Windows 10: Disk Usage Jumping to 100% When Idle, Sometimes At Random

Basically exactly what the title says. I've been dealing with this for about 8 or 9 months now and it seems to come and go, and I've tried a lot of different solutions I've read around the internet. I've turned off all notifications and tips and tricks. I've completely disabled Windows Search. I've defragmented my hard drive. I've turned off Superfetch (and turned it back on when it's done nothing to help). I've run ScanDisk through the command prompt to search for and fix errors.

I'm at my wit's end here because outside of my hard drive starting to be on the way out, I can't really figure out on a software/OS level what could be causing this or how to stop it, but I never had the problem before upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and it seems to be a common complaint with 10, so I'm hoping there's just something here I'm missing.

Now, barring the rare case where my disk usage will jump to 100% out of nowhere while I'm using my computer, this mostly only happens when I leave it idle for 20 or more minutes, say to do the dishes or something. If I don't have something constantly running in the background, like a game, or suitably semi-weighty program, my disk usage will, after a certain point, skyrocket.

At that point, there's nothing I can do but A.) Force a shut down of my computer, since it will move so slow it can't even shut down or restart properly, or B.) Bizarrely, open up a disk monitoring program. This may or may not work because sometimes it's so bogged down it won't open, but, I have a program called CrystalDiskInfo, and the second it opens up, everything goes back to normal. It's like Schrodinger's Glitch, or something.

But, if anybody here has had a similar problem or can shine some light on what could be causing this, it would be *very* greatly appreciated. It's starting to get out of hand.

:)

 

Upgraded to Windows 10 - Disk 0 Usage 100

Its just random. When Disk Usage hits 100%, I don't see any program using a lot of disk. Sometimes the max utilization is only 0.9MB but still Disk 0 Usage is at 100%.

 

Windows 10 100% Disk Problem on Task Manager

"However I believe 100% disk usage on task manager is not normal. "

It's definitely not normal. When your system is idle (not working on anything), the CPU usage should be 1% or less.

Now sometimes there is background work that happens -- there's thousands of things the computer does on-schedule. So sometimes it's not going to be completely idle. I explain what those things are in my post about High CPU Usage in Windows 10:
PSA: Windows 10 High CPU Usage

But outside of those things (or when those things are done working), the CPU should go back down. If not, that page will show you how to tell what background process is hogging the CPU and

 

Welcome to the Tensforum @Toast

Have you seen this article? It too mentions Superfetch as one item.

FIX: 100% Disk Usage by “System and Compressed Memory” in Windows 10 - Appuals.com

I believe this was originally posted by @TairikuOkami ( I think, hopefully I got this right.)


Ken

 

Thank you!

I tried following the instructions there, but with the first one, Malwarebytes blocked the link reporting it as a potentially dangerous site, and with the second one, I cannot get "Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows" to open at all? I click it, but absolutely nothing happens. Could it be because of my W10 version?

 

Then skip first one.

I would just run sfc /scannow from command prompt(Admin). I think the goal of the first link was to see if system files had issued.

For second step Windows Key + R, then type sysdm.cpl, then click on performance tab, then advance tab.


ken

 

SFC found no issues, and the Virtual Memory paging file is already set to automatic, so I'm assuming that isn't the cause.

From what I understand of Superfetch, it preloads programs and apps so they're quicker to load, right? Could it be that it's preloading something incorrectly/buggy/incompatible in the background, and that's why my disk usage skyrockets when idle?

 

I guess anything is possible but if it is corrupt I assume you would see BSOD or other errors. With your page file I would manual set it and then put it back to automatic.

On the subject of errors you seem to have a handle on how to make it happen. Could you open task manager, watch disk and then note when it jumps. Then entry event viewer and based on time see if system or any other log is recording issues.


Ken

 

Setting and resetting the page file did nothing.

The event log seems mostly benign, but a few errors jumped out at me:

"File System Filter 'wcifs' (Version 10.0, ‎2016‎-‎09‎-‎15T12:42:03.000000000Z) failed to attach to volume '\Device\HarddiskVolumeShadowCopy4'. The filter returned a non-standard final status of 0xC000000D. This filter and/or its supporting applications should handle this condition. If this condition persists, contact the vendor."

"The DSM service was delayed by 58 seconds for a driver query/download/install on device 'STORAGE\VOLUMESNAPSHOT\HARDDISKVOLUMESNAPSHOT4'"

"SettingSyncHost (4804) {206A4A50-BBED-46C6-B2CB-09AEF496B633}: A request to write to the file "C:\Users\James\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\SettingSync\remotemetastore\v1\meta.edb" at offset 1114112 (0x0000000000110000) for 16384 (0x00004000) bytes has not completed for 36 second(s). This problem is likely due to faulty hardware. Please contact your hardware vendor for further assistance diagnosing the problem."

Beyond that there's a lot of stuff in the event logs that I don't really understand, so I'm not sure what I should be looking for exactly. But my usage just jumped and these three events were recorded at roughly that time.

 

if you search wcifs you will see lots of these errors and lots around VolumeShadowCopy

Can I ask are using any kind of imaging tool to take images, Macrium, Acronis, etc?

Could be these are the cause or these could be the result of.

It is my understanding that you can delete all restore points and shadow copies but after I did so I would be creating new.

You may wish to check out a search of the forum with "wcifs 2017" no quotes just to see what other threads have produced / recommended.


Ken

 

Hm, yeah, it seems to be something affecting a ton of Windows 10 users lately related to restore points, so whatever it is, it's probably not related to my Disk Usage issue. I'm at a total loss as to what could be causing that at this point, but it's making me seriously regret upgrading from 7.

 

So do you have any of these imaging tools?

Have you installed the latest updates on the hope a fix is within?

If the system is creating copies, and having issues, it very well could be your adding to your issue.

 

I do not have any disk imaging tools of any sort, no; I also very rarely set restore points for my computer, but I've cleared what ones there were in an attempt to fix that last error. But my Windows 10 is up-to-date, yeah. It actually just ran some updates last night, but, nothing's changed in regards to disk usage.

 

If you want to take a shot at deleting restore points and shadow copies here are instructions. I'm not sure, did you work your way through entire article on suggested fixes?

If you want to delete

Click on File Explorer, right click on C:drive, left click on “Properties”. On General tab click “Disk Cleanup”, when window opens click on “Cleanup system files”, when window opens click on “More options” tab. Lower box, “System Restore and Shadow Copies”, click “Cleanup”, then “Delete”. Then confirm by clicking “Delete files”.
Recommend you create a new Restore point.

I would look into Macrium. Saves you from the dreaded clean install on complex machines.


Ken

 

Okay, after doing that, I waited a couple days to see what happened. So far, save for when Windows was running updates in the background, my disk usage problem seems to have gone away, but this isn't the first time that's happened.

So I'm willing to tentatively call this one "solved" for now - but 100% disk usage is an issue that tends to resurface for me now and then. With any luck, it will stay gone this time.