I have a 1800 folders and thousands of files, but rarely if ever is one above
2gb.
My ntfs.sys driver version is 5.1.2600.3081, and I am running on NTFS.
The data drive and the OS drive are both 150 SATA, and this problem hasn't
aways been here, just within the last two months.
I keep WinUpdate on automatic notify, and the only patches/updates I have
denied were the Win Maliscious Code (or something) Detector and the Geniune
Advantage thing.
I keep all my hardwared updated, bios flashes when necessary, etc.
That is why I am a little frustrated, but I appreciate the help.
Any other ideas you want to throw my way?
Sure, there's a few other things you could try in terms of patches, MS
fixes, and tweaks that might help but some depend on how old your
computer is. In terms of tweaks, the following will make a difference.
If you system is more than 2 years old, it's hard to say if MS patches
and fixes will make any huge impact.
I.
First and foremost, when's the last time you defragmented? The defrag
that comes with XP is....meh, adequate but not written to really
optimize the disk as would an app written by a uber-geek. Download and
give JKDefrag 3.26 a whirl. It's much better and free. It uses the XP
defrag API but is more efficient and smart in the way it re-organizes
file on the disk(s). I've done side by side comparisons between two
identical Dells using the XP defrag and JKDefrag. JKDefrag seems has
the edge. If you have lots of files, it may take a while to do its job
but you'll be pleased with the results.
II.
Another thing us tweakers do is turn off Disk Iindexing. While it's
supposed to index the drive to make file searches faster and quicker,
it's BS. Trust me, only the Mac OS got this function right. You've got
SATA drives so they are plenty fast even if they're SATA 150s. There
are two locations where you turn off Indexing:
1) Control Panel > Admin. Tools > Services > Indexing Service: Set the
Start-Up type to Disabled.
2) Using My Computer or Windows Explorer, Right click your C:\ (first,
then D:\ and any other physical hard drive letters) and click
properties. Down at the bottom of the properties window you'll see a
box that says Allow Indexing Service to index this drive for fast file
searching. Yours will likely be checked. Uncheck the box and you will
receive a dialogue box that will start zipping through your files. You
will encounter some files that might be in use or cause the process to
ask you a "Yes", "Yes To All", or "No" question, just choose Yes To
All. Do this procedure to all your other hard drives. If you've as
many files as you say, you may want to get a cup of coffee as it might
take a bit of time.
III.
Tweak the Prefetcher in XP to load applications and system processes
faster. If you have at least a half-gig of RAM or better, you should
benefit from this. If not skip this.
1) Start > Run > type Regedit.exe and press Enter.
2) Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \
Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters
3) Look for EnablePrefetcher
4) I am not 100% sure what it is by default but I believe it is 1.
Double-click it and set it to 3.
5) If EnablePrefetcher does not even exist, right-click in the right
pane and choose New > DWORD Value > type in EnablePrefetcher and press
Enter. Double-click the new EnablePrefetcher key and set it to 3.
IV. There's a program called Crap Cleaner you should use. It is now
called CCleaner but is free and written by an uber-geek who is
concerned with performance and de-junking XP. The Disk-Cleanup utility
in XP is a joke. I'd heard of CCLeaner for a few years and never tried
it as I am very proficient and de-junking my own PC but discovered
CCleaner does it about a million times faster than I could ever do.
I've used and tried out all the whiz-bang XP tools to clean up hard
drives but I swear by CCleaner now. Download, install, and run it.
From the main screen, you'll see a small broom icon with the text
Cleaner below it on the left, a slew of check-boxes, and two tabs
that say Windows and Applications. I myself check all the boxes on
both tabs except for the Internet Explorer "History" and the
Application > Firefox/Mozilla "History" checkbox. It's all based on
personal preference what to clean so review the check-box options.
There is also a registry cleaner in CCleaner but here you should use
caution. Some people in the MS camp will say cleaning the registry is
not necessary or even good. Other say it useful and necessary. I do
know it to be safe when the proper tool is doing the job. The Registry
cleaner built into CCleaner is very lite in terms of what it cleans
and always gives the option to make a back-up before it cleans up. The
registry cleaning is outside the scope of what would benefit your disk
performance so only do it only if YOU want to.
V.
Internet temp file cache in XP is so arbitrary as to be based on the
size of your hard drive so most people never know that their Internet
Explorer cache can grow to many GIGS of junk. Go to Control Panel >
Internet Options > Temporary Internet Files > Settings and change this
from whatever INSANE number XP has put there (probably something like
4000!) to a manageable 32. As in 32 megabytes. Internet cache would be
helpful if we pages never changed or expired. Since they do, what the
hell was MS thinking. There's no good reason for it to be any higher
that 32 megabytes.
Beyond the above steps, there are some MS patches and fixes you could
apply that directly affect services and system files that relate to
OVERALL system performance, speed, and stability. Try out all of the
above steps first, reboot, do a little testing, and, if you notice no
difference, then proceed to the below information.
VI.
The following MS patches, throughout their revision history, relate to
memory, system performance, and program performance and would not hurt
to have up to date. Most can be had by visiting thehotfixshare.net and
creating a free account to be able to download the fixes and patches.
Otherwise you'd have to ask for them from Microsoft, for free of
course, but the above site has them and you'll get them faster that
way. The knowledge base articles don't necessarily seem like they
would relate if you read them as is but, again, over the revision
history of the files from earlier KB articles they do.
1)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921321
WindowsXP-KB921321-x86-ENU.exe
2)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940322
WindowsXP-KB940322-x86-ENU.exe
3)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934205
WindowsXP-KB934205-x86-ENU.exe
4)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941837
WindowsXP-KB941837-x86-ENU.exe
5)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941715
WindowsXP-KB941715-x86-ENU.exe
6)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936357
WindowsXP-KB936357-v2-x86-EN.exe
Good luck!
- Thee Chicago Wolf
