Question regarding RAM

Question

Question regarding RAM

Byff Arlington 200

I recently purchased a new (refurbished by Lenovo) pc which has 16 GB of RAM. Frequently when I open a folder which may have several files (example, video/music) the names of the files disappear in descending fashion and then are restored and frequently while a spinning blue circle appears on the screen. Also if I'm transferring a sizeable file to another folder (example 20 GB) it takes approximately
5-10 minutes to complete. My question; Is this a sign of insufficient RAM and could be resolved by adding more RAM? The RAM capacity of the computer is 64 GB. Thanks to anyone who would answer my question.

0 comments

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Les Ferch 10,341 Volunteer Moderator

The answer to the question is: No.

If you search on slow performance in Explorer, you should find many similar questions and answers here and other sites, such as tenforums.com.

First, determine if the issue is system-wide or specific to your account by testing with another local account.

The file "transfer" (assuming "copy") depends on many variables, starting with the from and to locations. For example, copying to a network drive or cloud storage will take longer than copying to another local disk. Without any details, we're just guessing.

Opening a folder containing photos and videos will take much longer if metadata, that must be read from each file, is displayed. You can try setting the folder to type "General items" and see if that makes a difference. Since you're using Windows 10, you can use the option "Also apply this template to all subfolders". Again, more details are needed. In particular, is this a local NTFS volume, such as drive C, a USB drive (that may be formatted FAT32 or ExFAT), or somewhere else such as cloud storage.

Also note that OneDrive can be a factor, if that's enabled.

Byff Arlington 200 Reputation points

2025-11-01T14:38:49.7666667+00:00

To: Les Ferch

First of all, many thanks for providing your detailed response. Here is some additional information which may influence any further response:

C drive is solid state - used space is about 35% of capacity

Both external drives are ntfs - with lots of free space and are continuously connected to my computer

Transfers are from and to local folders, no cloud usage at all

Almost all my transfers are from the C-Drive to the external drives

OneDrive is disabled

Interestingly, my laptop which has 8 GB of RAM can transfer files at approximately five times the speed of the computer in question, my desktop, which certainly confirms your response as to insufficient RAM being the culprit.
Byff Arlington 200 Reputation points

2025-11-01T14:45:47.3366667+00:00

My closing sentence should have been: "your response as to insufficient RAM NOT being the culprit."
Les Ferch 10,341 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-01T19:59:46.9833333+00:00

It could be the USB cable or USB hub or adapter. With my external SSD, I experienced very slow transfer rates when I used a cable with an adapter. When I switched to a short, direct USB-C to USB-C cable, meant for the external drive, speeds were very fast. If you're using the cable that came with the drive (direct from computer to drive) and there's no USB hub or adapters involved, we'll have to look at other potential causes.
Byff Arlington 200 Reputation points

2025-11-03T14:57:09.8766667+00:00

I use a 4-port high-speed hub, meaning both ex-drives are connected to it. I have tried transfers through the hub and direct from the computer and there is no difference in the speed of the transfers. There are no driver-updates available for the hub. I have taken my desktop into my local repair shop, and their technicians will be getting back to me. Thank you for your advice and assistance and if you wish I can get back to you after I hear from then.
Les Ferch 10,341 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-04T12:01:16.72+00:00

Yes, please let us know what they find/fix. The information may help others. Thanks!
Byff Arlington 200 Reputation points

2025-11-04T20:50:18.7966667+00:00

The speed issue has been solved. I did not know that all the ports on the back of my desktop were 2.0 speed. The hub that both my external drives are connected to is a 3.0 speed 𝘣𝘶𝘵 it's connected to a 2.0 port at the back so it wasn't processing at 3.0 speed. The tech advised me that two of the four ports on the front of the desktop are 3.0 speed. I have always been of the impression (and not erroneously) that front USB ports were always 2.0 and the back ports were the for the most part 3.0.
Apparently that doesn't hold true as many computers differ in that design. So once I plugged my hub into a 3.0 port at the front, the transfer speed increased significantly. My speed problem has been solved and thank you once again for your advice and assistance .
Les Ferch 10,341 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2025-11-04T21:05:50.4233333+00:00

Thanks for the update. It's been a while since I've had a computer with USB 2.0 ports, so it didn't occur to me to suggest trying different ports. I apologize for that oversight.

Answer 2

DaveM121 891.1K Independent Advisor

16GB of RAM should be sufficient, it is unlikely to be the cause of the problem.

Open Task Manager, then select the Processes tab.

Leave that open to monitor your system.

When you experience problems like the spinning circle cursor or the problems in File Explore,r please provide a screenshot of the Task Manager window.

Byff Arlington 200 Reputation points

2025-10-28T19:02:40.47+00:00

To: DaveM121 •

Thank you for the quick response. Task Manager Processes Tab shows there are 8 Firefox icons that are using 42% of the pc's memory. and I only have 3 tabs open (one of those being this website). I don't know if this is normal or not, but if this is the case while I'm opening a large folder or doing a transfer, could be the cause of my problem?
Thank you.
Byff Arlington 200 Reputation points

2025-10-28T19:37:24.3533333+00:00

Don't know if you saw this so I'm re-posting.
Thank you for the quick response. Task Manager Processes Tab shows there are 8 Firefox icons that are using 42% of the pc's memory. and I only have 3 tabs open (one of those being this website). I don't know if this is normal or not, but if this is the case while I'm opening a large folder or doing a transfer, could be the cause of my problem? Thank you.
DaveM121 891.1K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-29T10:22:13.8566667+00:00

Yes, if Firefox is using 42% of your RAM that may be causing the problem, that is a lot of RAM for just a browser to be using out of 16GB of RAM, try uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox.

Share via

Question regarding RAM

2 answers

Your answer