Disk Usage Spikes to 100%

Question

Hi, I have an ASUS Laptop here with the following specs:

Intel Optane 1TB HDD

Intel Core i5 8300H at 2.7Ghz

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050

8GB RAM

Windows 10 Home running Version 1909 (OS Build 18363.592)

I have reinstalled windows from a USB  after backing up my files off the laptop and still have the same issues. (Note: All the troubleshooting was done post reinstall)

The disk usage spikes are seriously affecting the performance of the computer ranging from random stutters in the video output and keyboard response to full on applications freezing and crashing (Applications like Task Manager and Windows Explorer). I have tried a clean boot with everything disabled in the services (Except Microsoft processes) and everything disabled on the start-up but since it is a clean install there is nothing installed that could be causing the problem other than windows itself and drivers for the hardware. I have installed all the updates available and tried to boot safe mode as well but still the same issue occured. Even before I can enter my password (local user account) I see the animation of the launch screen with the date and time being slow and unresponsive and once I get to enter my password the keystrokes are delayed. Suggestions would be much appreciated.

The disk usage with minimal to no load / processes:

Answer 1

I understand you are having a CPU usage 100% when you did an upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10. 

Did you even read the title of the post? It's incredible, everything you said here is wrong...

Firstly it's disk usage I;m having trouble with, and secondly I never said anything about upgrading from Windows 7. If you read the question you might have noticed this laptop is around 5-6 months old and I got it with Windows 10 installed already.

Answer 2

I am also having these issues. The disk usage will randomly spike to 100 percent, causing the computer to freeze up for a few seconds. This is occurring on two separate machines in my house, both with SSDs, and both after applying the kb4535996. The issue is irreversible, as it continues even after uninstalling the update(which is, by the way, pretty ridiculously complicated). 

The key points to take from this post are:

The problem is DISK USAGE. NOT CPU USAGE.

This issue is occuring on three separate SSD, one of which is brand new.  

I am using Windows 10, fully updated. 

I have clean reinstalled windows on one of the two machines, and the problem returns once windows updates. 

Simply uninstalling the update did not work in either case. 

Please do not post a generic support message such as the responses above. I came here looking for answers, not information I already knew.

Answer 3

I also had windows 10 pre installed on the system, but i have had some that earlier windows 7 was installed and then windows 10 was. When I went to the backup disk setting it showed an option to reinstall win 7. That might be the case with your system also.

Answer 4

The same thing happens to 2 sets of my Dell computers. I suspect it is the latest Windows update patch that causes the problem of 100% disk usage. Here, the hard disk might be damaged when something write over it that causes the 100% usage. At this stage, my hard disk might be spoilt. I did a check disk, scan disk (with fix), and defragmentation. This is not useful.

I had tried most of the ideas on the internet. Performance, Virtual Memory, Registry 0 and 1, Device Manager, Hard disk driver, Chipset, Restore, USB boot, connecting mouse and keyboard directly to the CPU, Troubleshoot Dell and Microsoft, ... 

Disable Windows Search will reduce the % of usage. However, Windows still work slowly and sometimes fast. This means my computer can freeze at any time.

I changed the Hard Disks and reinstall everything except the Quickbooks software which had expired without support.

I suspect another 2 of my Dell computers are going into the same stage. If Windows can call back the FixIt tool, this might be great. Next, I might have to do cloning first.

Answer 5

I was having the same problem in the past days. I solved it by pausing the indexing service in Control Panel > Indexing Options.

Seems like it got triggered after adding large amount of files to the disk.