Windows 10: Windows 10 and a busy hard drive?

I would like to know if what I am about to describe is occurring with many other users. Since I upgraded from Win7 to WIn10, I have noticed that my SSD seems to be a lot busier than it was in Win7. I've got a SSD so this disk activity is certainly not loud by any means. But I never used to hear those subtle little 'clicks' so frequently in the background as I do now. I have turned off many of the features under privacy (including the one that shares my internet connection with others to acquire WIndows Updates). But this 'busy' activity seems to continue. First, I thought if must be the new OS indexing all of my files since I did a clean install. But since it's now been a few weeks, that does not explain it. Does anyone have any thoughts on this issue? Thanks.

:)

 

With Windows 10, my hard drive is 100% busy all the time....Please help.

With Windows 10, my hard drive is 100% busy all the time....Please help. (Looks like Defender is the reason.)

 

Windows Icon goes busy randomly (on and off a few seconds)

Hi Christopher,

As per the information, I suggest that you log into the PC in Safe mode and check if the issue arises in this mode as well.

Get to safe mode and other startup settings in Windows 10

If the issue does not persist in Safe Mode, I suggest that update your Display Drivers from the computer's manufacturer website and check if the issue persist. To learn how to perform the above, click on the link below

How to: Install and Update drivers in Windows 10

Hope this helps

Regards

 

Have a look in task manager and see what is busy, also stop programs from opening with windows in the boot section.

 

I looked in Task Manager. There are 56 background Processes, and 29 Windows Processes. And I also notice, when I am doing nothing (except looking at Task Manager--without manually opening any other programs), memory usage remains constant at about 34%. I wonder if this is high for a PC sitting idle, especially in light of the fact that I've got 8 GB of Ram? I am also noticing a number of redundant processes (under background processes), such as Google Chrome (32 bit) showing '6' instances of itself. Note: I am using the 64 bit version of Win10.

I am not experiencing any problems. And I realize the nature of Win10 (unlike Win7) is to 'phone home' to Microsoft more frequently. I just find this experience a bit odd and keep wondering what is it doing? Thanks for any additional thoughts here.

 

open task manager go to the startup tab disable the google from loading when windows starts and some of the other programs that start up and reboot then see if that clears it up also look for startup entries that don't have a name but are title NA or just program
in a white area near the top of task manager right click and choose command line this will show the location of those dead or uninstalled apps or programs
note some of the start up processes can be set to start auto with a delay allowing windows to boot faster.. just a thought

 

All of those instances of chrome are normal, but like I said disable things that you don't need to start with windows from the startup. Also post a screen shot of busy task manager processes.

 

Ironically, since I've been talking about it, things seem a little quieter on my SSD this evening (lol). But here's a couple of screenshots of the background processes. I've got it on 2 screenshots (the last one also runs into a partial list of Windows Processes) which I wasn't trying to include. Thanks.

 

Looks pretty much normal to me don't forget you have malwarebytes running and cortana. I got rid of nvidia backend because it was causing problems with my shut down.

 

Thanks for having a look. Things have actually calmed down two days in a row with less disk activity. Maybe someone has heard me talking about Win10 activity and too much phoning home to Microsoft (lol). But my SSD has seemed to have settled down a bit. We see if it lasts.

 

The worst thief in Windows 10 is "Updates from More than one place" in your Settings->Security->Updates->Advanced Settings-> "Choose how Updates are Delivered" - keep that turned off, it allows Microsoft to use your computer to deliver updates to other people. There were a bunch of updates last few days, the high Disk usage might have been this p2p network activity, it's basically a torrent system that uses your PC to distribute updates.

 

I had the same problem - high and continuous disk activity. I noticed this after I had enabled the option "File History". Once I disabled this option, the disc activity stopped. Would your case be the same? Or the disc activity has reduced after the history has been created for first time and now only incremental delta is being synched.

 

Today, the unknown disk activity is back. And while it doesn't seem apparent from looking at Task Manager, I know it is there. I've had my SSD for a year; and unless updates were going on, it was dead quiet when I was doing simple things like browsing web pages in Win7. (I just started using Win10 after 07/29).

Today, this clicking activity is back in Win10. And, I turned off the bit torrent like style of allowing a shared connection for Windows Updates (shortly after installing Win10) . But the File History setting was still on. I've now turned that off as well.

I am beginning to have mixed feelings about this upgrade. On the one hand, the OS feels very stable, modern, and user friendly. But I do not like some of these new features such as the OS forcing my device to 'phone home' on a much more frequent basis than Win7. And I do not like hearing this background noise on my SSD. It doesn't happen continuously, but it seems far too frequent.

We'll see if turning off File History helps. I'm using Macrium Reflect for my backups so I don't need that built in backup feature. Thanks for the replies here.

 

You should never have any clicking activity with a ssd there are no moving parts.

 

True enough, there's no moving parts. But this clicking (if that's the best word to describe it?) is present. It's certainly not loud, just a very soft background noise. I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with the SSD as it's been a familiar/occasional sound since I've had the SSD (purchased it 1 year ago). The difference is now (unlike 3 weeks ago when I still have Win7 installed) is the fact that I am hearing it on a regular basis versus only occasional clicking when I had Win7 on the SSD.

I never questioned it before because I only ever heard it when I was installing a program or things like windows updates. But now it seems to be commonplace even when I am simply reading web pages and doing nothing else.