chris319 wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 1:39 am
The machine is less busy now, but I'm still hearing non-stop disk activity, even when it isn't doing much of anything.
There could be excessive disk activity with a SSD but you wouldn't hear it. Maybe my machine is just starved for RAM and the swap file is busy all the time.
Check your memory usage. I'm not too familiar with Windows these days but Task Manager or some computer-resource monitor graph should show.
You likely need to add more RAM and use SSD to be done with this issue completely.
CardinalRule wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 8:27 am
My next desktop will have an SSD drive, for sure.
Task Manager is definitely the place to go for app-specific utilization issues (as opposed to the general thrashing that might be fixed with the aforementioned Microsoft update).
For me, right now, my culprit is Apple's iCloud Photo Library, which is almost always sucking up 25-30%of my CPU, despite no apparent activity. I usually just end the task, but I need to figure out what is going on with that. Maybe I need to reinstall it.
Speaking of Chrome, does anyone know what the parenthetical number is that appears on Task Manager? Right now, mine says "Google Chrome (14)" and it is the only process that has that.
I show (6) with one tab open. If I open 2 more it's (9). If you click on the arrow to the left to expand Google Chrome you will see it's the total number of individual Chrome processes running.
Last edited by mpnret on Tue May 11, 2021 10:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
CardinalRule wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 8:27 am
Speaking of Chrome, does anyone know what the parenthetical number is that appears on Task Manager? Right now, mine says "Google Chrome (14)" and it is the only process that has that.
Easily found via Google. It's the number of unique domains you have open (i.e. Chrome tabs) plus 1 for the browser process, plus any extensions that you run that might have a background process window open. I run AdBlocker Plus. My Chrome shows 18 right now. I have 15 tabs open, plus the browser process is 16, plus AdBlocker Plus is 17. Don't know what the others are.
Avid user of forums on variety of interests-financial, home brewing, F-150, EV, home repair, etc. Enjoy learning & passing on knowledge. It's PRINCIPAL, not PRINCIPLE. I ADVISE you to seek ADVICE.
lazydavid wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 9:28 pm
M2 is an interface for modern SSDs that connects directly to the PCIE bus, rather than transitioning over to a SATA interface. There are several device lengths defined in the standard, with 80mm being the most common by far for storage devices. Hence 2280. The spec allows for 32, 40, 60, 80, or 110mm device lengths. But in reality, all commonly-available SSDs are of the 80mm variety.
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 9:35 pm
Thanks for explaining M.2 2280, good to understand the meaning behind the numbering.
M.2 is a physical form factor, and M.2 SSDs come in both PCIe NVME and in SATA variants, and not all motherboards/laptops support both types of drives. Generally, if you buy a newer one, it will support PCIe NVME, which is faster.
chris319 wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 6:09 pm
I have a magnetic disk, not a SSD
Why are you doing this to yourself?
Truth. A 480 GB SSD is $49. There is literally zero reason in 2021 to have spinning rust as your boot device. Arguments can be made in favor or opposition to high-capacity traditional HDDs for data storage. But no one should be using them as a system disk. Ever.
Given most SSDs are 2.5 as opposed to 3.5, don't you have to buy some mount kit to install properly?
Many modern computer cases have a place to install 2.5 inch drive. If not, adapters are not expensive. Even better if you have nvme slot on your motherboard so you can use nvme ssd
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 9:36 am
Yeah when I upgrade my PC I'll definitely look for PCIe NVME slots on the motherboard. SSD will be for the OS and I'll have slow HDDs for data.
FWIW, SSDs are fairly inexpensive these days. You can get good ones for ~10 cents/gigabyte, around $100 per terabyte. The faster speed of SSDs over hard drives even for "data" I have found to be worth it.
chris319 wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 6:09 pm
I thought I would ask here before starting to chase the problem.
Thank you.
Hate to say it, but you need a new computer.
I was chugging along with a 10 year old i7 PC, self built, but last year I broke down and got a Dell XPS desktop i9-9900 with 64 GB of RAM and SSDs. Holy cow, that thing is fast. Such a pleasure to use.
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 9:36 am
Yeah when I upgrade my PC I'll definitely look for PCIe NVME slots on the motherboard. SSD will be for the OS and I'll have slow HDDs for data.
FWIW, SSDs are fairly inexpensive these days. You can get good ones for ~10 cents/gigabyte, around $100 per terabyte. The faster speed of SSDs over hard drives even for "data" I have found to be worth it.
Do you do lots of reads / writes from the data disk? I run a sync job daily, but not much heavy activities.
- Try typing chrome:restart in the URL bar. That will restart Chrome without losing your tabs.
- I noticed my PC performance slowly degrades over time if it is not rebooted semi-often. You could always trying rebooting your PC, the universal Windows fix.
- Lastly, in addition to the PC task manager, there is a Chrome task manager within Chrome. Right click on the 3 horizontal lines button on the top right of your Chrome browser (underneath the X), select More -> TaskManager. That will bring up the Chrome task manager which will itemize memory usage per tab and other Chrome tasks. It will also allow you to close specific tabs from the task manager window.
Over the winter, I realized my 9yr old Dell Latitude E6420 was bogging down. I use this extensively when not at home. For $40, I swapped the 2gb memory modules with 4gb modules (8gb total) and that solved the bogging down.
I have a very old Dell D620 running current W10 with only 2.5gb of ram. It does bog down and it cannot play YouTube videos above 480 and even then has some buffering. If I run it on USB stick Linux, it will play 1080. I do want to upgrade it to 4gb total, but have not got around to it.
bloom2708 wrote: ↑Tue May 11, 2021 7:49 am
How old is the laptop?
Processor? RAM?
If the disk is highly utilized and slow, it isn't Windows 10 and/or Chrome.
I wouldn't upgrade the SSD if the laptop is 5+ years old.
I agree with bloom2708.
There's not enough information to make an educated guess as to what the next step would be.
I would want to know the age of the laptop and the specifications.
I would want to know when the last time Windows was loaded and if it was a clean install.
I would want to run diagnostics on the hardware.
Antivirus? Scans?
Speed test?
I wouldn't do anything unless I had found the problem; throwing parts isn't a great strategy unless you buy a new computer dbr style: viewtopic.php?p=5996712#p5996712 (8GB of memory runs my desktop just fine)
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 9:36 am
Yeah when I upgrade my PC I'll definitely look for PCIe NVME slots on the motherboard. SSD will be for the OS and I'll have slow HDDs for data.
FWIW, SSDs are fairly inexpensive these days. You can get good ones for ~10 cents/gigabyte, around $100 per terabyte. The faster speed of SSDs over hard drives even for "data" I have found to be worth it.
Do you do lots of reads / writes from the data disk? I run a sync job daily, but not much heavy activities.
Video editing is probably the heaviest/most intense use of the data disk. Though even just browsing and editing jpg photos I prefer to be really snappy. I could just be impatient
And probably not mainstream/typical but I also do various programming activities (compilation, virtual machines, containers, etc.) that work best with SSDs.
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 9:36 am
Yeah when I upgrade my PC I'll definitely look for PCIe NVME slots on the motherboard. SSD will be for the OS and I'll have slow HDDs for data.
FWIW, SSDs are fairly inexpensive these days. You can get good ones for ~10 cents/gigabyte, around $100 per terabyte. The faster speed of SSDs over hard drives even for "data" I have found to be worth it.
Do you do lots of reads / writes from the data disk? I run a sync job daily, but not much heavy activities.
Video editing is probably the heaviest/most intense use of the data disk. Though even just browsing and editing jpg photos I prefer to be really snappy. I could just be impatient
And probably not mainstream/typical but I also do various programming activities (compilation, virtual machines, containers, etc.) that work best with SSDs.
I'm pretty sure it's one of those things where once you get used to the speed, you can't go back.
As far as programming, I write Python 3...speed isn't really an issue, but if somehow becomes an issue then I could probably run the projects on the OS disk being SSD.
I broke down and got a Dell XPS desktop i9-9900 with 64 GB of RAM and SSDs. Holy cow, that thing is fast. Such a pleasure to use.
How much did this rig cost?
I'm keeping in mind that a SSD has a finite number of read/write cycles.
As I type this I'm running Linux Mint on the same hardware I use for Windows. The HD is nice and calm.
I had an odd problem with Libre Office, the spreadsheet program of choice for Linux. I can download my bank records as a csv file. In addition to the comma separators, the bank likes to put quotation marks around everything. This was impeding Libre Office's ability to deal with dates, which resulted in them being sorted incorrectly. When importing the csv file, clearing the "string delimiter" makes these quotation marks go away. Libre Office then uses the commas to separate fields like it is supposed to.
I also got TaxAct 2020 to run under Wine.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
I broke down and got a Dell XPS desktop i9-9900 with 64 GB of RAM and SSDs. Holy cow, that thing is fast. Such a pleasure to use.
How much did this rig cost?
I'm keeping in mind that a SSD has a finite number of read/write cycles.
While 4GB RAM is clearly too little, 64GB is also way overkill except for a very few users. 16GB is more than enough for 99% of users.
SSD endurance is a lot like credit scores - most people think way too much about both. 99% of users will never come anywhere near the end of their SSD's life span, and even if they do the data remains readable (it's the write volume that counts).
I broke down and got a Dell XPS desktop i9-9900 with 64 GB of RAM and SSDs. Holy cow, that thing is fast. Such a pleasure to use.
How much did this rig cost?
I'm keeping in mind that a SSD has a finite number of read/write cycles.
As I type this I'm running Linux Mint on the same hardware I use for Windows. The HD is nice and calm.
I had an odd problem with Libre Office, the spreadsheet program of choice for Linux. I can download my bank records as a csv file. In addition to the comma separators, the bank likes to put quotation marks around everything. This was impeding Libre Office's ability to deal with dates, which resulted in them being sorted incorrectly. When importing the csv file, clearing the "string delimiter" makes these quotation marks go away. Libre Office then uses the commas to separate fields like it is supposed to.
I also got TaxAct 2020 to run under Wine.
Did you ever use Task Manager to determine what was using your resources?
Avid user of forums on variety of interests-financial, home brewing, F-150, EV, home repair, etc. Enjoy learning & passing on knowledge. It's PRINCIPAL, not PRINCIPLE. I ADVISE you to seek ADVICE.
Linux seems to be fine with it. The HD shouldn't be constantly thrashing and swapping when all I'm doing is viewing static web pages and have a static spreadsheet open, but that's what Windows is doing. Under Linux the HD isn't so hyperactive. Likewise with Windows 7; no constant HD activity. This leads me to think that Windows 10 has become so resource-hungry that this is the result. Spending $$$ for a whole new mobo, CPU and SSD's just to get Windows 10 to settle down seems ridiculous.
Also as I write this I'm streaming music on Linux and the HD remains calm.
Everything changed with the forced "upgrade" to Windows 10.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
Linux seems to be fine with it. The HD shouldn't be constantly thrashing and swapping when all I'm doing is viewing static web pages and have a static spreadsheet open, but that's what Windows is doing. Under Linux the HD isn't so hyperactive. Likewise with Windows 7; no constant HD activity. This leads me to think that Windows 10 has become so resource-hungry that this is the result. Spending $$$ for a whole new mobo, CPU and SSD's just to get Windows 10 to settle down seems ridiculous.
Also as I write this I'm streaming music on Linux and the HD remains calm.
Everything changed with the forced "upgrade" to Windows 10.
I'm running 12 currently, and I allocate 4 to VMWare to run linux on top of windows 10. This is about a six year old laptop that I need to replace. I wouldn't run windows 10 with a hard drive. I once had work laptop with windows 10 on a hard drive, and it would spin after every update for a long time.
chris319 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 5:16 pm
..Under Linux the HD isn't so hyperactive. Likewise with Windows 7; no constant HD activity. This leads me to think that Windows 10 has become so resource-hungry that this is the result. Spending $$$ for a whole new mobo, CPU and SSD's just to get Windows 10 to settle down seems ridiculous.
Also as I write this I'm streaming music on Linux and the HD remains calm.
Everything changed with the forced "upgrade" to Windows 10.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
SSD or magnetic?
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
SSD or magnetic?
SSD. Modern OSs benefit tremendously from an SSD and there's no reason not to put one in every computer you use considering they're cheap and make a big difference.
Of course, that might not even be your main problem. Your disk might be full. Or the combination of apps you're running might have completely exhausted your memory. Or there might be an errant app or process consuming all your cycles. Or you could have some sort of driver issue. Or a virus. Or countless other possibilities.
chris319 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 5:16 pm
..Under Linux the HD isn't so hyperactive. Likewise with Windows 7; no constant HD activity. This leads me to think that Windows 10 has become so resource-hungry that this is the result. Spending $$$ for a whole new mobo, CPU and SSD's just to get Windows 10 to settle down seems ridiculous.
Also as I write this I'm streaming music on Linux and the HD remains calm.
Everything changed with the forced "upgrade" to Windows 10.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
My thoughts exactly... I have multiple old machines in my - and my extended family running Win 10 - no issues...
If they don't want to spend the time to diagnose/correct the issue - my guess is a "clean" install of Win 10 & Chrome will return things to "normal" order. But they are determined to blame Win 10... As though if Win 10 had some sort of issue like this - everyone else wouldn't be having the same issue...
Apparently OP would prefer to stay on a 12 year old OS on ?? year old hardware - as that was "better". And probably thinks that should be "as secure" as actually staying up-to-date on OS releases/patches/etc.
Sorry - I struggle with people complaining about being "forced" to upgrade... Technology is moving too quickly to keep old OS's around for 10+ years... And the rest of us are impacted when people don't keep their systems up-to-date...
chris319 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 5:16 pm
..Under Linux the HD isn't so hyperactive. Likewise with Windows 7; no constant HD activity. This leads me to think that Windows 10 has become so resource-hungry that this is the result. Spending $$$ for a whole new mobo, CPU and SSD's just to get Windows 10 to settle down seems ridiculous.
Also as I write this I'm streaming music on Linux and the HD remains calm.
Everything changed with the forced "upgrade" to Windows 10.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
Yup.
Avid user of forums on variety of interests-financial, home brewing, F-150, EV, home repair, etc. Enjoy learning & passing on knowledge. It's PRINCIPAL, not PRINCIPLE. I ADVISE you to seek ADVICE.
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 6:32 pm
If one's on SSD then of course this issue won't manifest, because SSD is 5x faster than HDD.
The OP needs to add RAM (with HDD) or upgrade to SSD, or both.
Win 10/Chrome shouldn't be that taxing... And assuming this is a "new" problem, I suspect something other than hardware.
That said, adding RAM and/or upgrading HD likely adds enough horsepower so they likely won't notice the symptoms they have now. But if the computer is 5+ years old, I'd simply replace it - it's time...
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 6:32 pm
If one's on SSD then of course this issue won't manifest, because SSD is 5x faster than HDD.
The OP needs to add RAM (with HDD) or upgrade to SSD, or both.
Win 10/Chrome shouldn't be that taxing... And assuming this is a "new" problem, I suspect something other than hardware.
That said, adding RAM and/or upgrading HD likely adds enough horsepower so they likely won't notice the symptoms they have now. But if the computer is 5+ years old, I'd simply replace it - it's time...
I think it was established that Chrome isn't even in the picture, as the OP said somewhere that they closed Chrome but the disk activity continued. In any case, something is thrashing the slow HDD on Windows 10.
I guess another solution is, well, to investigate the real issue and stop that, if possible. I suggested Task Manager or some resource-monitoring program earlier in the thread.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
SSD or magnetic?
SSD.
Well of course! You're not going to hear excessive disk activity on a SSD.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
chris319 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 7:08 pm
It doesn't matter if you have a SSD or magnetic HD. Excessive disk activity is excessive disk activity regardless of the storage hardware.
What really helped big-time was to uninstall Cortana, which I never use. Not disable it, remove it — get rid of it.
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 6:32 pm
If one's on SSD then of course this issue won't manifest, because SSD is 5x faster than HDD.
The OP needs to add RAM (with HDD) or upgrade to SSD, or both.
Win 10/Chrome shouldn't be that taxing... And assuming this is a "new" problem, I suspect something other than hardware.
That said, adding RAM and/or upgrading HD likely adds enough horsepower so they likely won't notice the symptoms they have now. But if the computer is 5+ years old, I'd simply replace it - it's time...
Nonsense.
Avid user of forums on variety of interests-financial, home brewing, F-150, EV, home repair, etc. Enjoy learning & passing on knowledge. It's PRINCIPAL, not PRINCIPLE. I ADVISE you to seek ADVICE.
Marseille07 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 6:32 pm
If one's on SSD then of course this issue won't manifest, because SSD is 5x faster than HDD.
The OP needs to add RAM (with HDD) or upgrade to SSD, or both.
Win 10/Chrome shouldn't be that taxing... And assuming this is a "new" problem, I suspect something other than hardware.
That said, adding RAM and/or upgrading HD likely adds enough horsepower so they likely won't notice the symptoms they have now. But if the computer is 5+ years old, I'd simply replace it - it's time...
Nonsense.
I'm not saying a 5+ year old computer has to be replaced... As I mentioned up stream, I suspect a "clean" install of Win 10 likely resolves the problem.
But OP doesn't appear to want to diagnose and resolve issue
If the computer is 5+ years old, IMHO throwing hardware (RAM, hard drives, etc.) at it to "fix" it is like getting an old car fixed. At some point you'll spend more in parts and repairs than simply replacing it.
Add in the benefits (faster processor, faster memory, faster HD) of newer hardware...
OP, I am currently using a Dell Latitude D630 laptop, that was manufactured for use in China; and was built with Windows XP installed. It was given to me by a relative in 2006. Over the years I upgraded to Windows Vista, then Windows 7, which both worked fine; then Windows 10. I reverted back to Windows 7 to do a trial; and have stayed with 7 for the time being. I don't really like the "plainness" of Win 10; but it works fine on my HP desktop.
I upgraded the Wi-Fi card to max supportable, the RAM to max, put in a Digital Hard Drive; and the computer is working like a champ. I use DuckDuckGo as my web browser; and it works just fine. It only has a 14" screen, and is pretty heavy; but works just fine. I use it primarily in the evenings when I'm watching TV. There are lots of U Tube videos with help to do all these upgrades. Just takes a little searching.
In this day and age, there is no need to tolerate a slow, sluggish computer. I might add I enjoy "fiddling" with this stuff.
As I pointed out earlier, I have a 10 year old PC with 4GB of RAM that runs Chrome and Windows 10 fine. It sounds like you're making incorrect assumptions and not bothering to diagnose the actual issue.
SSD or magnetic?
SSD.
Well of course! You're not going to hear excessive disk activity on a SSD.
I'm also not going to hear excessive disk activity because it's not excessive
chris319 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 7:08 pm
It doesn't matter if you have a SSD or magnetic HD. Excessive disk activity is excessive disk activity regardless of the storage hardware.
What really helped big-time was to uninstall Cortana, which I never use. Not disable it, remove it — get rid of it.
if you found the cause and stopped them already then that works too.
Removing One Drive and Cortana have helped greatly. I never used them anyway. It still accesses the HD when idle but I think that's just Windows being Windows. Now the HD has settled down and it's tolerable.
Financial decisions based on emotion often turn out to be bad decisions.
if you found the cause and stopped them already then that works too.
Removing One Drive and Cortana have helped greatly. I never used them anyway. It still accesses the HD when idle but I think that's just Windows being Windows. Now the HD has settled down and it's tolerable.
I generally buy low spec inexpensive laptops. I doubt any of my (non-work) devices have more than 4GB RAM. Some of the older devices (now at in-laws) still have mechanical drives.
Excessive disk usage [when idle] is a sign something else is going on...