Slow file access on XP compared to 98SE

[Rob]

I have six computers all running XP pro. One computer is
set up with a raid 1 mirror and works as the file server.
There are directories with 1000 - 2000 files in them. When
one of the other xp computers access's these direcories
there is a long delay before the contents of the direcory
are displayed. Previously I was running windows 95 and 98
and had no dely at all when viewing the contents of these
directories. Change from Fat to NTSF as well.

Any help on how to reduce the file access time would be
appreciated.

Thanks
Rob

 

[Touch Base]

Windows XP's search can take a really long time, because in addition to
folders, it also searches through ZIP files (which Win XP calls compressed
folders). If you have a ton of ZIP files that contain many files and
folders, and you know the file your searching for very often is in an
ordinary folder, not in a ZIP file you can turn off this function to speed
up your searches.

The only way to disable searching in ZIP files is to turn off Win XP's
support for treating ZIP files as folders. This is easy to do - and to undo.

From the Start menu's Run dialog, enter this command:
regsvr32 /u zipfldr.dll press ok
From the Start menu's Run dialog, enter this command:
regsvr32 /u cabview.dll press ok

Each time, you should get a notice that DllUnregister succeeded. Contrary to
numerous Web sites displaying this advice, you need to restart the computer
for the change to take effect.

Now, when you search it will be faster and the operating system will ignore
ZIP folders instead of treating them as folders. If you don't care about
that feature, you can leave it turned off. But turning it back on is as
simple as repeating the two regsvr32 commands without the /u but making sure
there is a space between regsvr32 and the commands 'zipfldr.dll' and
'cabview.dll'. Each time, you should get a notice that DllUnregister
succeeded. Reboot the computer.

I would also kill XP's indexing service..lots of info on web suggesting you
turn it off.

"The Indexing Service in Windows XP Indexes your files presumably to shorten
the time needed to search your hard drive if you are looking for a specific
file or part of a phrase inside a file.
By default, this service is set to manual (so it won't start), but when you
do a search on your computer, there's that little question asking you if you
want to make future searches faster.... so you could have enabled it (it
will tell you that you are going to enable the Indexing service when you
choose this). Anyway, having run it for a while, it was one of the first
things I decided switched off, and I haven't noticed any delay when I do my
searches (and I presume that with my C:\ drive holding in excess of 106,000
files in over 2,700 folders I'm not a typical user!), but I did notice the
improvement of having more CPU cycles available at all times. Don't you just
hate it when you're playing a game of Hearts and your system decides that
you are doing "nothing", so it can start indexing your files, thereby
slowing down your game to a crawl."

http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/tune-18.html

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

I have six computers all running XP pro. One computer is
set up with a raid 1 mirror and works as the file server.
There are directories with 1000 - 2000 files in them. When
one of the other xp computers access's these direcories
there is a long delay before the contents of the direcory
are displayed. Previously I was running windows 95 and 98
and had no dely at all when viewing the contents of these
directories. Change from Fat to NTSF as well.

Any help on how to reduce the file access time would be
appreciated.

Rob,

when you reboot the server, wait until it comes up and is ready,
then open one of the problem directories, how many seconds does
it take?

When you reboot the server again, then sit down at the server
and open one of the problem directories locally, how many
seconds does that take?

Hans-Georg