Why is Windows Slow after copying a large amount of data?

qz33 · Post by **qz33** » 2009 Sep 29, 21:56

Windows becomes very slow and thrashes after I copy a couple of hundred files that come to about ~50 GB.

Does anyone know why? A restart fixes this.

Post by **nikos** » 2009 Sep 30, 06:51

check your available free memory, it could run low. I have read about vistas going down that road, clearly a windows bug

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2009 Sep 30, 07:13

Virtually all the Vista problems with file transfer were eliminated via SP1 and SP2.

If the available memory is low, the paging file doing it's thing comes to mind, particularly on slower hard disks.

Optimizing paging ranges from resizing it, defragging it, moving it (to a separate non-system partition), etc. Simplest method is to increase the physical RAM in the computer.

The thrashing will subside after awhile, as Windows finds it's equilibrium, without the need for a specific restart.

qz33 · Post by **qz33** » 2009 Sep 30, 13:49

Well I have 4 GB of memory and it shows between 2.5 - 3 GB as free and available.

Also I should have been more specific as I am using XP with SP3.
(Gosh!)

Cosmo · Post by **Cosmo** » 2009 Oct 01, 08:40

Open the task manager and see, which process consumes resources.

qz33 · Post by **qz33** » 2009 Oct 09, 17:43

I have done this (of course). The system idle process shows it is consuming 99 percent of the processor time.

However there is still an awful lot of disk thrashing.

Cosmo · Post by **Cosmo** » 2009 Oct 09, 19:34

Strange.

But I must say, I don't know what you mean with "Windows trashes". Do you mean a kind of jumping, if you move the mouse around?

You can download process explorer, it shows you some more information. Look at the Interrupts in the list.

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2009 Oct 10, 11:37

Cosmo wrote:But I must say, I don't know what you mean with "Windows trashes". Do you mean a kind of jumping, if you move the mouse around?

Another linguistic thing... "thrashing" is what it's called when Windows makes the hard-drive work like mad, as if it were defragmenting, searching, and throwing up all at the same time.

The slang is derived from the farming term "thresh", as in the threshing machine.

Cosmo · Post by **Cosmo** » 2009 Oct 11, 07:50

Aha, thank you.

Also in this case Process Explorer will give valuable information, from where it comes. Look for handles.

henrygrik · Post by **henrygrik** » 2009 Dec 14, 03:36

Hi,
You should first of all check your cache memory is it OK. and then increase the page file capacity. AS the Windows creates file chuks for transferring the data from one pc to another pc. The page file is used more, as a result the system slow downs.