(Solved) Extremely low disk usage

[Pim]

My Samsung 840 EVO SSD is acting weird when downloading games from Steam. The disk usage usually hangs around 1-4mb/s which is slow but okay, I guess. However, sometimes it gets into this ''stage'' where disk usage slowly declines to about a few bytes per second, and then slowly crawls back up. When disk usage is so low it also limits the download speed.

- I've checked my settings in Steam
- I've checked task manager to see if any other program is using the disk, that's not the case

Any ideas on what to check?

[Honda Civic 2006]

Originally posted by PimN:

My Samsung 840 EVO SSD is acting weird when downloading games from Steam. The disk usage usually hangs around 1-4mb/s which is slow but okay, I guess. However, sometimes it gets into this ''stage'' where disk usage slowly declines to about a few bytes per second, and then slowly crawls back up. When disk usage is so low it also limits the download speed.

- I've checked my settings in Steam
- I've checked task manager to see if any other program is using the disk, that's not the case

Any ideas on what to check?

Hello, try:
* Setting Steam on High Priority in the Task Manager.
* Restarting your router

[Pim]

Originally posted by LP Mr_Oren:

Originally posted by PimN:

My Samsung 840 EVO SSD is acting weird when downloading games from Steam. The disk usage usually hangs around 1-4mb/s which is slow but okay, I guess. However, sometimes it gets into this ''stage'' where disk usage slowly declines to about a few bytes per second, and then slowly crawls back up. When disk usage is so low it also limits the download speed.

- I've checked my settings in Steam
- I've checked task manager to see if any other program is using the disk, that's not the case

Any ideas on what to check?

Hello, try:
* Setting Steam on High Priority in the Task Manager.
* Restarting your router

Thank you for these tips. The high priority thing helped improve it a little bit.

However it still has these moments where it slows down. I managed to figure out what causes this (probably). Whenever I'm downloading something from Steam onto my C:\ drive (the SSD) it's very slow, even slower than my secondary HDD (like I explained before).

When I looked in Task Manager, I saw that whenever I was downloading onto my SSD, the 'System' process had very high disk usage. So high, that I think it limits Steam's disk usage whenever I'm downloading onto C:\. When the download is finished, the system process also stops using the disk.

I thought that the antivirus might fall under 'System' but disabling realtime protection did not do anything. I'm clueless. What is causing the 'System' process to have such a high disk usage, and how can I stop it?

[Pim]

Originally posted by ✪ ❤Jaxu❤ | SMOG:

XD

What's so funny?

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by PimN:

When disk usage is so low it also limits the download speed.

Has there ever been a time in human history where disk write speed determined download speed?

[Pim]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by PimN:

When disk usage is so low it also limits the download speed.

Has there ever been a time in human history where disk write speed determined download speed?

No, but what I mean by this is the following. I think that Steam has some sort of feature built in where it limits the download speed relative to the disk write speed. Because how would Steam be able to download more data than it is able to write to the disk?

I don't know if this is true, but in my experience, whenever disk usage was low, download speeds were as well.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by PimN:

Because how would Steam be able to download more data than it is able to write to the disk?

ram.

ive never had that problem.

[Muppet among Puppets]

Originally posted by PimN:

I don't know if this is true, but in my experience, whenever disk usage was low, download speeds were as well.

How about:
if download speed was low, disk usage was low?

[Pim]

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

Originally posted by PimN:

I don't know if this is true, but in my experience, whenever disk usage was low, download speeds were as well.

How about:
if download speed was low, disk usage was low?

I guess you can see it like that. Still, when downloading to my D:\ drive, which is a 7200 rpm HDD, these issues do not occur, while I'm still on the same network. My ISP has always provided a very stable internet connection, which I can see when downloading to the HDD. But when downloading to the SSD, download speeds and disk usage are significantly lower.

[alambritu?]

yeah xd

[Aesthetic]

Originally posted by PimN:

Originally posted by Muppet among Puppets:

How about:
if download speed was low, disk usage was low?

I guess you can see it like that. Still, when downloading to my D:\ drive, which is a 7200 rpm HDD, these issues do not occur, while I'm still on the same network. My ISP has always provided a very stable internet connection, which I can see when downloading to the HDD. But when downloading to the SSD, download speeds and disk usage are significantly lower.

For how long have you had and how often do you use the drive? Could be a sign of ssd failure

[Pim]

Originally posted by Nightenhelser:

Originally posted by PimN:

I guess you can see it like that. Still, when downloading to my D:\ drive, which is a 7200 rpm HDD, these issues do not occur, while I'm still on the same network. My ISP has always provided a very stable internet connection, which I can see when downloading to the HDD. But when downloading to the SSD, download speeds and disk usage are significantly lower.

For how long have you had and how often do you use the drive? Could be a sign of ssd failure

It's less than a week old, and I use it daily since Windows is installed on it. A failing SSD would be unfortunate. Are there any ways I can test the health via a program or something?

[Aesthetic]

Originally posted by PimN:

Originally posted by Nightenhelser:

For how long have you had and how often do you use the drive? Could be a sign of ssd failure

It's less than a week old, and I use it daily since Windows is installed on it. A failing SSD would be unfortunate. Are there any ways I can test the health via a program or something?

A Program like CrystalDiskMark will tell you if you're getting the rated read/write speeds.

But if it's only a week old, chances are it's fine. The possibility still exists for it to be a bad drive. Companies will quality control their batches but a certain % are always bad and might be in their acceptable range.

[Pim]

Originally posted by Nightenhelser:

Originally posted by PimN:

It's less than a week old, and I use it daily since Windows is installed on it. A failing SSD would be unfortunate. Are there any ways I can test the health via a program or something?

A Program like CrystalDiskMark will tell you if you're getting the rated read/write speeds.

But if it's only a week old, chances are it's fine. The possibility still exists for it to be a bad drive. Companies will quality control their batches but a certain % are always bad and might be in their acceptable range.

Thanks for the suggestion. I tested CrystalDiskMark, and the results are in line with the specs on the official website/retailer sites. Roughly 500mb/s read and 500mb/s write.

[Gruuk]

Hi ! If you didn't find any answers for your problem try to desativate fast boot in W10.

I had this problem and it solved it.

[Pim]

Originally posted by Gruk:

Hi ! If you didn't find any answers for your problem try to desativate fast boot in W10.

I had this problem and it solved it.

The issue solved itself after a few weeks. It was very odd. Thanks for the reply anyways, I'll edit the title to say that it's solved.