XP Search Problem

[OREALLY]

Whenever I STOP a search while it is searching the computer freezes up and I
have to go to task manager to end the search. Any reason or repair for this?

Thanks,

Oreally

 

[thanatoid]

Whenever I STOP a search while it is searching the computer
freezes up and I have to go to task manager to end the
search. Any reason or repair for this?

Yes, decide what you REALLY want to do before you do it -
especially when using a buggy MS app - or get a file manager
which lets you search for things MS don't even know about: Total
Commander.

 

[Tim Meddick]

I support what "thanatoid" advises in his response, however, there are some things
you can do to curb XP from getting "tied up" in operations involving searches.

Attempt to re-arrange files and folders into a more logical and easy to understand
structure - deleting, where possible, any older, redundant and outdated files.

Perform a defragmentation on all hard-drives - and repeat regularly.

And another thing that may well have a bearing on your issue - could have been caused
by the resident portion of either an anti-virus or anti-malware program.

Next time you do a search, while it is in progress, open Task Manager and see what
other programs start to eat up memory as the search progresses.

If, as in the case of Windows Defender on my system, you see another program getting
carried away with itself, then this could well account for a "freeze" or lock-up if
you try to abort the procedure.

If this is what is happening on your system, you should temporarily deactivate these
programs for the time it takes to complete any search operations...

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Leonard Grey]

You think that Windows Search will have an easier time if you
"re-arrange files and folders into a more logical and easy to understand
structure"?

What method of organization do you suspect Windows Search finds "more
logical and easy to understand"...and how did you arrive at that conclusion?

 

[Tim Meddick]

So you don't imagine that bad practices such as having 1000's of files in the root
dir, negatively affects processes involving disk operations?

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Leonard Grey]

What "processes" and "disk operations" are you referring to, and how are
they related to Windows Search?

I'm still waiting to hear what method of organization Windows Search
finds "logical and easy to understand" and how you arrived at that
conclusion.

 

[Tim Meddick]

You won't even admit that it *is* bad practice to stuff 1000s of files into the root
of the system drive, will you?

I don't see why I should continue defending my advice to someone who is seemingly
intent on trashing anything I have to say.

If there is something I said that is factually incorrect or harmful to anyone, I will
have no hesitation in entertaining any criticisms levelled against me.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Nil]

Whenever I STOP a search while it is searching the computer
freezes up and I have to go to task manager to end the search. Any
reason or repair for this?

Maybe there is some file system corruption that Search is choking on.
It might be a good idea to run CHKDSK... but better back up your data
and system first, in case it decides to repair your disk into an
unbootable condition.

 

[thanatoid]

So you don't imagine that bad practices such as having
1000's of files in the root dir, negatively affects
processes involving disk operations?

Not to mention having an 800GB drive with a single c:
partition...

Or, should you be one of the few clued into the wonder that is
partitioning, searching through ALL your partitions at once?
(Which of course should never be necessary if your partitioning
was done with some forethought and good design...)

 

[Twayne]

In

You won't even admit that it *is* bad practice to stuff 1000s of
files into the root of the system drive, will you?

I don't see why I should continue defending my advice to someone who
is seemingly intent on trashing anything I have to say.

If there is something I said that is factually incorrect or harmful
to anyone, I will have no hesitation in entertaining any criticisms
levelled against me.

Umm, no point, unexplained, unverifiable information doesn't count as
factually incorrect?
While I pretty much respect your posts, this one seems to just make work
for, and raise more questions while answering nothing for the OP.


Regards,

Twayne`

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

--
--
Often you'll find excellent advice on a newsgroup.
Before you use that advice though, consider the
ramifications of it being wrong or even dangerous;
how important IS that to you?
ALWAYS verify and confirm ANY advice from a
newsgroup!

 

[OREALLY]

Apparently the problem is specific to the Backup 'D' drive. It takes forever
to search and seems to be repeating search of the files and folders. This
does not happen in the main 'C' drive search. It's been scanning for almost
2 hours looking for wav files. There is about 200GB worth of info on the
500GB drive.

Still searching.....if I stop the search...computer freezes up.

Ransack finds about 600 wav files on this drive in a few minutes.....so
what's with XP?

 

[Leonard Grey]

Any help from a web search? Use...

windows xp search is slow

....as your search term.

 

[Tim Meddick]

As "Nil" pointed out - have you tried to follow his advice and run CHKDSK /F from
the Command Prompt, on your "D:" drive?

A PC "freezing" in the middle of a disk I/O operation can be symptomatic of data
corruption on the drive.

Quite often hard-disk data corruption can be caused by many different things and
doesn't have to mean that your drive has nearly died.

But the result can be that if Windows cannot read a section of a drive, it will
constantly go over and over the same spot trying to read it, causing a "lock-up".

The solution, if this is the case, is as simple as running CHKDSK /F D: from a
Command Prompt window (if files on the D: drive are in use, you may have to press 'Y
' in answer to the question - Do you want chkdsk to run at next boot? - then, when
you next reboot, chkdsk will run then).

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[OREALLY]

what???????

Any help from a web search? Use...

windows xp search is slow

...as your search term.

 

[Leonard Grey]

"But the result can be that if Windows cannot read a section of a drive,
it will constantly go over and over the same spot trying to read it,
causing a "lock-up"."

You're not having a good day. If Windows detects corruption in a disk
sector, it marks the sector as unreadable and ignores it. It will not
"constantly go over and over the same spot trying to read it, causing a
"lock-up".

 

[OREALLY]

But why should a third party search program like Ransack have no problem
searching the Backup Disc and do it in a matter of seconds, if there is a
corrupt sector of the drive?

Oreally

 

[Nil]

But why should a third party search program like Ransack have no
problem searching the Backup Disc and do it in a matter of
seconds, if there is a corrupt sector of the drive?

It's worth checking, regardless of the reason. If you have disk or file
system corruption, you want it fixed before things go completely tits-
up.

 

[Nil]

what???????

Ever heard of "google"?

 

[Tim Meddick]

You could be right there - I will admit a strong possibility that I am wrong about
that.

On reflection, I was thinking of read-only media such as a CD-ROM (which I absolutely
know for a fact has that effect because it was the subject of an exhaustive thread a
while back in "xp.general" before you start on me for saying that).

At least I can admit when I'm wrong.

But I wouldn't discount that some type of data corruption could result in a similar
effect.

Perhaps someone who knows absolutely every bloody thing about everything would.

Notwithstanding, it is still good advice that [chkdsk /f] be run on a drive that is
behaving errantly.

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.

 

[Tim Meddick]

< clipped > "why should a third party search program like Ransack have no problem "

I don't know for sure - just a thought...

Some search utils use a database. i.e. they take their pretty time over searching
all files on all drives, and then caching the results.

Then, when you "perform" the search it's actually the cached results that are being
searched - not the drives themselves.

This may not be it in your case though, but it is a possibility...

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London.