WoW is using my HDD instead of my SSD

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1

Lately I’ve been getting really long loading screen of 3-5 minutes when zoning into Amirdrassil, and I’ve been getting lag spikes where my entire screen freezes for about 5 seconds, most frequently in Valdrakken, but it occasionally happens in other places. I used Task Manager to monitor to try and figure out what the problem is, and I noticed that during these long load screens and lag spikes my HDD usage is at 100% while my SSD is only at 2% to 20%. I only have WoW installed on my SSD, not my HDD. Any idea why the game is using my HDD even though it’s installed on my SSD?

I should note that I have WoW Classic installed on my HDD. I don’t think that should be a problem because all the retail files are on my SSD, but I thought I should mention that in case that is somehow causing problems

2

WoW has a shared Data folder where most of the game data is contained. I’m not sure how the game handles installs where you put Classic on one drive and Retail on another, but it sounds like that Data folder could be with your Classic install on the hard drive.

3

Both games share assets and should be installed on the same drive. They will be in C:\Windows\Program Files (x86)\World of Warcraft and then have individual folders for their game version.

4

Thanks for the suggestions. I moved Classic over to my SSD, however I logged in and the problems are is still occuring. HDD is still hitting 100% while running WoW and causing the game to freeze, while my SSD is still barely being used. I looked everywhere on my HDD but I couldn’t find any WoW related files anywhere so I’m still not sure what the issue is.

5

If your HDD is still hitting 100%, it sounds like your drive may be dying. As components start to fail, even if you’re only using 20% it may register as 100% because the drive isn’t functioning properly.

6

Got a friend of mine to take a look at the problem. The problem was actually my RAM. It was hitting capacity and causing Windows to page and use HDD for memory. Task manager just wasn’t showing my memory at capacity for whatever reason. Upgraded my RAM from 8GB to 16GB and the problem is fixed.

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