Previously OK HDD slow / freeze with new system

[lord_emperor]

Computer Type: Desktop.
GPU: Gigabyte RX 470
CPU: Ryzen 5 1600.
Motherboard: Gigabyte B350m-Gaming 3
RAM: 2x4GB DDR4 2800
PSU: CoolerMaster 650W
Operating System & Version: Windows 10 Pro 64
GPU Drivers: 17.12
Chipset Drivers: 17.40
Background Applications: All

Storage:
WD Blue M.2 SSD 250GB (new)
WD Green 1TB (previous Windows system drive)
SATA DVD-RW

Description of Original Problem:

Not sure if this belongs here or in Motherboards. I just got a new Ryzen 5 and Gigabyte B350m-Gaming 3. The new M.2 system drive is working great but the previously fine Western Digital Green 1TB HDD is ridiculously slow and usually the system freezes if I try to write to it. I can't even complete crystaldiskmark on the HDD but I see ~3MB/s usage while testing or trying to transfer files to this drive.

Fresh Windows installation. Single user.

Unfortunately I do not have another SATA drive yet for testing, maybe this weekend.

I'm looking for some insight into how I can figure out what the problem is, and if I need to RMA the motherboard or buy a new HDD.

Troubleshooting:

• Reinstalled Windows, in case something went wrong the first time.
• Installed the AMD chipset driver specifically.
• Ran Seatools to rule out HDD errors, SMART OK, short test OK.
• Swapped out the SATA cable and tried three different SATA ports on the MB so far (SATA0,1 and ASATA0). Supposedly the M.2 slot shares SATA3.
• Updated BIOS to F10. RAM is now at 2800 MHz but HDD still runs awfully.
• Attempted to re-partition and (non-quick) format win Windows. This appeared to be happening at the same rate (~3 MB/s) and was going to take 12 hours.
• Nuked it using DBAN reported at ~100 MB/s which makes me suspect it's a software issue.
• Re-initializing in Windows with quick format after DBAN led to the same result.
• Chkdisk did not report any errors.

 

[pendragon1]

what mode are the ports in in bios?

 

[lord_emperor]

AHCI

 

[pendragon1]

have you checked device manager to make sure the ahci drivers actually updated? most of the time they have to be manually installed...

 

[lord_emperor]

I checked and have two "Standard SATA AHCI Controller". The same as my other PCs.

I only took pictures of the screen because the PC is not connected to a network currently.

 

[pendragon1]

that works. its just running on the windows built in drivers. try updating and point to the amd folder in c: see if it find the newer ones.

 

[lord_emperor]

Solved. HDD was faulty in spite of OK report from SeaTools.

 

[SamirD]

Glad you figured it out. What did you use to discover the drive was bad?

 

[lord_emperor]

Bit the bullet and Craigslist'ed the cheapest SATA HDD I could find - a 500GB laptop drive. Installed and it worked at expected speeds as did its permanent replacement 1TB WD Blue.