HELP! Does my HDD have a problem? :(

I recently bought an Acer Aspire V3-772G i7-4702MQ (2.2ghz up to 3.2ghz), Nvidia GF GT 750M, 8GB DDR3, 1Tb HDD. It came FREE DOS so I had to install Windows 8. Said and done. Since the beginning I had the impression the laptops' performance is weird, sluggish, slowish in some parts but I had no ideea what's going on. I was under the impression my Windows version had problems or something so I went on installing 3 or 4 different Windows versions including Win7 and I've noticed I had high disk usage when opening chrome, downloading, installing a program or a game etc. Normally if I only use Chrome or other programs I have no problems. But if I try to do something which implies the HDDs read/write capability it starts hanging, lagging and sometimes spiking a bit. I was wondering if is there a problem with my HDD?

I acknowledged the "problem" and started looking for solutions. I've dissabled BITS, Windows Prefetch, Windows Index files, stopped the Defragment schedule, tried to alocate cache on my rams with PrimoCache. I've ran CrystalMark and my HDD health is good. I have absolutely no ideea how to feel about this since i've thrown a lot of money on it and my Desktop Dual Core 3ghz with 2gb ram, Nvidia 9600 1vgbram works better and faster than this laptop on windows (it just runs the games a lot worse hence the videocard).

I thought it's a problem coming with Windows 8, since I've seen people on the internet saying it's occured when they upgraded from 7 to 8, but I experience the same thing on Win 7 also. Could my HDD possible have some problems or it's just a plain bad HDD? I dont know what else to do and I don't know if I should go with the laptop back since i have warranty. I'm afraid they will just say this is the product or that I dont have latest BIOS intalled or whatever dumb reasons. I wanna be sure of what I'll tell them what's the problem when I go with the laptop back.

 

The obvious question we need an answer to is...

Did you go you your manufacturers website and download the relevant Chipset and Video drivers for your Laptop...

Using the manufacturers drivers specific to your make and model number should beat Microsofts.one-for-all drivers.

 

Hello thank you for your reply. Yes I have the Chipset and Video from Acer site.

 

Right...

OK Chrome for a start...

Judging by the pic... you have Chrome running WITH four Chrome Tabs open -
a,) I suggest that you go into settings > Advanced settings and UNTICK -
Continue running Chrome apps in background.
b.) In Settings > Extensions > Get more find and download The Great Suspender - that reputedly makes sure Tabs ARE closed when you close them.

One other area that causes MAJOR slow down of Computers if (believe it or not!)
Anti Virus Programs...

MORE is NOT better - use a single AntiVirus program and do weekly checks of your system using
Malwarebytes Anti ROOTKIT (MBAR) and Malwarebytes Anti Malware software. (MBAM) (available on-line)
Personally I recommend Panda Cloud Antivirus Free
If you originally installed McAfees or Nortons Antvirus - the ONLY way to ACTUALLY remove them is to use their own REMOVAL TOOLS (available on-line)

Hopefully - That should show up as a big speed improvement

 

Hello Brian and thank you for your reply.

For the start, sure, it looks like chrome is slowing down but if I'd use some other program it would be that one. Basically, any program that uses the HDD (probably in its write process) slows the PC down and it is shown in task manager. I've Unchecked that and I've also unchecked the Hardware acceleration from Chrome, but there is no real change in my over-all performance of the windows.

Secondly, I know antiviruses are big causes for slow-downs, that's why I'm using now Immunet - it's pretty light and has the virus database on the internet, not on my HDD. I've used AVAST, AVG, PANDA and all proved to be major culprits when I've opened task manager. I am presently doing an extended SMART check with DiskCheckUp, it's about 90% - i will post a picture when it's finished.

Also, as I've said in my previous post, I'm interesting in finding out if this is a Windows problem that can be solved or my HDD is just plain bad (Wester Digital WDC blue i think).

 

One other thing comes to mind... is your computer set up in ACPI /AHCI mode for 'Large' Disks...

If your computer came WITHOUT an OS - Free of DOS (??) or was set up thru an Altermate OS - (FreeDos) ???

Either way it is possible that the Advanced BIOS settings MAY be set up Incorrectly...
If you go into BIOS and check -

Is Large Disk Mode set to DOS (it should be)
Is AHCI Mode Control set to Auto (it should be)

Other than that - I can see no other OBVIOUS reason for your problems...

 

Hello

Laptop came with Linux Limpus (some consol basic OS, you could do mostly nothing with it). I installed Windows on it in UEFI mode and that's all I can say. In my bios there are no settings for "large disk mode" or "ahci control", just what type IDE or AHCI and it is set to AHCI. So there might be a possibility that this is just a plain BAD hard disk?

 

You would have needed UEFI for windows 8...
I'm not sure, but I don't think you needed to set that up for Windows 7

you could try changing back to Legacy mode... and see if THAT solves the problem...

Otherwise I iz stumped... I have never yet met a 'slow HDD' - they either work or they don't...

WD do not have a separate driver for their HDDs but on their website... they say it MIGHT be the SATA controller card. which MIGHT need to have its driver updated...

 

Hello. Windows 8 was installed and set-up on UEFI mode. Only when I installed Win7 I used Legacy. but anyways, do you think this might be because of my HDD? It's a Western Blue 5400 RPM with 8mb read/chace I think.

 

Again, I re-itterate... I have never yet met a 'slow HDD' - they either work or they don't... however what I didn't say is
'Not all HDDS run at the same speed'...

Your disk is running at 5400 rpm... you could try cloning it to a different 7200 rpm disk -and see if you get a noticeable difference...

it is possible the Blue range are all 5400 rpm whereas the Black range run at 7200 rpm about 20% faster...

I couldn't find a Blue HDD advertised to compare it with... but this one, below has a 16Mb cache which would make it even faster...

Western Digital Scorpio Black 500GB 16MB 7200RPM SATA-II Cache - OEM

 

Hello.

Well, I dont know exactly what you mean to clone it to a 7200 one... I have warranty on my laptop, I can't open it - only send it back in the service for repair or upgrades. As far as I've read, Blue 5400 rpm have 8mb cache so... this might be the culprit i think, but I wanted some other opinions as well. Windows is basically working perfect, except moments when I use the HDD (downloading, installing games/programs/transffering data).

 

Well I'll give you a quick run through but if your Laptop is so 'new' then doing this would certainly void your warranty...

I downloaded a program HDClone Free Edition 5.1.5 which copies the content of hard disks on a physical level from one disk to another hard disk. Ideally the OTHER disk must be the same size or BIGGER... so that everything will fit onto it.

For instance - like upgrading a desktop computer HDD to 1 or 2 Tb instead of the 320Gb HDD originally in there.
.....................or replacing an HDD with an SSD for FASTER running.

NOTE it only copies WHOLE DISKS - it will not copy just ONE PARTITION of a Disk (different program needed for that). to transfer JUST the Windows Partition to an SSD use Macrium Reflect Free Edition to be able to easily make an accurate and reliable image of your HDD or individual partitions.

After plugging in a 'new' HDD - fitted into an external USB housing (and plugged into one or two USB ports of the computer)... running the program will EXACTLY copy the original HDD to the new (USB) Drive - which then needs to be removed from the USB Housing.

The original (slow or too small) drive is removed from the Computer and the newer (Bigger or Faster) drive is fitted and the computer has had a 'heart' transplant and continues to work (better than or) like it did before.

If I want to run a computer using Android, LINUX or any other OS . like I'm currently using Windows 10 Preview... I Clone my WORKING HDD (actually I have 2 Clones... one as a BACKUP - JUST in case)... before running the alternate OS... then if anything goes wrong I can swap out the HDD and reformat the 'dodgy' one.

Hope this is helpful to anyone else thinking of doing this...