Files take a long time to open from the hard drive. The computer takes a long time to boot when turned on: Solve the problem
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Question from user
Hello.
For no reason at all, my laptop began to slow down - the hard drive light on it does not stop burning. Slows down, may freeze for a long time, then revives for a few seconds, and then again. If you open any program or game at such a moment, then everything works very slowly, you can not wait for the opening ...
I completely formatted the HDD and reinstalled Windows - it did not help (by the way, the installation took a very long time). I checked the computer with Dr.Web Cureit (+ Kaspersky) - it also did not help. The temperature of the hard disk is 30-35 degrees.
Good day!
And more and more often I notice that someone has replaced my hard drive ...
In fact, the slow operation of the hard drive is not so uncommon, and it is far from always easy to make a "diagnosis". The reasons can be either hardware (for example, if the hard drive is damaged) or software (say, the same uTorrent can load the disk by hashing). In the article I will try to indicate how to find and eliminate the cause (I will analyze the most popular of them). So...
❶ HDD brake analysis
In some cases, you can almost exactly determine where to look for the cause of the slow disk operation. Therefore, the very first thing I want to start with is observation and analysis. Below I will give a number of questions from which it will become clear where I am getting at:
1) Does the hard drive make clicking noises when braking? Are there any suspicious sounds that weren't there before (here I should warn you that many working hard drives make a "light" rattle. I'm talking here about those sounds that did not arise during operation before) ?
These sounds may indicate a problem with the mechanics of the disc. In this case, the cheapest option is to replace the disk with a new one ();
2) Do you happen to have files that become "broken", do you get errors about the integrity of files when you open them? How long does the process of copying, reading files take? Does Windows take a long time to load? Positive answers to these questions may indicate the appearance of bad blocks. (you can try to cure, more on that below) , that the disk was dropped (hit), file system errors;
3) have you tried running Task Manager and see if there are any programs that "rape" your hard drive, loading it to 100% (for example, it could be uTorrent)? To call the task manager - press the Ctrl + Shift + Esc buttons.
It happens that the task manager shows a load of 50-100%, and the programs that do this are not displayed. In this case, try using a third-party monitor, such as .
Performance monitor - what loads the disk // Advanced SystemCare 10
4) how strong your brakes are: it's just a slight delay of 0.5÷1 sec. in the game, as it were, a short freeze (once every 15 ÷ 20 minutes), or they are so strong that you cannot even start that very game - you wait 3 ÷ 4 minutes. until it loads and the first menu appears? Simply, in the first case - it is often a matter of power settings, in the second - the range of problems is much wider;
5) Was there an emergency power outage? The fact is that after such a "sharp" shutdown of the PC (laptops are usually saved by the battery) - you need to run the utility chkdsk(more on that below), and check the disk for file system errors (which, by the way, is often done by Windows itself).
❷ Check disk for errors, bad blocks. SMART readings
Perhaps one of the main actions to start fighting with freezes and slow disk operation is to check if there are file system errors on the disk (and if there are, then fix them), and if it has started to crumble - if there are bad -blocks.
These topics are quite extensive and I will not analyze in detail in this article (fortunately, there is a separate instruction, here I will provide a link to it).
Many users often neglect to check fur. component of the disk, and meanwhile in vain. If the disk slows down very much, then I recommend that you check if everything is in order with it. In many cases, the problem can be identified almost as soon as the S.M.A.R.T readings are viewed. (hard disk self-diagnosis system).
By the way, S.M.A.R.T. can be found in more "simple" utilities than Victoria (which is discussed in the article on the links above). For example, in the same CrystalDiskInfo utility (I talked about it in this article -).
To learn S.M.A.R.T. and evaluate the status of the disk - you just need to run the CrystalDiskInfo utility. Then, within a few seconds, the utility will independently evaluate your disk and issue a verdict - an example is on the screen below (both good and bad).
❸ Disk power mode. Power supply
There are two points at this point. First - are the cables inserted into the hard drive slots well and tightly? It happens that the cables do not fit tightly, due to which the power supply of the hard drive may be unstable (this is not good).
And, the second point, in the power settings of your computer (most often laptops sin with this)- can be placed economical mode. Because of what, if there are no accesses to the disk for a while, it stops. But then, when you access it, it needs time, and as a result, you have a slight freeze for 0.5÷1.5 seconds. This is especially noticeable in games, editors, and other applications.
1) So, first open: \Hardware and Sound\Power Supply
Then in the list of parameters expand the tab "Hard drive/Turn off hard drive after" and set your time. To prevent the hard drive from turning off at all, set the time - 0 . After that, save the settings and restart the PC.
Also note one more thing. Often laptop manufacturers put extra on their devices. software designed, for example, to save battery power. And for what? Due to monitor brightness, screen blanking timer, etc. Among other things, there are options that, in addition to Windows, help to stop the hard drive...
In general, the message is simple - check if you have such manager programs and, at least for a while, try to set the performance in them to maximum.
❹ Drive mode - PIO/DMA. AHCI mode
If you have a fairly old computer, then you may encounter the fact that Windows (due to some errors) switched the hard drive out of operation DMA(allowing you to work directly with RAM) to the old PIO- because of which all actions are performed through the CPU. As a result, the speed of work drops, and drops very significantly!
How can you find out what mode the drive is in:
Also be sure to pay attention to another thing - Advanced Host Controller Interface - AHCI. If you have disabled this mode in the BIOS ( and, for example, you could turn it off yourself when checking the disk, say, because some old utilities refuse to work in this mode) - then the disk will slow down a lot.
To check if everything is in order - go to the BIOS, then, usually, you need to open the tab Configuration. The links below will help you.
ACHI mode enabled || laptop bios
And one moment.
When you install Windows, it usually installs the SATA AHCI driver automatically (at least modern OSes). In many cases, this is, of course, good, but in some cases, the disk behaves unstable. Here the message is simple - find out the manufacturer of the motherboard and download the SATA AHCI drivers from the official. site and reinstall them!
To help! How to find out the characteristics of the PC (including the manufacturer of the motherboard) -
Driver Booster - installation of SATA AHCI drivers
In some cases, you can try to update the drivers through : to do this, simply expand the tab "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" , then right-click on "...SATA AHCI...", in the context menu select "Update drivers...", and follow the instructions of the wizard.
Device Manager - Update SATA ACHI Driver
Important!
For mat. motherboards based on Intel chips - be sure to install the driver "The Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology". It usually comes bundled on a disk with your laptop / PC (also available on the manufacturer's website). And also find it driver booster(screen above).
❺ Hard disk temperature analysis
In general, the optimum operating temperature for a hard disk is considered to be approximately 30÷40°C. When the temperature goes beyond these limits, pay close attention to the cooling system (in general, many hard drives can work relatively quietly even at 50 ° C (degrees Celsius), but their service life is significantly reduced!).
To help! HDD temperature: tell me what to do, HDD heats up to 49-54°C. How to lower HDD temperature -
To check HDD temperature, use some utility to determine the characteristics of the computer. For example, I usually use CrystalDiskInfo, Aida64, Speccy (link to article with utilities below).
To help! Utilities for viewing PC characteristics -
How to lower the temperature:
❻ Cleaning the hard drive from debris. defragmentation
No matter how careful the user is, over time a large amount of "garbage" accumulates on the hard drive: various temporary files, erroneous shortcuts, browser cache, "tails" from old remote programs and games, etc. All this affects the performance of Windows. From time to time this "good" needs to be cleaned.
You can find the best utilities for cleaning your computer in this article -
Computer/Laptop cleaning guide to make it run faster -
A few words about defragmentation(I'm explaining awkwardly...)
If your Windows behaves somehow slowly when opening files from a disk ( note: slower than usual), then this may be due to fragmentation (scatter of "pieces" of your file on disk that need to be collected and read before the file is shown to you. The stronger the fragmentation, the higher the scatter, and the more time it takes to find all the "pieces")
defragmentation is the process of optimizing the storage of information on the disk, necessary to ensure a continuous sequence of clusters (so that all the "pieces" of the file are in one place). In general, if you deviate from incomprehensible terms, then after defragmentation your disk starts to work faster: reading and writing files is accelerated. Thanks to this, your programs become more responsive, it becomes more pleasant to work on such a PC!
❼ Disable disk indexing
It can take quite a lot of disk space indexing(special thing in the new Windows, making it easier to find files). In fact, a very small part of users constantly use file search, and therefore indexing, in principle, is unnecessary for them!
To turn it off, just go to "This computer" ("My computer") and go to the properties of the desired disk.
Disable disk indexing
Finally: if the above did not help, try installing a different version of Windows (only not different collections -), change / update drivers,. Perhaps this is too banal advice (which many people already do before looking for advice on blogs and forums like mine), and yet, in some cases - the reason lies precisely in them ...
When a computer or laptop starts to work slowly, the first thing they think is that the problem is in the processor or video card. But there is also a hard drive (hard drive or HDD drive), which also affects the performance of the PC. Yet strong enough.
As a rule, ordinary users find out that the hard drive is slowing down only after programs and games open slowly, work for a long time and constantly freeze. Or by the LED of the external hard drive, which is constantly on or blinking too often. In some cases, the HDD drive may even crack, squeak, or creak. These are all signs of a problem with the hard drive.
Which ones? It is difficult to give a definite answer here. Yes, it doesn't exist. Therefore, below are the most popular hard drive errors and problems, as well as how to solve them.
This manual is universal and is suitable for both fixed HDD drives and external drives.
The first reason is too much accumulated garbage on the computer. By "garbage" we mean temporary files, as well as everything that is in the trash (as a rule, it is no longer needed, but it takes up space). Therefore, if the hard drive lags the system, first of all you need to clean it. Thankfully this is very easy to do.
Using the example of Windows 7, cleaning the hard drive of unnecessary files is done like this:
Windows will estimate the amount of space, after which the following window will appear:
Check or uncheck the boxes as required and click OK. Similarly, you need to perform the procedure for the rest of the local disks - D, E, etc.
This is how the hard drive is cleaned in the standard way. You can also use special software for this - for example, CCleaner, Auslogics BoostSpeed, etc. With their help, you can additionally remove unnecessary programs from startup (they also slow down the computer), clean the registry, etc.
By the way, pay attention to how much free space you have left on your local drives. It must be at least 10%. Otherwise, the computer or laptop will slow down and fail. If you have just such a situation, you need to free up more space. If there is nothing to delete, then write some files to a disk, flash drive, or upload them somewhere on Yandex.Disk and similar online services.
Defragment your hard drive
Fragmentation is an inevitable process with heavy use of a PC. It is because of it that games and programs can greatly slow down. Therefore, it is recommended to perform the defragmentation process at least once a month. This optimizes the HDD and improves the performance of the PC. You can perform this procedure in 2 ways: using a standard Windows tool or special software.
Checking the hard drive for errors
Another reason why an external hard drive (or a regular one) freezes is logical errors. You can check their presence or absence through scandisk, a standard utility that is available in Windows.
To run this check:
There is also a second way:
Checking the operating mode of the hard drive
You also need to check what mode the hard drive is in. There are two in total:
- PIO (old mode, operates at the expense of the PC central processor);
- DMA (new mode, works with RAM, which significantly increases the speed of the computer).
In theory, there should be a DMA mode, but due to the presence of various errors and malfunctions, Windows can automatically switch it to PIO. As a result, the hard drive slows down and freezes. And regularly.
To find out what mode the hard drive is in:
What if the PIO mode is set there? There are two simple ways to switch it to DMA:
Users who bought a PC or laptop 3-4 years ago do not have to worry about this. They usually don't have any problems with the loops.
Checking a hard drive for bad sectors in Victoria
Another reason why a hard drive freezes is bad sectors. While there are few of them, the problem can be fixed with the help of software. For example, the Victoria program (Victoria).
How to understand that there are bad sectors on the hard drive? This is evidenced by:
- constant freezing of a laptop or computer when accessing the HDD drive (opening files);
- you hear a rattle or crackle that was not there before;
- too slow file copying;
- drop in PC performance in general.
The Victoria program is one of the most effective for checking a hard drive for bad sectors. And it's very easy to use:
- Run Victoria as an admin (RMB on the shortcut - Run as admin).
- Go to the Tests section.
- Click Start.
After that, the verification will begin. You need to pay attention only to 2 types of rectangles - red and blue. If there are a lot of the latter, then you need to select the "Remap" item and start a re-check. This will help restore the hard drive to working order.
By the way, if you just recently bought an HDD drive, and the Victoria program shows the presence of blue rectangles, it is recommended that you send it in for repair under warranty. There should be no bad sectors on a new hard drive.
HDD overheating
The next reason on the list why a hard drive on a laptop or computer slows down is overheating. After all, too high a temperature is dangerous for the hard drive too.
The optimal value is considered to be 30-45 degrees. If the temperature is above 50 - this is already a problem. Although values of 50-55 degrees are not critical for many HDDs, they still work fine (but this can reduce their lifespan).
If there is a suspicion of overheating of the hard drive, you need to check it. For example, through the AIDA64 program. To do this, run it and go to the Computer - Sensors sections. As you can see, in the screenshot below, the temperature of the HDD is 33 degrees.
What if it's too high? There are several ways to reduce the temperature of a hard drive:
- cleaning a laptop or PC system unit from dust;
- installation of additional coolers (fans) for cooling;
- HDD transfer (if you have 2 or more hard drives in the PC system unit, try installing them at some distance from each other);
- purchase of a cooling pad (only suitable for laptops).
Winchester cracks and knocks: what to do
In general, a hard drive is a mechanical device, so it can make various knocks, crackles and rattles. If it's been like this since you bought it, then it's no big deal. But if there were no such sounds before, and after a while they appeared, and the hard drive began to slow down (work slowly) - this is a bad sign.
First you need to urgently copy all important files from it (just in case). And then try to reduce the noise. For example, using software designed to reduce the speed of head positioning. The speed of the HDD will drop a little, but visually you will not notice it. But knocks, cods and gnashes should disappear. Or at least become quieter.
Many users are scared to death of restarting their computer.
This process should be easy and independent of users, but sometimes it can take a minute, two, or seem like an eternity.
This is a rather controversial topic, since much that is known about computer boot is a myth.
But still, the operating system should not boot longer than 90 seconds. If the user is forced to endure more, it is worth starting to take action.
Computer Diagnostics
Very often, the user becomes nervous for no reason.
It takes a lot of time to diagnose. Although the reason may lie in the most common things.
Tip: If you use your PC a lot, you can leave it on or set it to hibernate when you press the power button. In this case, it makes no sense to turn it off every time. Then the user gets rid of the need to deal with slow loading.
It's all about organizational skills and discipline. To take this example, very few software installations require a regular reboot.
Some changes require a forced reboot while others simply “prompt” you to reboot now or later.
And let's be honest, sometimes users want to save time, which means they choose to reboot later... and sometimes that "later" happens much later.
And then several updates, patches and ignored reboot requests just overlap.
The system gets confused in the update order, there are delays that are not visible to the eye of the average user.
After such a long-awaited reboot, the device takes some time to process all these changes. This is normal, but can still annoy most users.
Many do not even wait for this necessary download, and reboot the unfortunate device again. Then all updates are reset. This cannot be done.
Disable autorun programs
Programs that are loaded at startup remain active in memory.
Hence, they are one of the main reasons why Windows boots slowly. Disabling programs that the user is not using may work.
To manage startup programs, you can install a very interesting tool Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel.
With it, the user can easily remove unused programs from the list of resident programs and startup programs.
Scandisk and Defrag
With Microsoft Scandisk and Disk Defragmenter, you can make sure that your hard drive is working without errors.
Also, these programs are necessary in order for the data to be stored in the most efficient way.
Even experienced users run both of these programs at least once every few months.
Yes, they take some time to use. But it is better to spend it once than to wait painfully for the download every time.
Not enough free space on the hard drive
For a personal computer to work optimally, it must have at least 250 MB of free space on the hard disk on which the operating system is installed.
If the amount of free space is less, the overall performance and loading time can be significantly reduced.
The operating system itself takes up a lot of space, but in addition, the extra space is used to temporarily store files needed during operation.
Determination of free space on the hard drive.
In order to determine the availability of free space on the hard drive, you need to open "My Computer".
In the window that opens, there will be a column "Devices and drives", then you need to right-click on Disk C. And select the "Properties" option in the drop-down menu.
A new screen will display the total volume, free volume and used space. It is necessary to check the data on Disk C, since the operating system is most often installed on it.
If there is not enough free space, you need to delete temporary files, clean the system of unused programs and recheck the free space.
Update Drivers and Windows
Custom, incorrectly installed, or outdated drivers can lead to a number of different conflicts.
It is necessary to regularly update the operating system drivers, the Windows operating system itself, and also update the software that is used on the device.
This is the only way to ensure that software problems do not occur.
All of these problems are not yet related to hardware malfunctions. This is a completely different set of problems.
Upgrading the operating system to a new version
Are you still running Windows 7? Upgrading to Windows 8 or 10 will seriously speed up boot times.
Not every operating system update will necessarily be faster, but the transition from 7 to 8 was huge.
How to update the Windows operating system.
In order to get the necessary operating system updates, you need to go to the Control Panel.
If the necessary updates are found, the system will offer to automatically install the latest updates.
The user can only wait for the installed updates and reboot the device.
Cleaning the registry
If the user has already completed all the previous recommendations from this list, but the long-awaited result has not come, you can clean the system registry. To do this, you can install any program from the Internet.
The registry cleaning process itself rarely depends on the user. Most of the programs work automatically.
Reinstalling Windows
Although this may take time and a free removable drive to save important files, this is one of the cardinal decisions.
Also, the process itself can be a little time consuming, requiring you to completely erase all data and reinstall Windows.
This process will cause the user's computer to function as it did when it was new.
Equipment upgrade
Improving the hardware
This is a hardware method of solving the problem. There are more financial costs than time and moral.
Of course, this is one of the most effective ways to increase performance and reduce load times.
You just need to call any company that is engaged in modernization or upgrade, and order the appropriate service from them.
You can also upgrade your computer yourself by replacing obsolete components with new ones.
Adding RAM
Installing more memory (RAM) for your computer helps increase the overall speed of your computer, and in some cases can reduce boot time by several times.
If your unit is running less than two gigabytes of RAM, you should consider upgrading or expanding it.
Adding a Solid State Drive
A solid state drive is the most efficient way to improve overall system performance.
On desktops and laptops, you can migrate Windows from a regular hard drive to an SSD. This will significantly reduce the download time.
Solid state drives are characterized by higher speed, reliability, fault tolerance and stability. At the moment, this is the best choice among hard drives.
Reset BIOS settings
When you first set up your computer in BIOS Setup, the administrator may have disabled some settings.
In order to check what is disabled there, you need to long press the del key when starting the computer.
This is the most common key that motherboard manufacturers assign to enter BIOS Setup.
If it didn’t work, you should look on the Internet for how to enter BIOS Setup by selecting a specific motherboard model.
Once in the BIOS, you can enable the “fast boot option” mode and move the hard drive to the first place in the boot priority list. You also need to turn off the "Logo" when loading.
Thus, the computer will not waste time displaying a beautiful picture, but will spend all its energy on starting the operating system.
Disable unused hardware
Any computer loads a lot of drivers when it first starts up, even though some of them are not used.
You need to go to the device manager from the start menu search bar.
There you need to find everything that is not used on the computer, such as Bluetooth and third-party controllers, modems, virtual Wi-Fi adapters and other hardware that is not in the system. Right click on the entry you want to disable and click disable.
Don't forget to double-check that all other peripherals are still working. If the computer is part of a wireless network, virtual Wi-Fi adapters should remain enabled.
Antivirus software
It is believed that this is an obvious fact, but still it is worth noting it separately.
To keep your computer running fast, you need to install a good antivirus program, keep it up to date, and run regular scans.
This is more of a preventive measure than a real solution to the problem of long loading. But very often it is viruses that lead to the fact that the computer takes a long time to boot.
Plus, any antivirus program will leave your files intact.
Unused fonts
Since time immemorial, loading extra fonts at startup slows down system boot time.
It's less of a problem now than it used to be, but it can still be tiring.
Windows 7 loads over 200 fonts on startup; even more if you have Microsoft Office installed.
Chances are you're using very few of these fonts, so you might want to hide them to speed up the process.
In Windows 7, you need to open the Fonts folder from the Start menu search bar and check for any fonts you don't need. Next, click the “hide” button on the toolbar.
That way, if you want them, you can put them back, however, Windows doesn't load them on startup.
Please note that by simply removing a few fonts, you will not see a noticeable difference.
For the result to be tangible, you need to get rid of several hundred unused fonts.
It’s more of a patience factor here, when you can mark more than a hundred fonts, everything will not seem so funny. And you will understand why they slow down the loading of your operating system so much.
Motherboard replacement
We change the "motherboard"
This is one of the very cardinal decisions, since it most often entails the replacement of the processor and RAM. But this will seriously reduce the boot time of the computer.
Sometimes the motherboard is still working, but the hubs are already swollen on it. Which significantly reduces the speed of its work. And only a specialized specialist can determine whether it is repairable.
Again, these aren't the only things you can do to improve your computer's boot time, but they are some of the most well-known, reliable methods.
It is important to understand that by speeding up the boot time of the computer, you need to achieve benefits, not harm.