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Question

One partition of my Hard Drive is very slow

May 13, 2016 12:38PM PDT

Good day!
I have a problem with my Hard Drive. It has 2 partitions (C: with windows, D: with my personal files). Everything was OK like a month ago. The hard drive is a little bit older (like 3-4 years) 500GB Hitachi. C: drive works well, no problems. But when I want to copy FROM D: drive to another drive (C: or external) it is very slow. The speed is usually under 1MB/s (around 300KB/s, sometimes it stops copying completely 0B/S), sometimes the speed jumps up to around 30MB/s (which I consider "normal speed" for my PC), but that lasts for like 10 seconds or so. Also, the whole Windows is freezing and lagging while copying. When I copy TO D: (from other drives) it goes fast (around 30MB/s) without any problems. I want to make a clean install of Windows 10 but I have to backup some files from the D: drive, but with this speed it would take forever and maybe wouldnt even finish.
I have tried copying in safe mode and cleaning registry. Tonight I will try to defrag. I have tried it but the "Scanning and repairing" stuck at 31% for over 30 minutes, so I will try to leave it over night and see what happens. Do you have any other suggestions what else could I try?
System info:
OS: Windows 8 Pro 64bit
RAM: 4GB
CPU: Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz

Thank you very much in case of reply.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Hdd
May 13, 2016 1:07PM PDT

If your stuff is important remove that hdd and set it aside.

Install a new hdd and load the OS.

Fit the old hdd into an enclosure and try to copy out files a few at a time.

Some files may copy others not.

For those files that won't copy ask yourself if it's worth the cost of a data recovery house.

How is it your don't have backups of 'your stuff'?

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HDD
May 13, 2016 1:16PM PDT

Thank you for your answer. I am getting a new HDD on thursday, but I need to use my computer until then. They aren't worth the data recovery house. I do have backups for my files, but I don't have backups for my parent's files (photos, videos...), which are the ones I am trying to save.

I am thinking of letting the files copy through the night and see how it goes. Do you think using an alternative file manager (for example Total Commander) would make a change?

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Answer
Next time just use a big C and no to the defrag.
May 13, 2016 1:19PM PDT

This is a sure fire way to slow down a drive today. Research "ZONES" in HDDs and as you fill the drive the zones get slower and slower as well as your system may have to seek more and more from one to another partition.

Partitions do not save you from losing data due to virus or an OS install. The lesson has been taught over and over.

As to the DEFRAG!!! NEVER DO THAT TO A DRIVE IN THIS CONDITION. A sure way to tempt fate and total loss.

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Reply
May 13, 2016 1:27PM PDT

Thank you for your answer, but I don't really get what you are saying. Okay, I won't defrag. But what do you mean is a "sure way to slow down a drive today"? The coping? Or is it okay to try to copy the files? So you recommend making only 1 partition/drive, right?

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Uploading to cloud - Solution?
May 13, 2016 1:34PM PDT

One more thing - what do you think about uploading to a cloud server? It looks that it goes at good speed. Will doing this damage the drive or is it okay?

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(NT) Why not? It's another backup copy.
May 13, 2016 2:05PM PDT
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Years ago I watched folk try the partition method.
May 13, 2016 2:05PM PDT

A virus and other pests didn't respect borders like that so no good reason was found. Another story line is "I install my OS without losing my files." Then folk lost their files any way.

Lastly you have folk that want to keep their files here and the OS there. We already have that with folders.

As to copying, yes, copy away.
As to partitions, Windows has more than one partition but here I let C get as big as possible and manage with folders.

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Done
May 19, 2016 6:47AM PDT

I managed to copy all files (some went very very slow, some of them I uploaded to cloud (interesting it worked)). But thanks for the answers. By the way, the drive was a 7 year old Hitachi Grin

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Answer
re:
May 31, 2016 7:36PM PDT

If i was you l will buy a new external hard drive store it in that and unplug it , use it when needed.