If you are noticing 100% disk usage on your Lenovo laptop, it can due to some Windows services, an outdated operating system, and drivers, or a faulty/defective hard drive/SSD.
You can fix it at home easily just by disabling some services, updating the Windows including the drivers, or reinstalling Windows.
Let’s fix it!
Fix Lenovo Laptop 100% Disk Usage
After a lot of research, I have finally come up with 8 very easy steps that work like a charm for any Lenovo laptop. These steps can be performed by you even if you are not that tech-savvy.
All these processes mentioned here might only take about 20-40 minutes depending on your expertise. I can ensure the problem will be resolved if it’s a software issue.
1. Disable Windows Search Service
Windows Search is an indexing service in Windows OS that keeps and manages an index of the files and programs you have on your device to let you access them whenever you need them.
This service doesn’t necessarily cause this issue but many Lenovo laptop users manage to reach below 10% disk usage from a constant 100%.
To disable Windows Search, you first need to activate the Windows search bar, type ‘Services‘, and click on the result.
Alternatively, right-click on the taskbar > Task manager > Services (from the top menu) > Open Services (bottom menu).
Scroll down until you find ‘Windows Search‘ and once you do right-click on it and select ‘Properties‘.
First, ‘Stop’ the service and select ‘Disabled’ from the startup type. ‘Apply’ the settings, hit ‘OK’, restart your laptop and check if the issue is resolved. If not move on to the next.
2. Turn Off & Disable Disk Fragmentation Scheduler
The second thing you can do if the issue is unresolved is to check the disk fragmentation configuration.
Disk fragmentation on Windows keeps the fragmented data on the drives arranged so the drive can work more efficiently.
Sometimes some virus/malware or newly installed software/app can corrupt this process. If that happens to store new data or performing any disk-related task can take a long time.
To solve that you need to use the Task Scheduler and disable the task defragmentation service.
Go to Windows Search and type ‘Task Scheduler‘ and click on the following result.
First, expand the ‘Task Scheduler Library’ from the left menu > Microsoft > Windows > Defrag.
Click on ‘ScheduledDefrag‘ to see all the options on the left side. Now select ‘End‘ to stop the process and then click on ‘Disable‘ to permanently disable the service.
Close everything, restart your laptop, and check if the issue is resolved.
3. Disable Superfetch/SysMain
After the Windows 10 1809 update, the Superfetch is renamed as SysMain but everything is still the same.
Superfetch is a service that monitors the patterns of your app usage and preloads the most used apps on the memory to provide you with a faster experience.
This service might not necessarily cause the problem but it can create a significant impact on disk usage. You can try stopping and disabling it.
To do that, first go to Windows search and type ‘Command Prompt‘, right-click on it, and hit ‘Run as administrator‘.
Now type this command ‘net.exe stop sysmain‘ and it will show the message that the Superfetch service has stopped successfully.
You need to open the task manager and check if there’s a significant drop in disk usage. If yes, then this service was the problem. I suggest you permanently disable it.
To do that again go to ‘Services‘ like mentioned on ‘Solution 1’. Scroll down and find ‘SysMain‘. Right-click on SysMain and click on ‘Properties‘.
Select ‘Disabled‘ from the startup type. ‘Apply’ the settings, and hit ‘OK’. Make sure to restart the laptop.
Note: The apps may take longer to open by disabling Superfetch/SysMain service.
4. Updating Windows & Drivers
Sometimes this issue can cause due to a certain Windows update with bugs or for older drivers. Microsoft and other driver companies often launch patch updates to fix those solutions.
So. make sure your Lenovo laptop running the latest Windows OS and have all the drivers updated. Let’s see how.
Press Windows key + I to open ‘Settings‘ and choose ‘Update & Security‘.
Choose ‘Windows Update‘ from the left menu and you will get to see if there are any updates available. If you see updates are available, make sure to download & install those updates.
To find the latest drivers for your laptop you need to follow this link.
Once you open that page, you will get two options. You can either download & install the Lenovo Service Bridge to automatically detect your device or you can manually browse all the products and select yours.
In case, you are browsing, you need to select Laptop > Series > Subseries.
Once you select your Lenovo laptop model, select ‘Drivers & Software‘ from the left menu and then switch to ‘Manual Update‘ from the above menu which will be Automatic Driver Update by default.
You can download the ‘Lenovo Service Bridge‘ (if you don’t already) to automatically detect the required drivers for your laptop instead of doing it manually.
If you want, you can select ‘Manual Update‘ and download the exact driver you are looking for. Just select the category.
After you select the category you need to click on the dropdown icon below ‘See Files‘ and you can see the download buttons.
Once you are done updating everything, make sure to restart your laptop so everything can take effect.
5. Reset Virtual Memory
In case your laptop doesn’t have enough amount of RAM for the task you perform on a daily basis you may face this issue.
Virtual memory is basically an amount of memory blocked on your hard driver or solid-state drive (SSD) that is used as RAM to boost performance.
Laptops with less RAM tend to have larger virtual memory which can lead to high read/write requests on the disk and cause this issue.
In that case, you may want to reset the virtual memory. Open Settings > System.
Choose ‘About‘ from the left menu and click on ‘Advanced system settings‘ from the related settings menu.
Under the ‘Advanced‘ tab, click on the ‘Settings‘ of the performance section.
Again click on ‘Advanced‘ from the above menu and click on the ‘Change‘ button inside the ‘Virtual memory‘ box.
As you can see that the currently allocated size is much larger than the recommended size. It normally doesn’t cause any problems but you can test it by changing it.
Untick the ‘Automatically manage paging file size for all drivers‘ and then select the ‘Custom size‘.
Inside the Initial size (MB) box, put the recommended size. In my case, it is 1339 MB.
The Maximum size (MB) will be 1.5 times the amount of physical you have RAM in MB. For example, if you have 4GB RAM, (4 x 1024) x 1.5 = 6144 MB.
Here is the chart to save some time –
- 4GB RAM – 6144 MB
- 6GB RAM – 9216 MB
- 8GB RAM – 12288 MB
Once you put the values, click on ‘Set‘ and hit ‘OK‘. It will now ask you to restart the laptop so the changes can take effect. Do that and check if the issue is solved.
6. Disable MSI Mode
If your laptop is running on an SSD then sometimes some firmware bugs and issues in the AHCI driver can interrupt the input & output requests if the Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) mode is on. It may lead to high disk usage problems.
It can be solved by disabling the MSI mode but before that, you need to verify that your laptop is running the inbox AHCI driver.
Go to ‘Device Manager‘ the way I mentioned earlier and look for ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers‘ and expand it using the drop-down arrow.
If you are running the inbox driver then it will be listed as ‘Standard SATA AHCI controller’. Right-click on that and choose ‘Properties‘.
For me, it is the ‘AMD SATA controller’. Because my laptop is not running the inbox driver.
Select ‘Driver‘ from the upper menu and click on ‘Driver Details‘.
If you see the ‘storahci.sys‘ driver, it means your laptop is running the inbox driver. Because I’m not, it is amdsata.sys for me. But don’t worry the process is the same.
Close the ‘Driver File Details‘ box and select ‘Details‘ from the above menu this time.
You need to select ‘Device instance path‘ and you can see the value. I suggest you take a note or screenshot of the value.
The ‘VEN_1022&DEV_7804&SUBSYS_82F6103C&REV_39‘ is important here (starting with ‘VEN‘ and ending with ‘_**‘ number).
Now go to Windows search and type ‘Registry editor‘. Click on the following result to open the Registry editor.
Follow this path, Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\PCI.
Once you are here you can see a bunch of folders starting with VEN. Look at the driver’s path note/scscreenshot you took and choose the exact folder.
For me it is ‘VEN_1022&DEV_7804&SUBSYS_82F6103C&REV_39‘.
Once you do, you will see a folder with the rest of the value after the slash. For me it is ‘3&2411E6FE&0&88‘.
Again follow the path – Device Parameters\Interrupt Management\MessageSignaledInterruptProperties.
After double-clicking on the MessageSignaledInterruptProperties, you will see a file called ‘MSISupported‘. Double-click on it and you will see another box called ‘Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value‘.
Finally, you need to replace the Value data 1 with 0 and hit ‘OK‘. Close everything and restart your laptop.
7. Disable Windows Automatic Update Service
Sometimes due to some bugs or malware, the Windows automatic update service can create a huge load on the hard disk.
You may try disabling the service to check if it was the main culprit.
Open ‘Services‘ and scroll down to ‘Windows Update‘. Right-click and select ‘Properties‘.
First ‘Stop‘ the service and choose ‘Disabled‘ from the startup type. Click on ‘Apply‘ & ‘OK‘ and restart your laptop.
8. Backup and Reinstall Windows
My suggestion will be backup all the necessary files you have on your laptop and reinstall Windows.
To reset your laptop, Press the Windows key + I on the keyboard to open ‘Settings‘ and go to ‘Update & Secutity‘.
Choose ‘Recovery‘ from the left menu and hit ‘Get started‘ under the Reset this PC section.
You can either erase all the apps and keep the files or completely clean everything. Then you can fresh install Windows again.
I recommend following the below video if it is your first time doing it.
What if Nothing Works?
If none of the solutions works, there is a high chance that the HDD or SSD is faulty/defective or about to die.
A few months ago I was facing the exact problem. I followed all these basic steps but nothing works. Turns out the SSD was defective. Once I replaced it, the problem totally solved.
In case your laptop’s HDD or SSD is also defective or about to die, it will give you so many symptoms.
Signs of A Defective/faulty HDD or SSD
There are so many noticeable signs you will start to observe once the drive starts to malfunction.
- Windows blue screen of death
- Frequent lags & freezes
- High or 100% disk usage
- Windows boot loop
- The device won’t boot
The lifespan of HDD or SSD
An SSD typically last way longer than a hard disk or HDD. If you are a normal laptop user then the SSD will easily last 15-20 years while an HDD might only last 5-10 years.
But expectations are always there. There is no guarantee when it comes to technical things. What is working properly today might stop working the next day.
Cost of Replacing the Lenovo Laptop Hard Disk or SSD
If 500 GB storage is enough for you like most users then it can cost you around $55-$70. The drive space, protocol (SATA or NVMe), and brand matter for the price.
Internal Solid State Drive
- 250 GB SSD – $30-$60
- 500 GB SSD – $55-$70
- 1 TB SSD – $75-$150
- 2 TB SSD – $160-$270
Internal Hard Drive
- 500 GB SSD – $15-$20
- 1 TB SSD – $35-$50
- 2 TB SSD – $60-$70
Also, if you are getting it done from any Lenovo or local service center, they might charge a little amount as their service fee.
Final Words
To conclude, if you are noticing 100% disk usage on your Lenovo laptop, there is nothing to worry about. Normally you can easily fix it by applying solutions 1 to 3.
Here are the 8 solutions to fix Lenovo laptop 100% disk usage at a glance –
- Disable Windows Search Service
- Turn Off & Disable Disk Fragmentation Scheduler
- Disable Superfetch/SysMain
- Updating Windows & Drivers
- Reset Virtual Memory
- Disable MSI Mode
- Disable Windows Automatic Update Service
- Backup and Reinstall Windows
Useful links
Make sure to restart after making some major changes. Here are some similar articles you should check out.