Question

Extremely slow file deletion with Windows XP Professional

Asked by: poulsena

This past weekend, my hard drive failed.  Since I lost a lot of personal data, I decided to set up a RAID 1 disk array to minimize the chance of losing data in the future.  I purchased two 120 GB Samsung SATA drives and reinstalled Windows XP Professional SP2.  Everything seems to be running well except for file deletion in windows explorer.  If I try to delete a folder containing only a few files, it can take well over a minute to delete the files (the more files, the worse the wait time).  Previously (and with most other PCs I use), file deletion typically occurs almost instantaneously. In my problematic system, while the file and/or folder is being deleted, the taskmanager indicates that explorer.exe is consuming anywhere from 30 to 85% of the CPU resources.  As a reality check, I placed an identical folder with over 100 MB of files both on my PC and on my laptop (both running XP).  The laptop is much older and less capable.  However, the laptop deletes the folder virtually instantaneously, while the PC takes a very long time. Here are a few things I have tried:

1)  Made sure that the recycle bin is empty.  This doesn't help.

2)  Disabled the recycle bin.  This does make things move faster, but file deletion it still takes much longer than on other systems.  I personally wouldn't want this as a permanent solution because I couldn't easily recover a deleted file.  

3)  I ran "chkdsk c: /r" from a command line as suggested in http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/WinXP/Q_21089036.html, but everything checked out OK after the disk scan.

I would really appreciate help with this problem because I would like to avoid having to reinstall the OS, drivers, programs etc. just to find out that the problem is still there.  

Here are a few of my system specs:
Windows XP Professional SP2
Pentium 4 2.80 GHZ 800 MHz FSB
2.0 GB RAM
120 GB RAID 1 hard drive (no partitions)
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe motherboard



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Asked On
2004-09-09 at 18:52:53ID21125615
Tags

file

,

slow

,

1

,

2

,

delete

Topic

Windows XP Operating System

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
32

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Answers

 

by: davexnetPosted on 2004-09-09 at 19:25:38ID: 12023266

Is the problem pc on a LAN?  If so right click the "local area connection" in my network places
and see if it resolves the problem.

Dave

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-09 at 19:39:58ID: 12023321

As you probably already know, a RAID 1, since it must write to both hard drives as a mirror, will always be slower than writing (or deleting) from a single drive.   But, here is one thing that might speed things up.  Turn off indexing in your Services Manager.     Open the Properties window of your partition letter (c:) and uncheck the box "Allow Indexing for fast File Searching" and Apply..  Allow this for all subfolders..  Then do this for each partition you have setup..

FE

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-09 at 19:41:28ID: 12023329

BTW:  I have a variety of performance enhancement suggestions on my website..  Feel free to visit and look around if you like..

www.doverproductions.com

FE

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-09 at 20:20:20ID: 12023476

I unchecked the box "Allow Indexing for fast File Searching" as you suggested Fatal Exception, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference.  I will have a closer look at your website.

Dave, my PC is on a LAN, but I am not sure what you want me to do after right clicking "local area connection."  I am presented with options such as Disable, Status, Repair, Properties, etc.

Thanks to both of you for replying.

 

by: davexnetPosted on 2004-09-09 at 21:31:53ID: 12023700

Oops - yes, try disabling the LAN to see if it affects the issue.
In fact, I would disable & reboot and then test it.
Dave

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-09-10 at 02:30:21ID: 12024859

I am not sure, but could you try uninstalling SP 2? It has got a lot of bugs and bad comments

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-09-10 at 02:32:08ID: 12024870

And as you reinstalled it, did you check the device manager for conflicts? And did you install the motherboard drivers? (intel application accelerator eg)

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-10 at 05:25:19ID: 12025720

Good idea disconnecting it from the LAN, as XP scans the mapped drives for scheduled tasks and will slow down file transfer...  (but I really doubt that this is the issue, as the drives are local..)  but you might give it a shot.  Again, on my website I go over this:  Look in the XP Performance Tips section > Poor Connection Speed with Networked Computers and you will find the short article and the way to correct it...

And, I also agree that SP2 does not yet belong on your computer, especially if it is a production system.  You can read more about it on my site...

FE

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-09-10 at 05:31:07ID: 12025758

you can also in the properties of the explorer, uncheck the "scan for network printers and folders"

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-10 at 06:13:38ID: 12026100

I disabled my LAN, rebooted my computer and the problem remained.  I tried deleting a 56.9 MB (58.3 MB on disk) folder containing 689 separate files (low resolution digital photos and mpeg movies) and the computer took 2 minutes and 5 seconds to delete the folder.  In the meantime, explorer is locked up, and explorer.exe is using most of the system resources.  I don't know that this tells you anything, but the CPU Usage of explorer.exe oscillates between a lower consumption level (~30-50%)  and a higher one (80-95%) every 2 seconds or so until the deletion is completed. If the folder is larger, it can take much longer than this.

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-10 at 06:58:59ID: 12026651

nobus, I unchecked "Automatically search for network folders and printers" and this didn't change anything.  I'll try uninstalling SP2.

>>And as you reinstalled it, did you check the device manager for conflicts? And did you install the motherboard drivers? (intel application accelerator eg)

Yes, I have made sure to install all of the drivers (and tried to always find the most recent drivers).  I have also checked the device manager several times.  If there were conflicts, how would I tell?  As far as I can tell, everything looks fine in the device manager.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-09-10 at 07:03:00ID: 12026695

>>>>    I have also checked the device manager several times.  If there were conflicts, how would I tell?   <<<

there would be yellow exclamation marks

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-10 at 07:17:14ID: 12026905

No there aren't any yellow exclamation marks under device manager.

I also just began the process of uninstalling Service Pack 2.  The problem is that I installed all of the "critical" windows updates including SP2 immediately after installing the operating system.  Following the updates, I installed all of my software (quite a bit).  When I began the SP2 uninstall, I receive a warning message stating that "If Service Pack 2 is removed, these programs might not run properly. Do you want to continue?"  It lists everything I have installed (over 2 dozen applications).  I'm wondering if I'll wreak a lot of havoc on my machine if I uninstall SP2.

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-09-10 at 07:41:02ID: 12027206

maybe yes, and maybe no. There is right now not enough feedback on the sp2 issues as to guarantee you something. So if worst comes to worst, reinstall only sp1 + updates after a clean reinstall. I hope it does not come down to that for you...

 

by: davexnetPosted on 2004-09-10 at 09:17:25ID: 12028310

Download and run the Process Explorer from sysinternals.com.
Recreate the problem, and in process explorer, right click it, select properties/threads.
Identify the thread that is using all the cpu.

Dave

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-10 at 12:08:23ID: 12029917

Hmm.. I still think the main issue is the mirror, as these are typically slow anyway...  I assume you are running SATA 7200 RPM drives, which are not true SCSI drives...  In fact, I believe only WD Raptors are SCSI rated at 10,000 RPM's.  If you are running Raptors, then that is another story completely..

FE

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-10 at 12:36:06ID: 12030152

FE, I am running SATA 7200 RPM drives (although I would have liked to have purchased the Raptors).  However, file access is very fast-even with very large files.  I may be a little naive, but shouldn't deleting a file be similar to a cut and paste operation from one folder to the Recycle Bin?  The reason I say this is that as I understand it, the file isn't actually "deleted" and typically isn't moved from it's location on the hard drive when being "moved" to the Recycle Bin.  I can cut and paste entire folders almost instantaneously.  When I am deleting a folder with several files, it usually takes a while before the windows information box (with the status of the deletion) even pops up and even longer before the status bar begins to move (if it ever does).  Several years ago, I used a mirror setup with a Windows NT machine (with slower hard drives) and never noticed any symptoms like what I am noticing with my PC.
 

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-10 at 15:19:03ID: 12031443

I downloaded and ran Process Explorer as Dave suggested.  The thread that is using up the CPU is listed as

SHLWAPI.dll!Ordial505+0x2fa

I couldn't find a way to cut and paste the name of the thread so hopefully there aren't any typos.

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-10 at 15:42:03ID: 12031568

Poul..  you are correct.. With the further description you provided, it does seem to be something other than the drives and the mirror.

I also have a reg hack for speeding up drive access on my site (mentioned above)..  The link is Speed Up Drive Access, located under XP Performance Tips...  you might want to ck out the hack and see if it helps you here..

FE

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-10 at 15:44:54ID: 12031581

BTW:  shlwapi.dll is a library which contains functions for UNC and URL paths, registry entries, and color settings.  This is a system dll used by the Windows Shell...  I really doubt whether this is the problem here... but, have been wrong before..  :)

FE

 

by: cybercowboyPosted on 2004-09-11 at 16:51:50ID: 12036483

If you indeed have a mirror created, break the mirror and test the delete function.  If the problem is resolved we know the issue is with the SATA mirror - Otherwise we are just guessing!  

Heck, disconnect the secondary mirrored SATA drive - respond accordingly to any prompts during the boot process and resolve the problem with a single drive!  Once the problem is resolved - remirror the drives.

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-11 at 17:50:06ID: 12036622

now that is a good idea, cyber..!!  :)

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-09-13 at 05:31:58ID: 12043224

Great ideas.  I will try breaking the mirror and uninstalling SP2 (but not at the same time).  I will get back to everyone in a couple days.

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-09-13 at 07:05:50ID: 12044095

Good luck..

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-10-01 at 07:36:11ID: 12200401

Well it turns out that the problem was NOT due to the mirror or SP2.  As I indicated in my initial statement, my hard drive failed.  This was the reason I went out and purchased two hard drives for the mirror setup.  Actually, my old hard drive only partially failed so certain portions of the hard drive were still accessible.  After a fresh installation of XP on the mirror drive, I connected the failing drive to try and recover some of my files.  I was able to recover some files, but unfortunately much of my personal files were inaccessible.  Apparently Windows explorer became corrupted when trying to access the inaccessible files on the failing hard drive.  Since the very first thing I did after installing windows on the mirror drive was to try and recover my data I never really saw windows explorer working properly before it became corrupted.  I have now reinstalled everything and it is working very well.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions!

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-10-01 at 07:39:21ID: 12200438

glad it works again !

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-10-01 at 07:40:39ID: 12200454

I distributed the points among all who gave constructive suggestions.

Thanks again.

 

by: poulsenaPosted on 2004-10-01 at 07:42:29ID: 12200474

By the way, everyone who posted comments received points (everything was constructive).  I wish I could have increased the points even higher to give everyone more.

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-10-01 at 09:23:17ID: 12201563

Thanks..

FE

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-10-01 at 09:37:45ID: 12201697

Don't - my pockets are already bulging with points. Use the mass transmitter ands send a nice bottle

 

by: Fatal_ExceptionPosted on 2004-10-01 at 10:58:08ID: 12202458

You need deeper pockets, nobus...!!  :)  

 

by: nobusPosted on 2004-10-02 at 00:04:29ID: 12206305

Never heard that before !

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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