Lately, I've been having trouble with my C: drive, which is a 4-year-old 500GB Seagate Barracuda Q5 NVMe (QLC, DRAM-less). The disk usage frequently spikes to 100%, and the speeds drop to about 1–2 MB/s, causing my PC to freeze up. In Task Manager, I see that SysMain is at the top of the list, and although disabling it temporarily helps, the problem keeps coming back. I've also noticed that my C: drive has dropped to under 10GB of free space, while I used to have around 150GB available. I only use this drive for Windows and applications, not for any games. I'm wondering if I should replace the drive or if this is something I could fix in Windows. CrystalDiskInfo shows the drive health at 86%.
3 Answers
If your drive is close to full capacity, that could definitely slow things down. Try clearing out some unnecessary files. I recommend using WizTree to scan your drive; it’ll help you see what's taking up the most space. You might be surprised at what you find!
It’s possible you accidentally installed some mining software without realizing it. Check for any unfamiliar programs or processes that could be affecting your drive.
How would I know if I did that?
Your disk might be faulty, but also consider letting your PC sit idle for a while for TRIM optimization to kick in. That could help with performance.
I left my PC running for about three weeks, but there were some power cuts. I don’t have a UPS, so it just shut down!
Absolutely! WizTree is super helpful. I use it regularly to keep track of large files that I need to get rid of. If only they’d add a file de-duplicator, it would be perfect!