75 million 512byte clusters of FS slowed my PC to a crawl

Installing new 160GB HDD has slowed my PC operation to a halt

I am on Windows XP2000 SP2

I have installed a new Hitachi 160GB deckstar as a slave drive F: to the original Samsung 36GB master C:
I converted the master C: to NTFS in line with the new slave F:

NOW.....
The PC has slowed down almost to a halt
- When I right click a folder it takes 10-20 seconds for the dropdown list to appear.
- When I then hang the cursor over "send to" it either takes over 10 seconds for that dropdown list to appear or it times out
- When I copy a file/folder it takes nearly 30 seconds to respond to a paste instruction
- Where I used to access a Java Chatroom in about 5 seconds it now times out after about 90 seconds so I cannot raise a question live online
- Even the righthand scrollbar takes 2-3 seconds to respond!

Why has this happened?

 

Re: Installing new 160GB HDD has slowed my PC operation to a halt

The reason it has ground to a halt is the CPU usage is permanently 100% even when all programs are closed

Why should installing a 160GB HDD and converting the original HDD from FAT32 to NTFS raise the CPU usage to 100%?

 

Re: Installing new 160GB HDD has slowed my PC operation to a halt

ANYONE PLEASE

Why should installing a 160GB HDD and converting the original HDD from FAT32 to NTFS raise the CPU usage to 100%?

Especially that all the CPU usage not used by programs is used by System Idle Process, usually about 97%

 

Re: Installing new 160GB HDD has slowed my PC operation to a halt

Sometimes a drive will need specific IDE controller software. Or you could try booting to safe mode, deleting the drives from the device manager list and letting the Windows software redetect them - that is what I would try first.

 

Re: Installing new 160GB HDD has slowed my PC operation to a halt

System Idle Process showing almost 100% of CPU useage is normal--your computer is sitting idle, doing nothing. I'd see if the slowness is in Safe Mode. Its definately not caused by System Idle Process.

http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/System Idle Process/

 

I converted a 36GB master drive from FAT32 to NTFS in line with a new 160GB slave drive.

Sadly it partitioned into 75 million clusters of 512 bytes each and my processor now runs at about 2Hz.

I could back up all the system drives on to the slave if I knew how, but I have no system disk (ex-Time customer you see) and can only re-load. Windows has 3.5GB of files and I just don't have 6 blank CDs!

Has anybody any idea how I can re-partition the master drive into bigger clusters without having to reformat the master drive and/or back up the entire volume

 

Try http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=646

 

Now:

(a) Much is moving faster, but it still takes about 15 seconds 2 load a forum page and about half a minute & liberal swinging of the torch icon to open, say, My Documents.

(b) Both drives are formatted to NTFS because, simply, a 160GB drive cannot be efficiently run by FAT32. I read several places that the 2 systems are not entirely compatible, so I converted C: to NTFS as well.

(c ) I did move or copy data files from C: to F: and wonder maybe if that is having an effect on the PC's process of retrieval?

(d) I have no system file or any means of back up unless XP can back up to drive F: without it being dragged fatally into the format! Or maybe the XP repair tool can be downloaded from somewhere?

(e) I really want to use - C: (36GB) for system files and internet browsing and - F: (160GB) for data and user folders, large programs e.g. Freelancer and data-heavy online games such as Star Wars Galaxy.

(f) I lost Outlook Express by way of the Address Book being disconnected so I will have to repair OE, therefore IE, therefore Windows.

In summary I need to reach 3 targets:

(1) Retrieve the former quick performance of such tasks as opening folders and web pages

(2) using the 2 drives in tandem for efficient running of games with efficient game data file retrieval.

(3) repair Outlok Express and recover proper email history for all IDs without endangering the PC operation further by my own clumsy mishandling of a reload / format.

This HDD was supposed 2B a substitute Xmas present 4 my 2 teenage kids after another PC was delayedn from Dec 20th to Jan 6th. They didn't really have a good holiday! But I can't aford any more expense!

 

*bangs head against wall*

This is simply not true:

There is a lot of misinformation on the net, you need to be careful.

Check to see if your slowness exists in Safe Mode. IF you have ethernet cable, or a router, you can also browse from Safe Mode w/ Networking.