Annoying Problem

[Batman]

Hi,

Whenever I want to re-name, or delete any large file (200mb+) it takes up 5 minutes. During this time I cannot do anything. i have an old computer (p 200) but a new harddrive. Thanks in advance for your help.

[benderman]

5 min for 200MB really seems very long. Maybe it's caused by one of the following...

1) DMA-Mode disabled
2) HDD is fragmented, use defrag
3) software-compression for the HDD is activated, that can take a lot of time on slow cpus
4) you have installed a antivirus- or backupprogramm that always checks your hdd

[Batman]

I don't have anti-virus software running in background. I don't think I've enable hdd compression. How do I enable dma mode for the harddrive? It take five minutes for any file, that is 200mb or greater in size. Thanks

[Enchanter]

Right-click on My Computer -> Properties -> (Look For Something called Device Manager). A new dialog box will pop-up. Look for the category Disk Drives. Double-click on the drive of interest and tick the box DMA. That's how it roughly goes....

[Batman]

Thanks Enchanter . However, how would I know if my hd is dma compatible? would I suffer adverse consequences if it isn't and I enable dma.

[setarip]

(My two cents' worth)

Benderman's number two or three possibilities are most likely - or you may have an "interesting" virus. A delete (no matter how slow the CPU) is actually just altering a byte or two on your hard drive (It's not actually ERASING the file itself, merely altering/"corrupting" the filename's reference in the allocation table) and should take a second, at most, depending upon how many and what other programs may be running in the background.

[Enchanter]

You may want to try scanning your drive for errors and defragmenting it (if you haven't done so in months), before trying out anything further. Clean up space by removing any unused programs, especially those that just sit around doing nothing and yet gobbling up memory and precious HD space.

As for DMA-compatibility, I'm not too sure about that. The oldest computer, whose DMA I have sucessfully enabled, is a Celeron 300A. However, you can just try enabling DMA and see if it works. If it does not, you can always go into safe mode and disable it.

[Batman]

Thanks for all your help.

I will be defragmenting this evening.

Setarip, do you think I may have a virus? Do you have any further information on this virus? If so, would I be able to detect and arrest it with an anti-virus program? I only download digital media, and the only exe file I downloded was simcity3000, which works perfectly fine.

I closed MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger, and I was able to delete much faster the same 200 mb file, however as you mention Setarip "take(s) a second"---then again my computer is an obsolete P200.

[setarip]

You should be able to judge "what used to be normal" for your system before this apparently recent slowdown. If, after closing those two internet programs, a delete now seems to be about as fast as it used to be, then be happy! If, after defragmenting your drive, you believe that it still takes far too long, it might be worthwhile to install and run a good virus-checking program...

[Batman]

Thanks

[setarip]

My (our) pleasure ;>}

Do let us know how things work out...

[Batman]

I'll be sure to post my results shortly.

[Batman]

When I closed MSN messenger and Yahoo Messenger, and "cut" and "paste" 3 large (500mb+) files it took about 1-2 minutes which is quite a bit faster ....yesterday 700mb movies took me 15 minutes!

[setarip]

Sounds like you're a happy camper! ;>}

[Batman]

Yes My archiac PC severly tests my patience.