HDD reading for a long time on startup

[RobFM]

My HDD sounds like it is reading for a good 3-5 minutes on startup. Programs run after a minute or so - albeit very slowly...

Does this mean its new HDD time as it is a good few years old, or do I have hidden files starting.

I have cleared out what I can find that I don't need at boot....

Any suggestions?

 

[DelJo63]

How many autoupdate programs are running in your services AND
(for me) the Avast! A/V program induces this behavior.

I've reduced the autoupdates on my laptop, but love Avast! and have learned to just accept it.

 

[TheHawk]

Hey RobFM. since the drive is a good few years old, I have to assume the OS installation is just as old. Which OS are you running and is it more than 3 years since you've had the pc (desktop or laptop ?) or the OS was installed?. I don't know what frequency of file maintenance your machine gets, but if the OS is 3 years+, I would save the important stuff to flashdrive,DVD,etc,and do a clean reinstall of the OS. If you have a laptop and/or an OS Recovery disk, the process is relatively easy since a laptop may have a recovery procedure to restore the OS to it's initial condition when it was new. After a new OS reinstall and the appropriate drivers and Service Packs installed, you are good to go as long as you do regular file maintenance/cleanup. Don't waste time trying to cleanup a very slow system if the OS age is as I mentioned, you will have a faster system and the peace of mind knowing you got rid of anything that was causing the slow bootup and the slow running programs.

 

[RobFM]

Running win 7 64 bit, about 2 years now... do use avast so might change that to avg to see if any different...

cheers for the ideas

 

[DelJo63]

Hmm; I idea of brute force reinstalling as a problem diagnostic or solution has always been repugnant to me. This might be fine if there's nothing of any value on the system, but with

• accounting files,
• web development, web server and databases installed
• world travel pictures

Preserving the content as-is is a priority for me.

My laptop was first booted on Original Install Date 3/31/2012, 3:45:22 PM and it's performance is fine once your learn how to care for the hardware & software.

As the boot time HDD activity is only 30-45 seconds, it's a total overkill to start over.

 

[TheHawk]

While I agree that reinstalling the OS is brute force, I did preface it by asking a few questions about the OS age and file maintenance, as not every OS related problem I run into suggests I do a clean reinstall. I used to spend hours fixing slow machines with a multitude of software related issues with no guarantee of success, but I don't do that anymore but instead opt to start anew and clear out any malicious content that might be present and also know what I'm up against with a good idea of the time frame to likely resolve the issue.
As far as having important work on the pc, that data should be backed up regularly in case of a calamity and his 3+ minutes long bootup and slow running programs led me to suggest an OS reinstall based on what he mentioned about his system. Good luck Rob.

 

[RobFM]

Took avast off the system and it has sped up really well..... won't be using that again in a hurry

 

[Dustyn]

As another user mentioned as part of regular file maintenance/cleanup, I would run an elevated Command Prompt with Administrative Privileges and run a "chkdsk /f" on your HDD. Afterwards I would also run a full defrag. This is just my personal preference, but I would use something or anything other than the built in Windows defragger. I like and use Raxco PerfectDisk.