How to reduce the load on your hard drive windows 10. What to do if there is a heavy load on the disk. The hard disk is fully loaded: causes and remedies. Disable Windows Updates

In this article I will tell you about all the reasons why a disk in Windows can boot to 100% and what can be done to make the disk work normally.It looks like this:

Searching and indexing files in Windows

In order to quickly find and open any files on a computer in Windows, there are several services that provide this. These are file search and indexing services, for good, these services should work fine, but often it is because of them that problems with disk load up to 100% arise. Disabling these services helps a lot. To disable them we do:

My computer -- right click on disk - properties - at the bottom we remove the checkbox "enable file indexing"
Control Panel - Administration - Services - Find the "Windows Search" service and disable it

But I want to warn you right away that if you disable these services, then the search will not work, and Windows will also get access to the necessary files for a longer time!

SuperFetch Service

Those who often clean their computers with various propeller cleaning programs also face the problem of 100% disk load. the problem is that cleaners can delete the PerfLogs folder at the root of the system drive. And after that, the Superfetch service does not have data on the disk's work and it starts to re-collect them thus loading the disk by 100%. There are two ways out, either add the PerfLogs folder in the cleaners to the exceptions, or disable the Superfetch service, do it like this:

Control panel - administration - services - find the "Superfetch" service and disable it

In general, this service is supposed to maintain and improve the performance of the system. But due to the lack of knowledge of many users how it works, it leads to disk load. Another point, for those who have had HHD for more than 3 years, or have hardware problems, it is also advisable to disable this service. It will not be able to increase performance on an old or dead disk!

Windows Update

Many have noticed that when performing Windows updates their computer starts to freeze. The problem is the same, when performing an update, the disk may load up to 100% because Windows OS gives a high priority for installing updates. In general, such freezes pass quite quickly, but for those who have weak computers or podsphatany disks, the process can take hours. In this case, you can either wait until the installation of all updates is complete and always wait for new ones to arrive. Or disable Windows updates once and for all, you can do it like this:

Control panel - administration - services - find the "Windows update" service and disable it

And one more warning, after disabling updates, your system may become vulnerable to new threats. In any case, you do this at your own peril and risk. And the site is not responsible for what you do.

Damaged disk and chkdsk check

Many people use Windows without even knowing that they have disk problems. Windows often signals such problems, but users either do not notice or ignore these problems. Have you noticed a black screen with a check disk before Windows boots? Many people skip this check so as not to waste time. But they do it in vain. This is chkdsk disk check, it runs and before Windows boot and after loading, but in hidden mode. During this check, the disk is checked for errors and it is natural that during such a check the load on the disk will be 100%. In this case, I can advise only two solutions to the problem - it is to check all the disks to the end, or simply replace the disk since it probably already has problems. If you don't want to change the disk and wait too, then you can turn off the chkdsk check in the task scheduler. We do it like this:

Control panel - administration - task scheduler - task scheduler library - find the chkdsk task and delete it

After disabling this task, Windows will not be able to check the disk and fix errors on it automatically.

Viral activity

Everything is simple here, viruses that have entered the computer are actively carrying out their activities, thus they can load the disk up to 100%, most often because of worms and ransomware viruses, such a problem arises. To reduce the load on the disk, you need to remove all viruses from your computer, you can do this using our wonderful one, which has already helped millions of our readers!

Antivirus activity

There is another side of the coin, antivirus, when checking a disk for viruses, can also load it by 100%. It is easy to check and get rid of this problem, you can turn off disk check and see the load. if this does not help, then you should probably choose another antivirus that will not load the system, including the disk. Also, sometimes when the antivirus tries to neutralize the virus on the computer, but cannot do this, the load on the disk increases. In this case, the check should be performed or in safe mode, or from under the reanimator, or special bootable antivirus utilities, for example,.

Recently, many have written about problems with the defender on Windows 10. The defender service loads the disk by 100%. This problem most often occurs on already infected computers. A complete total cleaning of viruses will help, or maybe the small-minded comrades will bring the defender's work algorithms to normal mode.

Cloud sync

Many people use synchronization with the cloud, at the time of downloading and synchronizing files, the load on the disk increases greatly, especially if there are a lot of files. To avoid the problem, do manual synchronization when it is convenient for you.

Installing Drivers

Often, those who install Windows themselves do not install disk drivers (ACHI, Storage tool) and chipset motherboard... And they get the same problem - disk load. I think you already understood that the solution is driver installation.

Strong fragmentation of files on disk

If you haven't defragmented a disk for about 100 years, then the problem of disk loading is 100% guaranteed to you! When files are scattered across the disk in chunks, it is difficult for systems to locate and open quickly. Just do defragmentation.

Using torrents

If you use torrent to download files to your computer, then at the time of torrenting and uploading files, the disk can also be heavily loaded! Don't leave a lot of torrents on the stream, it slows down your disk. In extreme cases, the torrent program can be turned off altogether.

Serious hardware disk problems

And the last thing, if your disk has a lot of slow sectors, and even worse broken sectors(badov). Then you should not wait for normal operation from such a disk. Check your drive for problems with. In this article, you will learn how to check your disk for errors, bad and slow sectors.

In this article, I have collected all the problems I know of due to which the disk can be loaded, and also gave methods for solving these problems. Don't forget to like and repost if the article helped. Well, if you have any questions, write them in the comments.

Since I started using Windows 10, I have faced one problem - downloading hard disk 100%. No, of course not 100% permanently. But it didn’t go below 90%. At first I thought it might be due to video processing programs. But after a while I realized that even during the idle time of the computer, when the load on the processor does not rise more than 10%, the hard disk continues to be used at 100%.

The percentage of hard disk utilization can be viewed in the task manager. To open it, right-click on the taskbar. The "Processes" tab allows you to see detailed information about the load on the processor, memory, hard disk of your computer.

Disable Windows Search

The first thing you should check is the service Windows search(Windows Search). Windows Search indexes content, caches file properties, Email etc. All this makes it easy to find the content you want. Searching for specified parameters saves a lot of time. And Windows Search offers a useful feature for quick launch programs and document search, change system settings operating system.

Despite all the advantages, this service has its drawbacks. These are the so-called "search loops". The service starts indexing over and over again, going through the same files over and over, over and over, causing a high load on the hard disk. This, in turn, leads to an increase in the access time for system and third-party programs... I'm not sure if Microsoft is going to solve this problem somehow. All we can do is disable this service.

First, open the Run window. To do this, click the "Start" menu -> "Run" or the keyboard shortcut "Win + R". In the window that opens, enter the command:

services.msc

In the opened window of the list of all installed services, we find the service "Windows Search" we need. We click on it with the right mouse button and in the opened context menu select "properties". In the properties, stop the service and disable it. An indication that you have disabled the service - the start / stop buttons for the service will become inactive.

The service has stopped. I propose, without delaying for a long time to look boot hard disk in the task manager. As we can see, the load has dropped. Already good, but not perfect. Let's move on to the next idea.

Disable Superfetch service

The Superfetch service is a system service. It runs inside the svchost system process. The service includes a file caching mechanism. This mechanism is used to cache the most frequently used application files into RAM, which speeds up their subsequent launch.

Unfortunately, the service does not always correctly determine which program you use often and therefore can store cached files for a long time. random access memory loading and unloading them, while slowing down the hard drive.

Disable the service. Make sure the service is stopped before disconnecting.

Disable Windows 10 Tips (Windows 10 Tips)

The two services we disabled above should have already improved the performance of the system as a whole. But if you don't see any improvement, try disabling Windows Assistant. Select Settings & Notifications and turn off Show me Windows tips. These actions will not take long.

Conclusion

But still. If the recommendations given by me did not help you, most likely the matter is not in the operating system itself. You may have viruses on your computer. Check the hard drive with some anti-virus scanner or reinstall the system. But again. Reinstalling your system is a last resort.

Every person who is trying to figure out why his computer slows down, first looks at the information in the "Task Manager". And almost always the result is the same: the disk is 100% loaded. It just so happened that the hard drive is often the slowest computer device in common system productivity. In addition, he can partially take over the responsibilities of RAM, and this slows him down even more. Fortunately, the situation can be improved for the better.

Reasons for disk load in Windows 10

The reasons why the disk is loaded to the maximum? quite a bit of. The main one is the multiple access of the process to files on the hard drive. It can be both external irritants (viruses, miners and other malware) and internal ones: the work (scanning) of the "Defender" or another antivirus, an overloaded paging file, wrong job drivers, damaged sectors or files, fragmented infrastructure, and more.

Programs and processes that can actively use the disk

Windows also likes to load the disk to its fullest. In the system itself, there are a lot of processes that from time to time consume a lot of hard drive resources. Plus, if you're running a decent game that weighs more than 2GB when unpacked, that can also load the disk hard.

The main processes that can temporarily consume all the capabilities of the HDD:

Windows Modules Installer Worker - the process of downloading and installing Windows updates;
Antimalware Service Executable - Windows Defender can significantly load the disk during a system scan;
System - oddly enough, the system itself can demanding access to files;
"Explorer" - while copying or deleting information;
"Service Host Local System" - includes a huge list of processes, including a firewall, Accounts users and much more. Loads the disk temporarily;
games and more.

Some processes can place a heavy load on the hard disk

What to do if the disk is 100 percent loaded in Windows 10

I would like to clarify right away that it will not be possible to completely and permanently remove the load on the disk. The hard drive has such a job: to read and overwrite files, and these processes use its resources. The first thing to do if you see an unreasonable load on the hard disk and the situation does not change for a long time - you need to restart the computer. Perhaps a process is stuck in the paging file or some other reason is consuming a lot of HDD resources, a restart may help. And if the situation repeats after a little time, you need to take some measures.

Disable paging file

The paging file is a very important element of the computer's operation. It performs several tasks: it stores some operating system data, in particular, sometimes the OS kernel, and also acts as a "magic wand" for RAM, taking away some of the data that is stored there for a long time. In fact, this is a caching process for a more productive PC. But sometimes there is too much data in the paging file, and the computer, instead of working quickly, starts to freeze. The paging file, although not recommended, can be disabled.

In the search, we prescribe "Setting the view" and select the best match. In the search, we prescribe "Setting the view" and choose the best match
In the performance parameters window that opens, go to the "Advanced" tab and click the "Change" button. In the performance parameters window, go to the "Advanced" tab and click the "Change" button
Uncheck the box "Automatically select ...", move the toggle switch to "No swap file" and save the changes with the OK button. Uncheck the box "Automatically select ...", move the toggle switch to "Without swap file" and save the changes with the OK button
For the changes to take effect, restart the computer.

Video: how to disable the swap file

Disable file indexing

File indexing helps more quick search data on the computer. But if the search is not used much, then the indexing should be disabled:

Cancellation of indexing can take a long time. It all depends on the number of files on the partition. In addition, there are files on the system disk that cannot be undone, so you need to monitor the process to take appropriate action. In the author's memory, the procedure once took about an hour.

Video: how to disable indexing of files on the disk

Disable SuperFetch and Windows Search Services

Some services can also load the computer. For example SuperFetch and Windows Search. The first is responsible for caching applications, while the second is responsible for search and indexing. In general, the vocation of both services is optimization. However, caching can sometimes wake up the PC to the point where it’s better to just uninstall it.

Checking with antivirus and various utilities

The problem of viruses and malware will never be eradicated in today's society. Protection technologies only keep pace with attack technologies, therefore the probability of catching harmful program code always remains.

Useful antiviruses that get high marks:

Kaspersky Internet Security
Symantec Norton Security Premium;
Eset Nod32;
Malwarebytes 3.0.

Programs looking for malware:

Reimage;
Advanced Malware Protection and others.

Incorrect operation of AHCI drivers

Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a mechanism used to connect storage devices using the Serial ATA protocol, allowing you to use advanced features such as built-in command sequence (NCQ) and hot swapping.

Wikipedia
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Host_Controller_Interface

AHCI is a technology that allows hard drives to work the way they do - faster than their previous counterparts. At the same time, the technology requires the availability of up-to-date drivers, otherwise the device buses will transmit information slower than possible.

Right-click on the "This computer" icon and select "Device Manager" in the drop-down menu.
Right-click on the "This computer" icon and select "Device Manager" in the drop-down menu
Open the "Controllers" tab, right-click on the device that contains AHCI in the name and select "Update driver".
Open the "Controllers" tab, right-click on the device that contains AHCI in the name and select "Update driver"
Next, click “ Automatic search and driver installation ”and wait while the wizard downloads and installs the up-to-date software.
We click "Automatic search and installation of the driver" and wait for the wizard to do its job
We reboot the computer for the updated configuration to take effect.

Error correction

Disk errors can unnecessarily load the hard drive. If you access a damaged file or sector, the computer may even freeze and display a BSOD error. To fix errors, the standard check disk utility, which is run from the command line, is best suited.

Video: How to Check and Fix Disk Errors

Disk Defragmenter

Fragmentation is a method of writing data to disk that Windows uses. If the file cannot be written in one place, it is split into fragments and written in different sectors. Subsequently, access to the file will be slowed down, since the system will first have to "glue" the file, and only then read it. The defragmentation process allows you to overwrite files on the disk in a row as a whole.

If the disk is loaded at 100% it is not so bad. It is enough to reduce the load on it, disable unnecessary services and processes. This will save the PC from freezing and prolong the life of the hard drive.

Many users found themselves in a situation where the system started to work slowly, and "Task Manager" showed the maximum load on the hard drive. This happens quite often, and there are certain reasons for this.

Given that various factors can cause the problem, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It is difficult to immediately understand what exactly influenced the work of the hard drive so much, therefore only by the method of elimination it is possible to find out and eliminate the cause, one by one performing certain actions.

Reason 1: Service "Windows Search"

For searching required files located on the computer in the operating room Windows system there is a special service "Windows Search"... As a rule, it works without remarks, but sometimes it is this component that can cause a heavy load on the hard drive. To check this, you need to stop it.

Now we check if the problem with the hard drive is resolved. If not, we restart the service, as disabling it can greatly slow down the Windows search function.

Reason 2: Service "SuperFetch"

There is another service that can severely overload the computer's HDD. "SuperFetch" appeared in Windows Vista, it works in background and according to the description should improve the performance of the system. Its task is to keep track of which applications are used more often, mark them, and then load them into RAM, making them launch faster.

In fact, "SuperFetch" useful service, but it is she who can cause a heavy load on the hard disk. For example, this can happen during system startup, when a large amount of data is loaded into RAM. Moreover, programs for cleaning HDD can delete the folder from the root of the system disk. "PrefLog", where data about the operation of the hard drive is usually stored, so the service has to collect it again, which can also overload the hard drive. In this case, you must disable the service.

Open Windows services (use the method described above for this). In the list we find the required service (in our case "SuperFetch") and press "Stop".

If the situation does not change, then, given the positive impact "SuperFetch" to work the system, it is advisable to start it again.

Reason 3: CHKDSK utility

The previous two reasons are not the only examples of how standard Windows OS tools can slow it down. In this case, we are talking about the CHKDSK utility, which checks the hard disk for errors.

When the hard drive has damaged sectors, the utility starts automatically, for example, during system boot, and at this moment the disk can be loaded to 100%. Moreover, it will continue to run in the background if it cannot eliminate errors. In this case, you will either have to change the HDD or exclude the check from "Task Scheduler".

Reason 4: Windows updates

Probably, many have noticed that during the update, the system starts to work slower. For Windows, this is one of the most important processes and is therefore usually given the highest priority. Powerful computers they can handle it with ease, but weak machines will feel the load. Updates can also be turned off.

We open Windows partition "Services"(we use the above method for this). Finding a service Windows Update and press "Stop".

Here you need to remember that after disabling updates, the system may become vulnerable to new threats, so it is advisable that a good antivirus is installed on the computer.

Reason 5: Viruses

Malicious programs that got to your computer from the Internet or from external storage, can cause much more damage to the system than just interfere with the normal operation of the hard disk. It is important to track and eliminate such threats in a timely manner. On our website you can find information on how to protect your computer from various types of virus attacks.

Reason 6: Antivirus program

Anti-malware programs, in turn, can also overload your hard drive. To verify this, you can temporarily disable the check function. If the situation has changed, then you need to think about a new antivirus. It's just that when he fights with some virus for a long time, but cannot cope with it, the hard drive is under a heavy load. In this case, you can use one of the anti-virus utilities, which are designed for one-time use.

Reason 7: Synchronization with cloud storage

Users familiar with cloud storage know how convenient these services are. The sync function transfers files to the cloud from a specified directory, providing access to them from any device. During this process, the HDD can also be overloaded, especially when it comes to large amounts of data. In this case, it is better to turn off automatic syncing in order to do it manually when it is convenient.

Reason 8: Torrents

Even now popular torrent clients, which are ideal for downloading large files at a speed significantly exceeding the speed of any file sharing service, can seriously load a hard disk. Downloading and distributing data greatly slows down its work, so it is advisable not to download several files at once, and most importantly, disable the program when it is not in use. This can be done in the notification area - in the lower right corner of the screen, by right-clicking on the torrent client icon and clicking "Exit".

The article listed all the problems that can lead to a full load of the hard drive, as well as options for their elimination. If none of them helped, it might be the hard drive itself. Maybe there are too many bad sectors on it or there is physical damage, which means that it is unlikely to be able to work stably. The only solution in this case is to replace the drive with a new, efficient one.