SOLVED Windows 10 constant low HDD use (not 'heartbeat')

System is X99 OCF, 5820K, Samsung 950 Pro.

I just noticed I am seeing a lot of HDD use that I feel should not be there. I am seeing just tiny chunks of use (2-5% or so) with occasional spikes. If I open up resource tab, it is, mainly, the System that is using it.

I looked online for similar issues, but only seem to find ones that have to do with 100% use which I don't have. The resolution there was to disabled Superfetch and BITS, and something else I forgot off the top of my head.

Is what I am seeing normal? Does anyone else seem to have random, non "heartbeat" type use on their HDD?

I will post some screenshots shortly... running out to breakfast.




EDIT: Resolution - http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...-heartbeat-)?p=7924190&viewfull=1#post7924190

I'm on 7 but I get a some low HDD activity too.
Do you use readyboost at all? That's what's causing my activity. Maybe it applies to you?

Could try Rammap from sysinternals to see what files are mapped to the RAM and pagefile. Maybe that's a possibility too.

In many threads of mine you've read, you will recall I posted about my Windows 10 constantly scanning each and every file of my entire system.
You'll recall how I pointed out that I went out of my way to specifically disable everything, every single thing I could think of inside the Windows 10 OS, indexing, firewall/defender, everything....

I have some false positives tucked away on my system I used to test anti virus programs to test their definitions and when Windows 10 scans them - my Avira anti-virus of course intercepts this. My anti-virus is specifically set to never automatically scan my system for this reason. Everything is manual on my system and I have identical programs installed on my Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 same system multi-boot.

Your problem may not be related but my Windows 10 IS scanning everything I own, and I can't tell you how long and in-deep I studied ALL Windows 10 options before concluding this cannot be turned off and something very fishy is going on... I reimage my OS all the time and before I go to Windows update, I reimage my system, Windows update, then image again so nothing is in that image other than fresh install, modified and 100% malware free.

I am waiting until July to make a new main rig and install Windows 10 retail on it to retest this topic on a new system, but yes absolutely, Windows 10 scans every file on every hard drive I have, and the only thing about this is that I do have an identical Windows 8.0 setup on the same system where this does not happen from which I have to conclude that it is Windows 10 mandatory constant scan that cannot be turned off, at least in my case.

*puts on tinfoil hat* could this be the anti-hacking feature we've all heard about, scanning for illegal programs/games ? or just the daily report on our activities getting ready to go back to MS

It's new... AFAIK. Did not happen initially.

Virus and malware free.

Only happens on c:. No other drives.

It's also mostly writes it seems. The drive does not appear to lose any capacity.

Probably an update then, had to re-install my audio drivers because of the last one, was causing them to spike the CPU hard like a power virus.

It's not an update. There are no updates. Also, if I leave my pc on for hours, it's still doing it.

It's only my OS drive, not storage drives that are affected. They sit idle with no activity until I access them.

idea: check to see if drive optimization is causing it?

Right click on Start button > Control Panel > [View by: Category] > System and Security > Under Administrative Tools, click on Defragment and optimize your drives then wait a minute to see the Optimize Drives window > Change settings > UNCHECK everything > OK > Close

Pretty vanilla install of 10 here. On Z170, 6700K, 2x16GB RAM, 980 Ti.



Opened a screenshot program, it accounts for one blip.

Sorting by disk usage, I see two things making ~100KBps on my system. "System and compressed memory" (though no idea why that one is doing anything to the disk at all given ~28 GB RAM free) and task host which is probably periodically flushing log files. Seems pretty normal to me - my Linux install would be doing the same thing via syslog.

ATMINSIDE said:

Pretty vanilla install of 10 here. On Z170, 6700K, 2x16GB RAM, 980 Ti.

View attachment 177745

Opened a screenshot program, it accounts for one blip.

Click to expand...

8gb ram in use ?



My case large spikes seems to sync with internet bursts, but there's definitely a very small amount of reading and writing in the background, 4KB-20KB bursts supposedly task manager itself.

Kenrou said:

8gb ram in use ?

Click to expand...

Yes, I had plenty running last night.

That screen looks like a saw blade on my system...Whereas you guys show idle time with a few spikes (normal). That whole screen are tiny ups and down with an occasional larger spike (that also tends to correspond with net activity).

I had good intentions of posting up a screenshot, but, i was whooped from my DC trip and then a sick kid... bleh.

I should be able to post something up tonight.

Want to know something REALLY curious? I received a notification for Windows update, but it was the OLD windows update like you are used to seeing with W7/8. It is was a fresh install too, not an upgrade. Sounds like I should just re-image as I don't have the time to figure out what is going on.

EarthDog said:

Sounds like I should just re-image as I don't have the time to figure out what is going on.

Click to expand...

Going to agree here, sounds like it tripped on itself.

mine looks like this , aging fresh install of winten

Sorry for the delay, here is a SS of the Taks manager and resource monitor...

I can leave this on all day and nothing would change.

EDIT: I checked drive optimization, and while on, the C:\ drive hasn't been optimized since 3/20. I disabled it anyway since I have little that changes and can manually run it as needed. This did not change any activity on C:\ however.

turn off disk monitoring and you wont see it happening it can also cause disk usage itself.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh875645.aspx

Using w10.. that doesn't include w10... does it work in w10?

whoops. im not sure. lol.

Don't know if you managed to figure this out or not E_D but I took a SS for you. This was without a LAN connection. Then I connected to internet had a bit of activity initially then the same just nothing.