I've got two identical SSDs, but I've noticed a huge difference in their write speeds recently. One is connected to my Windows system and has been working fine for years. However, a few weeks back, my computer started stuttering, and I discovered that the disk usage on the SSD with the OS was hitting 100%, even when I was playing games stored on the other drive. I ran some benchmarks and found that while one SSD writes at 500MB/s, the other is only reaching 50MB/s. I've checked the health of both drives, and they're good, but I noticed that some Microsoft processes, especially related to Defender and Office, are causing the disk spikes and using the page file instead of my RAM. Does anyone know how this could happen with identical SSDs and why it's only a recent issue? I also updated my AMD drivers recently, which I've heard can be problematic.
3 Answers
One big factor is that your OS drive is always under more pressure with background tasks like updates and antivirus scans. Although, it’s interesting you’re seeing a massive slowdown now. Sometimes, SSDs have a performance drop due to thermal throttling or being DRAM-less, which makes them slower under heavy loads.
From what I've seen, when an SSD hits 100% usage with light tasks, it often indicates it's nearing the end. I'd advise backing up all your data just to be safe.
If that’s the case, I’m pretty let down by SSDs. Mine's only 5 years old, and it feels like it’s on its last legs, while my 2007 hard drives are still going strong. Seems like SSDs are overhyped.
It’s likely that the SSD with your OS is struggling because OS drives experience more reads and writes. The other drive might be fine, but don’t ignore the fact that one could be failing while the other runs okay, though it's not guaranteed they’ll both deteriorate at the same rate.
But why would the drop suddenly happen? It was running smoothly before!