External Hard Drive causing lag to Windows Explorer.

[HazRam]

Hi All,
I finally managed to get my CIFS windows share to work on my PC after mapping it and all and I have been moving all my files and folders from an external hard drive connect to the PC via USB 3.0 to the NAS folder. Then all of a sudden my external hard drive started to lag in Windows explorer. Every time I try to copy another folder to the NAS box windows explorer stops responding. Even my mouse lags when trying to navigate to another program or window.

Not sure what is going on but I have disconnected and reconnect the drive several times, restarted the PC to no avail. When the external hard drive is not connect everything works fine but once the drive is plugged in I start having all the lag issues.

Any suggestions would be a big help.

Thank you.

 

[joeschmuck]

It could be that you are trying to copy lots of small files and it's taking a hit on your Windoze computer. Either way the problem is not likely to be your FreeNAS machine and more so your Windoze machine. USB 3.0 is nice but if you have lots of files you are transferring, the external hard drive access speed will still be a bottleneck as well as your LAN speed.

 

[anodos]

Post debug file 'system' -> 'advanced' -> 'save debug'.

If you're uncomfortable with that, post following:

• Hardware specs of server
• /var/log/samba4/log.smbd
• /var/log/messages
• /etc/local/smb4.conf
• Output of 'getfacl <your pool>/<your share'

 

[joeschmuck]

Every time I try to copy another folder to the NAS box windows explorer stops responding.

This is indicative of a busy Windoze system.

 

[DrKK]

Also, just for the record, when you bridge in an external device (SATA-to-USB for an external drive, or USB thumb drive, or whatever), if it's screwed up/having trouble, often times this manifests itself by locking out Windows Explorer. I'm guessing this is your problem, especially if there's no obvious CPU-intensive task going on.

If you right-click "computer", then "manage", then go to "disk management", you should see any external device you plug in come up almost instantly in that list. If it does not, and/or "disk manager" seems to lock up, the most likely cause is that whatever device you're plugging in is jacked up.

 

[HazRam]

Also, just for the record, when you bridge in an external device (SATA-to-USB for an external drive, or USB thumb drive, or whatever), if it's screwed up/having trouble, often times this manifests itself by locking out Windows Explorer. I'm guessing this is your problem, especially if there's no obvious CPU-intensive task going on.

If you right-click "computer", then "manage", then go to "disk management", you should see any external device you plug in come up almost instantly in that list. If it does not, and/or "disk manager" seems to lock up, the most likely cause is that whatever device you're plugging in is jacked up.

I think you were right. It is the hard drive. I believe it is on its last legs. I ended up plugging it into another laptop and did a disk scan and fixed some errors and I can access the data but it is very slow. I am copying a few folders at a time but it is taking hours!

Thanks to everyone who replied I appreciate all the assistance you have all provided.

 

[anodos]

I think you were right. It is the hard drive. I believe it is on its last legs. I ended up plugging it into another laptop and did a disk scan and fixed some errors and I can access the data but it is very slow. I am copying a few folders at a time but it is taking hours!

Thanks to everyone who replied I appreciate all the assistance you have all provided.

I've also seen Windows behave this way on failing sd-cards. Behavior in windows 10 changed somewhat. It will forcibly unmount the volume rather than have explorer throw feces everywhere.

 

[DrKK]

I've also seen Windows behave this way on failing sd-cards. Behavior in windows 10 changed somewhat. It will forcibly unmount the volume rather than have explorer throw feces everywhere.

Indeed. A good rule of thumb for Windows 8 and below; if you insert a USB-headed device into a port, and your Windows Explorer is locking up, 98.11% of the time it is because the device you've inserted is having trouble negotiating a connection, and most of the time, *THAT* is because it's jacked up.

In the case of an external USB drive, if you're in real trouble and you need the data, you can think about liberating the drive from its external housing, and hope that it is a standard SATA connection inside. You can then mount this to the motherboard (or, eSATA, if you have it), and you may have better options for recovery.

 

[Ericloewe]

In the case of an external USB drive, if you're in real trouble and you need the data, you can think about liberating the drive from its external housing, and hope that it is a standard SATA connection inside. You can then mount this to the motherboard (or, eSATA, if you have it), and you may have better options for recovery.

Do note that some newer external enclosures transparently encrypt the drives. Because, reasons...?