I'm experiencing a frustrating issue with my 8TB WD Red HDD. When I try to open a folder that contains many video files, it seems to go through each file individually before I can interact with anything. It's super slow, and I can see the file names disappearing one by one at a rate of about two folders per second. Once all the names disappear and then reappear, I can finally click and edit the files like normal. I have this HDD connected to a PCIE to SATA expansion board since I have multiple drives, but the drives connected directly to the motherboard don't have this issue. Could the expansion board be the culprit, or is there something else at play?
3 Answers
It sounds like your system is likely generating thumbnails for the video files, which can really slow things down, especially with HDDs. Windows Explorer pulls metadata from video files to create those previews, and that can take time.
Also, double-check your recent searches in Explorer; turning them off can help speed things up!
Yeah, definitely the thumbnail generation could be causing the lag. Each file has to be accessed to create those previews, which makes everything drag. Some anti-virus programs might also scan those files during this process, adding to the delay.
Did you try turning off the thumbnail settings? Sometimes even when you change settings, Windows might not catch on right away.
Generating thumbnails can really add to the loading time, especially for large video files. Just keep in mind that with HDDs, this effect is usually worse than with SSDs.
Exactly! A good tip is to disable thumbnail previews in Windows. It can make a huge difference in responsiveness, especially if you're using an older HDD. That’s been a solid trick for years!