[kw02]

My wife's seldom used laptop runs slowly for long time starting up. Seems to take several minutes before anything will open at normal speeds. The HDD light shows busy most of the time during that period. Has always had Norton Security installed and running, and then lately has used Windows Defender for securityThe HDD is

Storage
596GB Seagate ST640LM000 HM641JI (SATA (SSD)) according to Speccy.
Note the SSD label.

According to HWiNFO64.exe the drive is
Drive Model: ST640LM000 HM641JI

How did this get mixed up in Win 10 and HP Pavilion G6-2111us laptop?



Months ago I was setting up a defragmenting program ID'd the HDD as an SSD. Strange.
Defraggler does work on defragmenting the drive. It was another highly-rated defragmenter that said it was an SSD and wouldn't defragment it.

I recall that the first map of the drive in Defraggler showing how the drive content was spaced
from the Windows 10 defragmenting had the blocks all spaced out in little clumps rather
than grouped into a large block with small empty spaces.

What do I need to do?

 

[SpywareDr]

A Seagate ST640LM000 is a 640GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Hard Drive.

What I would do immediately is replace it with a "real" SSD to something like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-50...=512gb+samsung+ssd&qid=1617628033&sr=8-6&th=1

With that single $109 (US) upgrade, the difference in speed will breathe new life into her laptop. While your in there though, you might also want to go ahead and max it out with 8GB of RAM, with something like these: Crucial 8GB Kit (2 x 4GB) DDR3L-1600 SODIMM | CT2KIT51264BF160B | Crucial.com for $43 (US)

The end result will be the maximum speed that particular unit, (with its aging Intel Core i3-2350M CPU), would be able to do.

 

[kw02]

I already know how to replace parts to speed it up. I'd likely just buy a replacement from HP for this one. IT's my 3rd hp laptop here. The other two are faster but have some age on them.

I'm asking how to get this current hard drive to be recognized correctly as I think something changed and that's what's causing excessive slowness on startup.

IIRC the one analysis program showed that this drive has 16 heads and 16383 cylinders. Doesn't seem right.

I have other small drives I could likely clone to replace this one. But I was hoping there is a fix to designation by the system as SSD when it's not.

 

[SpywareDr]

It appears that Speecy is the one that has it wrong ... a "bug" if you will? You could contact them to delve into the "why" and to get it fixed if you like.

 

[spunk.funk]

Press the Windows key+X and choose Disk Management. In the lower pane it will show the drives in your computer. Please attach a screenshot. This is the definitive name of the drive.

The HDD light shows busy most of the time during that period. Has always had Norton Security installed and running, and then lately has used Windows Defender for security

Windows Defender is Disabled when you install Norton's. You do not need Norton, in fact it slows your computer down as it is a lot of bloatware and scans in the background, which may be causing the computer to be busy in the background. We strongly suggest, Uninstalling Norton using their Removal tool https://norton.com/nrnr Be sure to used the Advanced method and choose to Uninstall ONLY, if you don't select that, it will reinstall it after it uninstalls it. Enable Windows Security (Defender) once Norton's is removed.
As stated, the computers old HDD may be aging and slowing down. Replacing it will an SSD drive would make it run a lot faster.

 

[kw02]

Press the Windows key+X and choose Disk Management. In the lower pane it will show the drives in your computer. Please attach a screenshot. This is the definitive name of the drive.
Windows Defender is Disabled when you install Norton's. You do not need Norton, in fact it slows your computer down as it is a lot of bloatware and scans in the background, which may be causing the computer to be busy in the background. We strongly suggest, Uninstalling Norton using their Removal tool https://norton.com/nrnr Be sure to used the Advanced method and choose to Uninstall ONLY, if you don't select that, it will reinstall it after it uninstalls it. Enable Windows Security (Defender) once Norton's is removed.
As stated, the computers old HDD may be aging and slowing down. Replacing it will an SSD drive would make it run a lot faster.

Here is the Disk Management screenshot. I also attached a screenshot from one of the analytical programs that shows the Seagate drive as a 1 inch form factor and SSD. I'm not sure which gave that 2nd shot but likely Speccy.

I also reran the Norton removal program. I had removed Norton almost a year ago IIRC. But I wanted to be sure I had done it correctly.

Earlier Norton had botched up on this computer and had to be removed and reinstalled with help from Norton online support chat to do so. That might have been 2 or more years ago. I removed Norton about a year ago and Windows Defender has been running on the computer without an obvious problem.

Thank you for your advice on where to go to try to remediate this computer as it is. As I said in an earlier post, I have 3 Hp laptops, and more likely would replace the older, least capable of the 3 with a new one from HP website, built to order than put a lot of upgrade into this one. This one just needs to work like it did when nearly new.

(Three laptops: HP Pavilion G7 1260us; HP Envy dv6 7210us; HP Pavilion G6 2111us--the current problematic one . The Envy is getting memory upgrade to 16 GB from 6 GB and removed memory will go into the problem computer giving it 8 GB instead of 6 GB. Might upgrade ENVY HDD to SSD and put HDD into problem computer. The G7 is showing its age with keyboard contact problems.)

 

[spunk.funk]

Looks like Speccy is the only app that is confused about the name of the device Amazon.com: ST640LM000, HM641JI/M, FW 2AJ10003, SSNE, Samsung 640GB SATA 2.5 Hard Drive: Computers & Accessories
Incidentally, You do not need to buy a new laptop or SSD/HDD from HP. You can purchase an SSD Or HDD from any online retailer, they will be less expensive then HP and you will be getting the same product.
If you didn't use the Norton Removal tool, there may be some remnants of Norton still in the system.
On the troubled computer, download Disk Genius in my signature, Select your drive in the app and go to the toolbar to Disk/View or Repair Bad Sectors/Verify Now. This will take some time. If the boxes are all light Blue, then the drive is healthy. If any of the boxes are Amber or RED, the drive needs to be replaced ASAP.

 

[kw02]

Disk Genius found 90% excellent and 10% good cylinders or sectors, whichever it was verifying.

 

[SoCalBryan]

So the first thing to do is set the virtual memory to "No Paging File" then exit out the dialogs saving the new setting. Then reboot the machine.

Log back in run defraggler again. When finished go back to your virtual memory settings and set the Initial size and Maximum size text boxes to the recommended size value both. This is what Mircosoft used to call a permanent swap file. It makes the computer run faster. This will also keep the page file from defragmenting in the future.

Next don't ever use the Windows defrag tool again use Defraggler instaead or better purchase Raxco's Perfect disk. Worth every penny if you're gonna use HDD's

 

[djbillyd]

Press the Windows key+X and choose Disk Management. In the lower pane it will show the drives in your computer. Please attach a screenshot. This is the definitive name of the drive.
Windows Defender is Disabled when you install Norton's. You do not need Norton, in fact it slows your computer down as it is a lot of bloatware and scans in the background, which may be causing the computer to be busy in the background. We strongly suggest, Uninstalling Norton using their Removal tool https://norton.com/nrnr Be sure to used the Advanced method and choose to Uninstall ONLY, if you don't select that, it will reinstall it after it uninstalls it. Enable Windows Security (Defender) once Norton's is removed.
As stated, the computers old HDD may be aging and slowing down. Replacing it will an SSD drive would make it run a lot faster.

When I saw that he has Norton, and was talking about slow speeds, the two go hand in hand. Norton, McAfee, and several other "security" options are notorious for slowing your system down when they want you to "upgrade". I always advise against that stuff, as opposed to Windows Defender, which is more than adequate, and works quietly in the background.

 

[fzabkar]

CrystalDiskInfo reports the SMART data as well as the Identify Device info (you need to select this from the menu). An SSD reports a value of 1 for the rotation rate. If you can upload the SMART and Identify info, we should be able to see what is happening.

Just FYI, the drive is actually a Samsung (whose HDD division was acquired by Seagate).

 

[kw02]

CrystalDiskInfo reports the SMART data as well as the Identify Device info (you need to select this from the menu). An SSD reports a value of 1 for the rotation rate. If you can upload the SMART and Identify info, we should be able to see what is happening.

Just FYI, the drive is actually a Samsung (whose HDD division was acquired by Seagate).

I don't find an Identify Device choice in the menu.

Here's the info shown:

 

[kw02]

When I saw that he has Norton, and was talking about slow speeds, the two go hand in hand. Norton, McAfee, and several other "security" options are notorious for slowing your system down when they want you to "upgrade". I always advise against that stuff, as opposed to Windows Defender, which is more than adequate, and works quietly in the background.

Laptop did have Norton and there was some kind of screwup on laptop. Years back. Norton R/R with online help.

Last year or so Norton removed to just use Windows Defender, since folks gave it so much adulation by that time as to its efficacy. But with this problem continuing I found antimaleware service executable taking up a lot of disk flow rate as well as other resources and finding that was part of Windows Defender, I tried first following a way to limit when ASE ran. That didn't change anything. Yesterday, I reinstalled one of my Norton SEcurity seats.

The laptop runs some better. I find that the computer runs some better.

Frankly, I am not sure about the idea that Norton is a major problem. Sme for McAfee. It's like car folks on certain car forums who have their preferences. I listen, but I look with my own eyes and my own empirical evidence. Windows Defender has this Antimaleware Service executable that is a hog apparently.

I do agree with those saying an HDD (SATA 3) switch or SSD migh t really make this machine run better for the low level use
my wife expects. She doesn't like waiting 10 minutes for it to get through everything before Chrome or Brave will run at a normal speed. Neither do I.

I appreciate all the varying inputs. Including controlling the page file size. I recall doing that on XP, LOL.

I saw a smaller SSD at Microcenter yesterday when I picked up 16 GB memory for my other laptop. I then noticed Disk Genius recommended by someone earlier can clone partitions from HDD to smaller partition on HDD or SSD. That would allow me to go from 640 GB to 500 or smaller SSD. Those are cheap.

I am used to Clonezilla for cloning replacement HDD SSD which can only go same size or larger partitions--as I understand its abilities. But Disk Genius can move things into a smaller partition.

If I buy a larger, more expensive, SSD, it will go in my other machine that's getting the 16 GB. Just saying in advance, I'm building 1 out of my 3 to keep, ditch one with aging key contacts and limited ability, and still getting my wife's machine to run better. I may then purchase am HP laptop built to my choice of memory and SSD.

I realize posters are trying to help me in what would be the best way, but this machine is lower in priority, since it's 3 out of 3.

 

[spunk.funk]

Disk Genius also lists SMART Information under Disk, no need to download another app

 

[kw02]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ST640LM000 HM641JI 640.1 GB
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial Number: S25YJ9AC312233
Firmware: 2AJ10003
Rotational Speed: 5400 RPM
Buffer Size: 8192 KB
Power On Hours: 2743 Hour
Power On Count: 4085
Total Host Reads: --
Total Host Writes: --
Transfer Mode: ---- | SATA/300
Standard: ATA8-ACS | ATA8-ACS version 6
Features: S.M.A.R.T., APM, 48bit LBA, NCQ, TRIM
Temperature: 30 °C
Health Status: Good

-- S.M.A.R.T. --------------------------------------------------------------
ID Sta Cur Wor Thr RawValues AttributeName (See notes below)
01 G 100 100 _51 000000000006 Read Error Rate
02 G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Throughput Performance
03 G _89 _88 _25 000000000D55 Spin-Up Time
04 G _96 _96 __0 000000001101 Start/Stop Count
05 G 252 252 _10 000000000000 Reallocated Sectors Count
07 G 252 252 _51 000000000000 Seek Error Rate
08 G 252 252 _15 000000000000 Seek Time Performance
09 G 100 100 __0 000000000AB7 Power-On Hours
0A G 252 252 _51 000000000000 Spin Retry Count
0B G 100 100 __0 00000000002A Recalibration Retries
0C G _96 _96 __0 000000000FF5 Power Cycle Count
B7 G 252 252 _10 000000000000 SATA Downshift Count
B8 G 252 252 _48 000000000000 End-to-End Error
BA G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Vendor Specific
BB G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Reported Uncorrectable Errors
BC G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Command Timeout
BE G _71 _53 _40 0030000F001D Airflow Temperature
BF G 100 100 __0 000000001508 G-Sense Error Rate
C0 G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Power-off Retract Count
C1 G _96 _96 __0 00000000B090 Load/Unload Cycle Count
C2 G _64 _53 __0 0030000F001D Temperature
C3 G 100 100 __0 000000000000 Hardware ECC recovered
C4 G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Reallocation Event Count
C5 G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Current Pending Sector Count
C6 G 252 252 __0 000000000000 Uncorrectable Sector Count
C7 G 200 200 __0 000000000000 UltraDMA CRC Error Count
C8 G 100 100 __0 000000000085 Write Error Rate

Notes:
Sta: Status(G: Good | W: Warning | B: Bad | U: Unknown)
Cur: Current
Wor: Worst
Thr: Threshold
RawValues: Raw Values
AttributeName: Attribute Name

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DiskGenius V5.4.1.1178

All-in-one Solution for Data Recovery, Partition Manager and Data Backup - DiskGenius

DiskGenius provides an all-in-one solution for data recovery, disk partition management and backup & restore for Windows PCs, Servers and workstations.

www.diskgenius.com

2021-04-07 14:38:29

 

[VividProfessional]

Its a Seagate, get it replaced they are notorious for failing. I have had around 40 disks fail from them. I only bought six, they fail on a regular basis
Even the new ultra repliable St8000 iron wolfs i got give as compensation have failed withina year

 

[kw02]

I decided to get an SSD for this laptop. A relatively small and inexpensive one
at my local Microcenter store. So I heard folks' suggestions.

I've run into memory switching problems using memory taken out of my
fastest laptop where I put in dual channel memory at 16 GB and putting
that memory into this HP Pavilion laptop g6 2111us.

So I'll take that to the RAM and Power Supply section of TS forums.

 

[kw02]

Looks like Speccy is the only app that is confused about the name of the device Amazon.com: ST640LM000, HM641JI/M, FW 2AJ10003, SSNE, Samsung 640GB SATA 2.5 Hard Drive: Computers & Accessories
Incidentally, You do not need to buy a new laptop or SSD/HDD from HP. You can purchase an SSD Or HDD from any online retailer, they will be less expensive then HP and you will be getting the same product.
If you didn't use the Norton Removal tool, there may be some remnants of Norton still in the system.
On the troubled computer, download Disk Genius in my signature, Select your drive in the app and go to the toolbar to Disk/View or Repair Bad Sectors/Verify Now. This will take some time. If the boxes are all light Blue, then the drive is healthy. If any of the boxes are Amber or RED, the drive needs to be replaced ASAP.

Disk Genius is great. I discovered it would let me easily migrate from a larger hdd to a smaller hdd or SSD, as long as the total bytes used was smaller than the shrunken sectors. Perfect.

While picking up 16 GB DDR3 ram for my other laptop, I saw an Inland SSD for $33 that was 250 GB for my wife's little used laptop. Perfect. Really does speed up the loading, just like SpywareDr said at the beginning. And the extra 4GB ram pulled from my fastest CPU computer gave it 8 total and they operate as dual channels. I didn't expect that little extra of dual channel from non-matching modules.


Fixed differently than I thought I would be doing it when I started.

PS, I will be getting an SSD for my fastest computer, but I have put in a SATA III WD Black
that I had using Disk Genius to quickly transfer the system and other partitions to the new HDD. Love that Disk Genius.

Instructions are everywhere to teach how to do things correctly in Disk Genius. On their own site and on other topics.

 

[spunk.funk]

We are glad you got it sorted. I love Disk Genius too. This is a relatively new App, and many techs haven't tried it yet, and still uses other apps, which are fine. But Disk Genius tests HDD/SSD's diagnostics, is a Partition Manager, and Backs Up, Clones and Images computers. Among many other things.

 

[djbillyd]

Laptop did have Norton and there was some kind of screwup on laptop. Years back. Norton R/R with online help.

Last year or so Norton removed to just use Windows Defender, since folks gave it so much adulation by that time as to its efficacy. But with this problem continuing I found antimaleware service executable taking up a lot of disk flow rate as well as other resources and finding that was part of Windows Defender, I tried first following a way to limit when ASE ran. That didn't change anything. Yesterday, I reinstalled one of my Norton SEcurity seats.

The laptop runs some better. I find that the computer runs some better.

Frankly, I am not sure about the idea that Norton is a major problem. Sme for McAfee. It's like car folks on certain car forums who have their preferences. I listen, but I look with my own eyes and my own empirical evidence. Windows Defender has this Antimaleware Service executable that is a hog apparently.

I do agree with those saying an HDD (SATA 3) switch or SSD migh t really make this machine run better for the low level use
my wife expects. She doesn't like waiting 10 minutes for it to get through everything before Chrome or Brave will run at a normal speed. Neither do I.

I appreciate all the varying inputs. Including controlling the page file size. I recall doing that on XP, LOL.

I saw a smaller SSD at Microcenter yesterday when I picked up 16 GB memory for my other laptop. I then noticed Disk Genius recommended by someone earlier can clone partitions from HDD to smaller partition on HDD or SSD. That would allow me to go from 640 GB to 500 or smaller SSD. Those are cheap.

I am used to Clonezilla for cloning replacement HDD SSD which can only go same size or larger partitions--as I understand its abilities. But Disk Genius can move things into a smaller partition.

If I buy a larger, more expensive, SSD, it will go in my other machine that's getting the 16 GB. Just saying in advance, I'm building 1 out of my 3 to keep, ditch one with aging key contacts and limited ability, and still getting my wife's machine to run better. I may then purchase am HP laptop built to my choice of memory and SSD.

I realize posters are trying to help me in what would be the best way, but this machine is lower in priority, since it's 3 out of 3.

Good luck.