage drive and move on.

Pebble said:

I've got Kaspersky Plus installed but cant see that as a problem. On my W7 desktop with Kaspersky everything responds almost
instantly.

Judging W11 by the amout of post's concerning 100% Drive usage there is a serious problem with W11.
Rant over
I still want to resolve this issue. Is there anyone with constructive idea's?

Click to expand...

I will never understand why someone would use a slow hard drive and then complain about high disk usage. Stop trying to use a horse when a car exists.

SSD's are cheap. Get one :)

A windows update and a virus scan with kaspersky will murder that drive if they are both happening when your trying to do something. Just get an ssd and never worry about disk usage again. There are so many programs out there now that auto update, run tasks etc. Hard drives should never be a drive your operating system is installed on.

allan said:

Of course HD's are slower than SSD's. That doesn't mean all W11 systems should use SSD's. Personally, I do use SSD's on all of my systems - but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with using traditional drives. They'll be slower on boot and large file transfers or operations, but perfectly serviceable.

And to what rant are you referring?

Click to expand...

HDDs are so slow, they cannot keep up with updates, indexing etc.

Perfectly seviceable - nah barely servicable.

Its a travesty oem manufacturers even sell hdds anymore.

They are ok for storage of data but pretty useless for OS drives.

Pointless trying to sort out slow speed using decade+ old technology.

allan said:

Of course HD's are slower than SSD's. That doesn't mean all W11 systems should use SSD's. Personally, I do use SSD's on all of my systems - but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with using traditional drives. They'll be slower on boot and large file transfers or operations, but perfectly serviceable.

And to what rant are you referring?

Click to expand...

HDDs will be slower at everything. Even an SSD will require a higher demand during updates. DRAMless SSDs will be affected even worse. On top of slow updates I can almost bet when the OP first turns on his system the hard drive thrashing does not stop for 10-15 minutes after bootup. Sure once updates are complete and the bootup disk thrashing is done a HDD will seem to run okay. Honestly if the OP would have used an SSD for the OS there would probably not be a need for the topic to even exist. So there's that.

I am doing a test currently using a Z690/12700k as a test bed installing Win11 onto a 2TB HDD.