Kingston SSD (C drive) makes my computer unusable when I work.

Troubleshooting Performance Issues with Kingston SSD (C Drive) on Windows 11

Experiencing system freezes and unresponsiveness can be incredibly frustrating, especially when they occur regularly during routine tasks such as booting, installing applications, or copying files. If your Kingston SSD (C drive) is causing your Windows 11 PC to become unusable, it’s essential to identify the root cause and explore potential solutions.

Recognizing the Issue

Many users have reported that their SSD, particularly Kingston models, exhibits high disk activity—reaching 100% utilization—leading to system hangs. Typical symptoms include:

Complete system freeze during certain operations
Slow or unresponsive programs
Extended delays when transferring files or installing software

Common Causes

Several underlying factors might contribute to this behavior:

Background Processes or Services: Certain Windows or third-party processes may be over-utilizing disk resources.
Firmware or Driver Issues: Outdated or incompatible SSD firmware and drivers can lead to performance bottlenecks.
Corrupted Filesystem or Disk Errors: Disk errors can cause high disk usage and system instability.
Insufficient or Faulty Drive Hardware: Physical problems or nearing drive failure.
Windows Settings or Features: Features like indexing or Superfetch may inadvertently cause high disk activity.

System Specifications

For context, here are the specifications of the affected system:

Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Graphics Card: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti
RAM: 32 GB
Storage: 240 GB Kingston SATA SSD (hosting Windows 11) and additional drives

Recommended Troubleshooting Steps

Update SSD Firmware and Drivers
Visit Kingston’s official website to check for the latest firmware updates.
Update your storage drivers via Windows Update or the device manager.
Run Disk and System Checks
Use Windows built-in tools such as chkdsk to scan for disk errors.
Run sfc /scannow to repair system file corruption.
Monitor Disk Usage
Use Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) to identify processes causing high disk activity.
End unnecessary processes or disable services that might be over-utilizing the disk.
Disable Windows Features Temporarily
Turn off Windows Search indexing or Superfetch (SysMain) to see