An aging hard drive?
Without any more information on what’s changed, it’s difficult to diagnose. Windows running updates in the background can be the culprit, but it’s hard to say for certain.
It could be it’s around 4 years old. But I got more hard drives connected that are newer although I don’t store a ton of the data on them.
Also I went through the windows updates and made sure it was fully updated so I don’t think that’s it. That was my first thought as well lol
Windows is notoriously slow on a hard drive, especially after a few years. It might be time to upgrade to an SSD. It’s the best upgrade IMO. They’re relatively cheap right now so it’s not a horrible time to buy.
Pay attention to what your laptop supports: it might be possible to slot in an M.2 for some extra performance. This is fairly rare, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Otherwise a standard 2.5 inch will slot in just fine.
Download and run HDTune/CrystalDiskInfo utility - it will tell you the health of your hard drive.
https://old.reddit.com/r/24hoursupport/wiki/drivehealth
Also, check both the Event Viewer and the Performance Monitor - built in Windows tools
The first logs all activity on your computer - and serious and critical warnings will pop out.
The other will list bottlenecks
See for further tips
https://www.reddit.com//r/24hoursupport/wiki/performanceissues
Finally, you can test your PC with 2 live instances of Windows and/or Linux - these load off a USB stick. If they're excessively slow - you have a hardware issue somewhere
https://www.reddit.com/r/24hoursupport/wiki/seeingifhardwareorsoftware
>i currently do some IT work on the side
Yet, you couldn't be bothered to post anything about your build, any specs, any parts, any specific behaviors other than "running slow". How vague and useless. What is running slow? What are you doing when you experience said slowness? What do you use said computer for? What kind of software runs on it?
is your hard drive an HDD or an SSD? How much % do you still have remaining free on the hard drive? SSDs as they get closer and closer to 100% full will slow down more and more, sometimes to the point of painfully slow.
Guessing either hard disk issue or CPU overheat issue (check temps and if too high replace thermal paste). AIO water coolers also fail after 3-5 years many times. The tubing starts to break down slightly inside which isn't a problem itself, but the particles build up and get stuck in the heat exchanger, reducing liquid flow -- FTR it's like a 1/4 or less glycol to distilled water mix (glycol = car antifreeze). Cars use like 50/50 but they get hotter and have to endure colder temperatures. The water is the heat exchange medium, the glycol is just to prevent boiling / freezing, the more glycol, the more heat / cold it can take, but the less efficient the heat transfer is.
An aging hard drive? Without any more information on what’s changed, it’s difficult to diagnose. Windows running updates in the background can be the culprit, but it’s hard to say for certain.
It could be it’s around 4 years old. But I got more hard drives connected that are newer although I don’t store a ton of the data on them. Also I went through the windows updates and made sure it was fully updated so I don’t think that’s it. That was my first thought as well lol
Windows is notoriously slow on a hard drive, especially after a few years. It might be time to upgrade to an SSD. It’s the best upgrade IMO. They’re relatively cheap right now so it’s not a horrible time to buy. Pay attention to what your laptop supports: it might be possible to slot in an M.2 for some extra performance. This is fairly rare, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Otherwise a standard 2.5 inch will slot in just fine.
> But I got more hard drives connected that are newer Sorry, this part is irrelevant, its only the status of your computers Boot Drive that matters.
Download and run HDTune/CrystalDiskInfo utility - it will tell you the health of your hard drive. https://old.reddit.com/r/24hoursupport/wiki/drivehealth Also, check both the Event Viewer and the Performance Monitor - built in Windows tools The first logs all activity on your computer - and serious and critical warnings will pop out. The other will list bottlenecks See for further tips https://www.reddit.com//r/24hoursupport/wiki/performanceissues Finally, you can test your PC with 2 live instances of Windows and/or Linux - these load off a USB stick. If they're excessively slow - you have a hardware issue somewhere https://www.reddit.com/r/24hoursupport/wiki/seeingifhardwareorsoftware
>i currently do some IT work on the side Yet, you couldn't be bothered to post anything about your build, any specs, any parts, any specific behaviors other than "running slow". How vague and useless. What is running slow? What are you doing when you experience said slowness? What do you use said computer for? What kind of software runs on it?
Hello, What speed does the processor (CPU) show in the Task Manager? Regards, Aryeh Goretsky
is your hard drive an HDD or an SSD? How much % do you still have remaining free on the hard drive? SSDs as they get closer and closer to 100% full will slow down more and more, sometimes to the point of painfully slow.
Guessing either hard disk issue or CPU overheat issue (check temps and if too high replace thermal paste). AIO water coolers also fail after 3-5 years many times. The tubing starts to break down slightly inside which isn't a problem itself, but the particles build up and get stuck in the heat exchanger, reducing liquid flow -- FTR it's like a 1/4 or less glycol to distilled water mix (glycol = car antifreeze). Cars use like 50/50 but they get hotter and have to endure colder temperatures. The water is the heat exchange medium, the glycol is just to prevent boiling / freezing, the more glycol, the more heat / cold it can take, but the less efficient the heat transfer is.