Windows 8 using 100% of HDD with high average response times and low read/write speed

Anonymous
2013-04-29T02:11:24+00:00

Hi There,

Since I upgraded to Windows 8 (in January), I have intermittently experienced freezes, and general performance dips. Upon investigating I found that when this occurred, my Hard Drive was showing as 100% Active Time, with a low Read and Write Speed (could be as low as 10 KB/s or as high as 40MB/s) and an Average Response time well into the 1000's (ms).

This is an example https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23428568/100%25%20HDD.png.

The same thing happens on all the Hard Drives when they're in use. Since it originally started happening, it has only become worse and more frequent. I had thought it may have been a heat problem, but it never gets above 40-50c on the HDD.

All in all.. i'm very confused and really looking for any help you can provide because it's really affecting my daily usage...

Computer Model - Alienware M15X Laptop

OS - Windows 8 Pro 64Bit

Thanks in advance :)

Oliver

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-04T19:58:23+00:00

    A Good way to fix this is to make sure that ASPM is turned off in all of your power profiles, ASPM is under PCI Express.  You should then update your machiene completely.  The error is caused by a bug in one of Microsoft's recent updates, where there is an incorrect configuration of the ASPM bios.  To tell this, the problem persists even after switching operating systems with the ASPM enabled by windows.  This update to the ASPM configuration code, was hidden under another update.  Until Microsoft sends out an update for ASPM fixing the bug, please leave ASPM disabled on all of your power profiles.

    Computer fix applies to:

    Toshiba sattilite S50 - A

    Windows 8.1 (fully updated)

    Please note that this fix may or may not be applicable to other computers.

    This may not be the complete cause for this to happen in this computer, but it is definitely one of the links in this problem.

    If you remove a link then you have a high chance of success.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-06-09T10:25:14+00:00

    Nothing worked. I gave up and reinstalled Windows 8.1 - it runs smoothly now.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-06-09T11:19:53+00:00

    I have come to the same conclusion with this same problem, having tried everything and nothing worked. I will now proceed with reinstalling Win 8.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-06-21T18:41:22+00:00

    I found out that it is mainly "System" (in a process from 0,1Mb) that's accessing the HDD for nearly 100 to 100% :)

    It's very anoying, I cannot disable it and WIndows stalls very often...

    I've never had this problem untill i installed Windows 8 Pro (64bit)

    I had this  very very problem with mean response times of my HDD going as high as 10,000ms! Of course Active time virtually at 100% all the time. Finally I decided to turn off things one at a time. The culprit seems to be a nasty creature called Superfetch which apparently is supposed to improve by computer's performance. Nice joke. I disabled it via Services interface (Start->Run-> enter "services.msc" and locate "Superfetch" in Services control panel. Right click and select Properties then click on Startup and select Disable then OK).

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-06-21T18:57:13+00:00

    I forgot to say that my mean active time on the HDD fell from 100% to somewhere in the region of 14% and mean response time from 4,000ms+ to around 50ms. Pretty dramatic change. OS is Windows 8.1. Hardware is an uninspiring Aspire V5 which came with 6GB RAM but 2 were stolen by the service guys. Forgive them for they knew not what they were doing.  Best of all and ironically, my programs start perceptibly faster now that I got rid of Sperfetch. Maybe it had a trojan riding on it or maybe Microsoft slept on the job. I don''t know the reason for change. All I know is I was frustrated but now I at peace. Halleluiah.

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