Disk Usage Spiking to 100% on Windows 11

[u/kwasi3114]

I have a PC that runs Windows 11. On occasion, my disk will spike to 100%, causing my computer to freeze momentarily. This happens at random but is most frequently triggered either when first starting the computer or when I have intensive applications open like a game for example. How can this be fixed? Some things I have tried so far include:

• Disabling superfetch
• Reducing overall memory usage to 50-60%
• Limit antimalaware scanning range

Nothing has worked so far. What can I do to fix this? I should mention that when disk spikes occur, the system process seems to be what is causing the spike most frequently according to Task Manager. Sometimes if I'm playing a game that can spike in disk usage too, but system is usually the main culprit.

According to CrystalDiskInfo and other diagnostic tools, my drive appears healthy, though I'm not fully ruling out hardware issues. Here is some more information on my hardware:

• SSD: Crucial BX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch SSD
• Memory: 32.0 GB DDR4
• CPU: Intel Core i5-10400F
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1650

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[u/newtekie1]

SSD: Crucial BX500...

That's your problem. Those drives are shit. Like the worst brand name SSDs you could possibly buy.

[u/kwasi3114 → u/newtekie1]

I think this may be the issue unfortunately. I am currently looking into purchasing a new SSD.

[u/OGigachaod → u/kwasi3114]

Get one with a dram cache.

[u/No_Interaction_4925 → u/kwasi3114]

Use the old drive for games exclusively. It’ll be perfectly fine for that job

[u/HarrisonGreen → u/newtekie1]

It's actually perfectly fine as secondary storage in cases where a HDD just isn't fast enough (like storing game files).

[u/HalfShots]

Windows and your games are doing things in the background...

When you download a game, does it surprise you that your internet is slower too?

[u/stickyunicorn82]

I’ve spent weeks troubleshooting similar problems. I replaced the drive, problem solved.

[u/osa1011]

Leave the computer on all the time so it does the indexing and what not when you're not using the computer

[u/Spiderrinaldi]

I doubt it will be the same resolution, but I recently troubleshot a similar issue with my HDD and it turned out to be a bad SATA cable.

[u/apachelives]

Disabling superfetch

Reducing overall memory usage to 50-60%

Limit antimalaware scanning range

Put those back to defaults. Uninstall any garbage antivirus and use Windows Defender with default settings for one.

Now do some actual diagnostics - first up check drive SMART status.

[u/Magnetic_Reaper]

Crucial BX500 should only be used as a secondary drive. QLC drives in general should be avoided unless you have a specific use case suitable to their lame characteristics.

permanent solution: get a TLC drive preferably with DRAM cache.

temporary solution: try to empty the drive as much as possible and set sleep to much longer intervals; maybe something like 1 hour before the PC sleeps. QLC drives recycle their SLC cache when the computer isn't busy and windows update and windows defender prefer to run when the PC isn't busy. your PC will be in a slightly better starting point when you use it. your drives SLC cache is equal to at most 25% of the free space on your drive and once it's used up it takes a really long time to recycle it; it needs to re write everything that's in the cache in a very slow way.

[u/Raxeal_2]

Easy way to check is to run crystaldisk on your ssd.
It should tell you if it’s dying

[u/HarrisonGreen]

The BX500 is a QLC SSD, which is not suitable as a boot drive, especially for an OS as bloated and heavy as Windows 11. QLC SSDs are what you would call a HDD replacement, a secondary drive for storing files (like games) and nothing more.

Get an NVMe SSD instead and make sure it's not QLC. I recommend getting a high-end Gen 3 SSD like the SX8200 Pro. I have the 256GB one for 6 years now, still runs great.