Non-stop disk (Optane optimizing?) activity

[DBrod2]

I have a 32GB Optane Memory attached in RST to a 6TB HDD that contains nothing but photos (it is a secondary drive). I have this installed on Windows 10 with the latest version of RST installed.

I installed the Optane a few months ago and it seems to be working fine. Recently though, I've noticed that my HDD activity is almost continuously active - even when I'm not accessing the drive. I went as far as to tell Windows to stop indexing that drive for search, etc to figure out why the drive was always active.

I've come to the conclusion (perhaps erroneously) that Optane is struggling to optimize itself with the contents of my drive. To be clear, I would make no changes to the drive and I would observe HDD activity non-stop almost continuously (hours and hours, day after day - even with no changes to the drive by me). My expectation would be that Optane would access the drive and optimize periodically. Out of concern for the lifespan of my drive and Optane I've disabled the Optane module. Since doing that my drive is no longer continuously active.

Any thoughts on what might be going on and what I could do to diagnose this further?

Thanks!

[AlHill]

What do you have pinned?

Doc

[DBrod2]

I don't have anything pinned.

[LeonWaksman]

Is the Windows File History function enabled for backup of your photos?

Leon

[DBrod2]

I don't have File History enabled.

[LeonWaksman]

If you suspect that Optane is causing this HDD activity, disable Optane enablement and see if this activity ceases.

Leon

[LeonWaksman · Accepted solution]

There is other option to check the Activity on your HDD: open Task Manager ,click on Performance tab and then on Open Resource Monitor (in the bottom). Using the Resource Monitor, you may check the Disk Activity (see the attached image).

Leon

[Thomas123]

I assume you have the same problem as myself. For a likely solution, see the link:

https://forums.intel.com/s/question/0D50P00004R4Nf0SAF/process-intel-optane-memory-service-produces-constant-system-load-of-1020-how-come?language=en_US&t=1568994579910

Best regards,

Thomas

[DBrod2]

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for this! I did not have the Optane Setup installed - I just had RST instead. I've backed out RST and installed Optane Setup. I don't have an entry in my Task Scheduler even though I have a 32 GB Optane module. In any event - I'll run with this config and see if the high disk, CPU usage returns.

Thanks again!

Damon

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

Thank you for having contacted Intel® Technical Support.

I was reviewing your community post and we would like to know if you need further assistance or if we can close this community thread.

We will be looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[DBrod2]

I have one question. It seems as though I am supposed to have a Windows Task Manager task that is scheduled to run optimization. I don't one. Can you tell me what the command line is to be run for that optimization so that I can manually configure the task to run?

Thanks,

Damon

[Esteban_C_Intel1]

DBrod2,

Thank you for your answer. 

In this case it would be required to disable the Intel(R) Optane Technology, uninstall and then re-install the software , re enable it, and then look for the task one more time. 

Finally, after doing this, if the behavior is the same, please provide the following information:

-The Intel(R) SSU report from the system in question 

-Screenshots of the disk's activity (wherever you are seeing it)

Regards,

Esteban C

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

Thank you for having contacted Intel® Memory & Storage Support. 

This is just a friendly reminder that your community thread remains open.

Should you need our technical assistance please do not hesitate to contact us back. 

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[DBrod2]

Ok - I disabled Optane, rebooted, uninstalled optane, rebooted, installed optane, rebooted, enabled optane, rebooted.

I still do not see a task in the Task Scheduler:

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

Thank you for your reply.

To further assist you we will appreciate if you can provide us with the following information:

• The SSU logs extracted from your Windows* 10 system (this to get a better understanding of your current configuration)

1. Go to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/ (for Windows*) and to https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26735/ (for Linux) download the software.
2. When finished downloading it, open it.
3. Attach the file obtained to your reply.

• Please provide us with a screenshot of the “Statistics” of the Optane memory software.

We will be looking forward to your reply including this information.

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[DBrod2]

Hi Josh,

Attached is the output from SSU.

The Statistics are empty - this is not the system drive. The tool says "No Statistics Available".

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

Thank you for your reply.

We are not able to see the SSU logs report attached to your post.

Would you mind to try one more time to include this file?

We will be looking forward to your reply including this information.

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

Under Contract to Intel Corporation

[DBrod2]

Oops - uploaded the wrong thing before.. Here it is.

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

Thank you for your reply.

We are going to be working on your inquiries related to the Optane task and the disk activity. We will be contacting you back as soon as we have an update or in case further information is required.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

Thank you for your reply.

Based on the SSU logs you shared with us, we noticed the following:

1.    Your Intel Optane+5.4TBHDD seems to be the “L:” storage drive and not the primary SSD in your system.

Based on the Secondary/Data SATA Drive Acceleration with Intel® Optane™ Memory article (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000027987.html)

Statistics will only be displayed when accelerating a System drive.

This means that the Optane service (task scheduler) is not going to run in your system, as it is not necessary when accelerating a secondary drive.

2.    We tried to reproduce your environment in our lab to check if we experienced the same issue you are reporting, in our case we did not notice any abnormal activity in our mechanical drive and we confirmed that there is no task in the “Task Scheduler”. Please check the screenshot below

We advise you to follow the recommendation given by the community and to check the “Resource Monitor” and if necessary to open a ticket in parallel with Microsoft to discard any software issue.

If you need further assistance please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[JosafathB_Intel]

Hello DBrod2,

I was reviewing your community post and we would like to know if you need further assistance related to your Intel® Optane™ Memory Series.

We will be looking forward to your reply.

Best regards,

Josh B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel