Troubleshoot Windows ssd writes

[Soundwave]

Briefly explain your current issue(s)

Abnormal ssd writes

Steps taken to resolve, but have been unsuccessful

None

Hi

So i got a big headache with this for some time now and i need some help, thanks.My ssd writes sometimes like crazy while doing nothing.I expect steam and other downloads to write but windows writes while doing nothing.So i traced the problem to windows defender.I doubt it's normal.It's a fresh windows install, 30 days i think but it was the same before.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Probably related to the fast startup. It's enabled by default and when it's enabled, Windows don't really shut down properly. It kind of hibernates your PC and when you turn on everything gets resumed. I guess this is why "MsMpEng.exe" is showing this high amount of write bytes. You probably haven't restarted your PC in a while which breaks this loop. One thing you can do is disable fast startup. It's not really needed with a decent SSD. I and many other members of the forum also disabled this. Disabling fast startup has other benefits too. There's a separate thread for that where it was discussed extensively.
The I/O write bytes of MS Defender in general is one of the lowest.

 

[Local Host]

That is normal, WD cache is poor in comparison to third parties.

 

[Soundwave]

It was on for 2 hours when i took the screen, i disabled WD right after to check.Win didn't write much after that.And the pc it's only on like 8-9 hours when i'm using it or around the house.

edit:so if it's WD is there a way to avoid that?Other than disable.

 

[Local Host]

It was on for 2 hours when i took the screen, i disabled WD right after to check.Win didn't write much after that.And the pc it's only on like 8-9 hours when i'm using it or around the house.

edit:so if it's WD is there a way to avoid that?Other than disable.

Is pretty much normal values for 2h, it goes over 15k writes at most stations here at work.

My workstation is currently at over 7k writes, and the day is just beginning.

At home I don't use WD anyway, at work I couldn't care less, is not me paying for the storage.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Is pretty much normal values for 2h, it goes over 15k writes at most stations here at work.

A very absurd claim. A home user's PC and the PCs on your work station are not the same. You didn't even tell what type of works are done on this PC, fast startup enabled or not.
On my home PC, Defender updates after startup which writes slightly over 200mb and then if I play games for 2 hours and browse the internet for 3 more hours then it doesn't even reach 300 MB here in most days. I have fast startup disabled keep that in mind.
@Soundwave You didn't answer whether you have fast startup enabled or not. No can correctly answer your question unless you check this.
If you don't know how to check then check this article. It has other info here as well.

How to make a Windows 10 PC boot quicker with fast startup

Is your PC taking too long to boot? Fast startup may help to speed the process.

www.windowscentral.com

 

[Soundwave]

@SeriousHoax it;s enabled.But yeah for a home PC it's way too much in 2 hours while only browsing.

 

[SeriousHoax]

@SeriousHoax it;s enabled.

There you go. Disable it, monitor the writes again for a couple of days, and then share your findings here.
My suggestion would be to use Process Hacker instead of Process Explorer for this. Don't forget to check the write values before shutdown.

 

[Soundwave]

@SeriousHoax yeah.I will enable WD now and disable that, i will also post a screen later if i see a spike from WD.

 

[TairikuOkami]

My ssd writes sometimes like crazy while doing nothing. ... So i traced the problem to windows defender.

Do not only disk write bytes matter? I/O write bytes could be anything, Defender uploading files, working in RAM?
As for I/O writes, well it is an active process, just like the browser. My AV for comparison provides only basic checks.

I/O Write Bytes - The number of bytes written in input/output operations generated by a process, including file, network, and device I/Os.

What does "I/O Reads or Writes" and "I/O Read Bytes or Write Bytes" mean?

In Task Manager (and Sysinternals' Process Explorer) there are columns called "I/O Reads", "I/O Writes", "I/O Read Bytes" and "I/O Write Bytes". So what do these counters mean exactly? What else, b...

superuser.com

 

[blackice]

Do not only disk write bytes matter? I/O write bytes could be anything, Defender uploading files, working in RAM?
As for I/O writes, well it is an active process, just like the browser. My AV for comparison provides only basic checks.

What does "I/O Reads or Writes" and "I/O Read Bytes or Write Bytes" mean?

In Task Manager (and Sysinternals' Process Explorer) there are columns called "I/O Reads", "I/O Writes", "I/O Read Bytes" and "I/O Write Bytes". So what do these counters mean exactly? What else, b...

superuser.com

HWinfo64 does a good job of laying out the disk write info from SMART.

 

[Local Host]

A very absurd claim. A home user's PC and the PCs on your work station are not the same. You didn't even tell what type of works are done on this PC, fast startup enabled or not.
On my home PC, Defender updates after startup which writes slightly over 200mb and then if I play games for 2 hours and browse the internet for 3 more hours then it doesn't even reach 300 MB here in most days. I have fast startup disabled keep that in mind.
@Soundwave You didn't answer whether you have fast startup enabled or not. No can correctly answer your question unless you check this.
If you don't know how to check then check this article. It has other info here as well.

How to make a Windows 10 PC boot quicker with fast startup

Is your PC taking too long to boot? Fast startup may help to speed the process.

www.windowscentral.com

You confusing RAM consumption with disk I/O, that is the only absurd claim in this topic.

For comparison the same workstation with Kaspersky Endpoint, the disk I/O was less than half that of Windows Defender.

 

[SeriousHoax]

You confusing RAM consumption with disk I/O, that is the only absurd claim in this topic.

No, of course not. What I said is correct.

 

[Local Host]

No, of course not. What I said is correct.

Then something is seriously wrong with your PC, I never seen WD having such low writes numbers on any PC, be it at home or work.

While OP values are pretty much what I expect, this on par with WD poor cache as I already stated, which is the cause for performance issues too.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Then something is seriously wrong with your PC, I never seen WD having such low writes numbers on any PC, be it at home or work.

While OP values are pretty much what I expect, this on par with WD poor cache as I already stated, which is the cause for performance issues too.

No, my PC is perfectly fine. As I said to the OP, those high values are because of fast startup. Windows don't kill MS Defender's process with that enabled when you shut down the PC excluding the scenario when Defender receives a new platform update. So all the value adds up since the PC was last restarted which results in this high I/O writes and gives everyone the wrong impression.

 

[Local Host]

No, my PC is perfectly fine. As I said to the OP, those high values are because of fast startup. Windows don't kill MS Defender's process with that enabled when you shut down the PC excluding the scenario when Defender receives a new platform update. So all the value adds up since the PC was last restarted which results in this high I/O writes and gives everyone the wrong impression.

Fast start-up is not used on any PC I work with due to being unstable, and the results I get are the same as OP.

I never seen the results you claim on any PC regardless of settings.

 

[SeriousHoax]

Fast start-up is not used on any PC I work with due to being unstable, and the results I get are the same as OP.

I never seen the results you claim on any PC regardless of settings.

Your claim doesn't make sense but mine does and I even have the proof.
According to this, looks like my PC & Microsoft Defender has been running for 8 hours straight. MD updated the signature when the PC was turned on in the evening and later at 10:15 PM the PC checked for an automatic Windows update when it was updated once again. As I said in my other comment, MD's I/O writes is about a bit over 200 MB for the update process. From 200-215 MB on average. So 2 times 210 = 420 MB.
Now check the I/O write bytes on the screenshot. It's 696 MB. So, 696 - 420 = 276 MB. So it had an I/O writes of 276 MB in 8 hours.
During this period, I played a game, browsed the internet, watched a movie.

So here it is. Microsoft don't have a ridiculously high I/O writes. This of value of 276 could increase of decrease depending on the usage but even if it was 576 MB in 8 hours, that would have been perfectly alright.
I think you say everything about Microsoft Defender based on your previous experiences. You don't use it and have not done so in a long time. So, try not to criticize something left and right just cause you hate it.

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Do not only disk write bytes matter? I/O write bytes could be anything, Defender uploading files, working in RAM?
As for I/O writes, well it is an active process, just like the browser. My AV for comparison provides only basic checks.

What does "I/O Reads or Writes" and "I/O Read Bytes or Write Bytes" mean?

In Task Manager (and Sysinternals' Process Explorer) there are columns called "I/O Reads", "I/O Writes", "I/O Read Bytes" and "I/O Write Bytes". So what do these counters mean exactly? What else, b...

superuser.com

I found Disk write only records the value as soon as we open Process Explorer or Process Hacker so we have to keep the program open the whole time to get the accurate result.

 

[TairikuOkami]

I found Disk write only records the value as soon as we open Process Explorer or Process Hacker so we have to keep the program open the whole time to get the accurate result.

Disk Write Bytes shows records since the boot, even when Process Hacker is not open, I am using the latest Nightly version (3.0.4000).

 

[Evjl's Rain]

Disk Write Bytes shows records since the boot, even when Process Hacker is not open, I am using the latest Nightly version (3.0.4000).

not my case. I opened Process explorer and process hacker 1 hour after boot and almost everything is 0MB for disk write bytes. I did some tasks and it started to show some Megabytes
IO write bytes showed total activity since boot