Old Laptop/Hardisk Becoming Slower?

[Ferra]

Few months ago, I notice my laptop became incredibly slow...folders and programs take forever to respond.

I formatted and re-installed window like I usually do in the past, and that typically takes care of the problem and bring the computer speed back to normal.
However, this time it doesn't seem to work. Even right after reinstalling window...the computer still respond very slowly. Sometimes when I double click a folder, it would take 5-10+sec for the simple folder to open.

Another thing is, when I am working "in a program", the laptop doesn't seem slow. However, whenever I am opening/closing/saving files and folder (accessing HD?), it would take forever to respond.

I tried reformatting and reinstalling window 3 times already...and I am still getting the same problem

Any Idea on why and how to fix it?
The HD is a Seagate 2.5" 5200.3 / Pentium M 1.8Ghz

[Presto]

What does S.M.A.R.T. say about the drive? Try running SpeedFan, and see what it reports about the drive.

If the problem is the drive, the fix is to just get another drive.

[Ferra]

I just ran a HD Tune Test and here is the result:




This is a test result I found on google for the same 5400.3 HD but lower capcity (80GB vs 120GB)


Obviously..something isn't very right here since my HD has a big flat spot (1.1MB/s) past the 70% mark.
The access time is also significantly higher. Is there anything I can do here or this is just the result of an aging HD?


*btw...I ran the test on the HD while it is being used as the primary/OS drive. Not sure how much that would affect the test result. I turned off all programs during the test.

[Presto]

^^^

Are there any alerts under the Health tab?