HDD 100%


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?
While you can use a hard drive...I haven't had a mechanical drive running an OS on a desktop or laptop in almost 15 years now. Many of us probably don't even remember that the struggle was like back then after having made the move to SSD's and even faster SSD's.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Beelink SEI8
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-8279u
    Motherboard
    AZW SEI
    Memory
    32GB DDR4 2666Mhz
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Plus 655
    Sound Card
    Intel SST
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus ProArt PA278QV
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
    PSU
    NA
    Case
    NA
    Cooling
    NA
    Keyboard
    NA
    Mouse
    NA
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    Mini PC used for testing Windows 11.
  • Operating System
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900x
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix X570-E Gaming
    Memory
    64GB DDR4-3600
    Graphics card(s)
    EVGA GeForce 3080 FT3 Ultra
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ. ASUS ProArt Display PA278QV 27” WQHD
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    2TB WD SN850 PCI-E Gen 4 NVMe
    2TB Sandisk Ultra 2.5" SATA SSD
    PSU
    Seasonic Focus 850
    Case
    Fractal Meshify S2 in White
    Cooling
    Dark Rock Pro CPU cooler, 3 x 140mm case fans
    Mouse
    Logitech G9 Laser Mouse
    Keyboard
    Corsiar K65 RGB Lux
    Internet Speed
    500/50
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Defender.
Okay. Here's my issue. It's not that I'm opposed to SSD's - as I said, I use them for my system drive on all of my systems. What I AM against is telling people on a forum that they should spend money to fix their problems. I prefer to offer advice, provide options and, when appropriate, explain that spending money might be their best (but not necessarily only) option.

Anyway, I think I've made my feelings clear and said more than enough in this thread.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10, W11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    2 HP Desktops, 1 Dell Desktop, 2 Dell XPS Laptops, 1 HP Laptop
Okay. Here's my issue. It's not that I'm opposed to SSD's - as I said, I use them for my system drive on all of my systems. What I AM against is telling people on a forum that they should spend money to fix their problems. I prefer to offer advice, provide options and, when appropriate, explain that spending money might be their best (but not necessarily only) option.

Anyway, I think I've made my feelings clear and said more than enough in this thread.
I'm going to partially agree and partially disagree.

Sometimes, suggesting the spending of a few dollars is absolutely the right answer. Let's face it, there are some things that will never ever happen without spending some money. But bear in mind that these are typically only suggestions, ultimately it is up to you whether you want to follow such suggestions or not. There is no need to be offended by this, people are only trying to help believing that your expectations could best be met by spending a few dollars.

On the flip side, I will note that I have quite a few older machines on which I am running Windows 11, including machines that are well over ten years old with spinning disks. I find that Windows 11 runs just fine on all of these systems. I've experimented and put both rotating platter drives and SSDs in these systems just for sake of comparison. They run perfectly acceptably with spinning disks, so long as you have "reasonable" expectations. Does an SSD make a difference? Yes, big time, but for what I do with those systems, rotating media is just fine. I have zero problems with anything, including updates on those systems. Would I run any of those systems as my daily driver? Heck no! I'm too used to the speed of modern SSD based systems, and for the stuff I do a lot of each day a system with rotating platter media will never ever satisfy me :-). But I do still use rotating media disk for mass storage - I have in excess of ten 8TB HDDs for that purpose.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7-11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A
    Memory
    128GB Crucial Ballistix 3200MHz DRAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - CPU graphics only (for now)
    Sound Card
    Realtek (on motherboard)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe Gen 4 x 4 SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe Gen 3 x 4 SSD
    2 x 512GB 2.5" SSDs
    2 x 8TB HD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCue 5000X RGB
    Cooling
    Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black cooler + 10 case fans
    Keyboard
    CODE backlit mechanical keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    Additional options installed:
    WiFi 6E PCIe adapter
    ASUS ThunderboltEX 4 PCIe adapter
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
Okay. Here's my issue. It's not that I'm opposed to SSD's - as I said, I use them for my system drive on all of my systems. What I AM against is telling people on a forum that they should spend money to fix their problems. I prefer to offer advice, provide options and, when appropriate, explain that spending money might be their best (but not necessarily only) option.

Anyway, I think I've made my feelings clear and said more than enough in this thread.
All the replies are consistent.

Use SSD for OS drive, use HDDs for storage.

There are no sensible options for significantly boosting HDD performance on OS drives Windows these days unless YOU choose to emasculate yourself.

The reason nobody is providing you advice on how to solve your hdd isssues is that there is no solution that comes even remotely close to changing out for an ssd

If you do not like advice people give you, that is your prerogative but do not patronise us who are advising you reality.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
All the replies are consistent.

Use SSD for OS drive, use HDDs for storage.

There are no sensible options for significantly boosting HDD performance on OS drives Windows these days unless YOU choose to emasculate yourself.

The reason nobody is providing you advice on how to solve your hdd isssues is that there is no solution that comes even remotely close to changing out for an ssd

If you do not like advice people give you, that is your prerogative but do not patronise us who are advising you reality.
You understand I'm not the OP, right?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    W10, W11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    2 HP Desktops, 1 Dell Desktop, 2 Dell XPS Laptops, 1 HP Laptop
Hopefully we hear back from OP. I'd like to know if the registry hack made any difference. It sure has stirred the old pot though. I'm also of the thinking spinners are more for data storage nowadays rather than using them for primary OS.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    MSI
    CPU
    i7-10750H
    Motherboard
    MSI MS-17F5
    Memory
    16GB Samsung DDR4 3200
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel + Nvidia RTX3060 Laptop
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 24" Curved
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Sabrent Rocket Gen3 1Tb Smasung EVO 870 1TB
    Antivirus
    Avast
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Vivobook 14
    CPU
    I7
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
    PSU
    Yep, got one
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois
    Keyboard
    Built in
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
I tried 11 on a mechanical disk. Not a pleasant experience. Win7 wasnt as bad on mechanicals as win11.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x8gb 3200mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    benq gw2480
    PSU
    bequiet pure power 11 400CM
    Cooling
    cryorig m9i
  • Operating System
    win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    pentium g5400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    1x8gb 2400
    PSU
    xfx pro 450
Making the Registry change made a big difference.
Instead of sitting on 100% it dropped down as low as 2%.
When copying GBs of data or turning off indexing on C: it takes a while, But i've got a lot off changes to make to Win 11 and
i'll see if it's hitting 100% too often or for too long afterand decide then if I upgrade to SSD.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus ROG Strix
    CPU
    i7 14700KF
    Motherboard
    Asus Rog Strix Z790
    Memory
    32Gb DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    8GB Nvidia Geforce RTX 3050
    Sound Card
    Creative Soundblaster Audigy RX
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus VA24EHF
    Screen Resolution
    1080
    Hard Drives
    2TB Seagate Barracuda SATA 3
    PSU
    Corsair 650 CX
    Cooling
    PCS Frostflow 100 ARGB
    Keyboard
    Logitech

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    i5-8400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    2x8gb 3200mhz
    Monitor(s) Displays
    benq gw2480
    PSU
    bequiet pure power 11 400CM
    Cooling
    cryorig m9i
  • Operating System
    win7
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    pentium g5400
    Motherboard
    gigabyte b365m ds3h
    Memory
    1x8gb 2400
    PSU
    xfx pro 450
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.
Looks like bad sectors!
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro x64 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Ryzen 9 5900X
    Motherboard
    ASRock B550 PG Velocita (UEFI-BIOS P3.40)
    Memory
    32 GB G.Skill F4-3200C16D-32GVR
    Graphics Card(s)
    Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 6750 XT
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Alienware AW3423DWF OLED ultrawide
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital Black SN850 1 TB NVMe SSD
    PSU
    eVGA Supernova 750 G3
    Case
    Corsair 275R
    Internet Speed
    VTel FTTH 1 Gb down and 1 Gb up
  • Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Ryzen 7 5800X3D
    Motherboard
    Asus ROG Strix B550-F Gaming (UEFI-BIOS version 3607)
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Sparkle Titan Arc A770 16 GB
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 970 Pro 512 GB NVMe SSD
    PSU
    eVGA Supernova 650 GQ
    Case
    Fractal Focus G
Win Key + R enter services.msc

- scroll down the SysMain - right click and Disable it

Win Key + E - right click on C:\ Drive, select Proprieties and uncheck the following:

2024-04-03_131333.png

And yes, Windows 7 does have less background tasks - which makes it less intensive on the HDD compared to Windows 11. If you're not an avid gamer - you'd be better of with some Linux Distribution. And HDD would be more at home running Linux - than Windows. I thought you have a low end machine, but checking your System Specs (My Computer) - that's around midrange (except for the Mobo + CPU which classify higher) for 2024. So it's definitely worth investing in a NVMe SSD. The difference is HUGE (highly noticeable compared to an HDD - as if you install windows on a RAM Drive). I'm talking minutes and seconds (NVMe SSD) vs hours (Sata HDD) - especially during updates.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 SP 16 (or Windows 11 SP 2 or Sun Valley 2)
    Computer type
    Laptop
    CPU
    Intel & AMD
    Memory
    SO-DIMM SK Hynix 15.8 GB Dual-Channel DDR4-2666 (2 x 8 GB) 1329MHz (19-19-19-43)
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia RTX 2060 6GB Mobile GPU (TU106M)
    Sound Card
    Onbord Realtek ALC1220
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1x Samsung PM981 NVMe PCIe M.2 512GB / 1x Seagate Expansion ST1000LM035 1TB
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