High disk usage when downloading and seeding in qBittorrent v5.0.3 (64-bit); Qt: 6.7.3 Libtorrent: 2.0.11.0

[marko090591]

qBittorrent & operating system versions

qBittorrent v5.0.3 (64-bit)

Qt: 6.7.3
Libtorrent: 2.0.11.0
Boost: 1.86.0
OpenSSL: 3.4.0
zlib: 1.3.1

What is the problem?

When seeding and receiving torrents, the load on the disk increases dramatically, even though the disk is very lightly loaded (see picture). If I turn off qBittorrent, the load is reduced to the disk and it is ok. I found information on the internet that the value of the "Disk cache" parameter should be increased, but I can't find this option in the settings because version 5 is different from version 4.

Disk

I have
Seagate BarraCuda Internal Hard Drive 8TB SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch (ST8000DM004),Mechanical Hard Disk

Steps to reproduce

See text abowe.

Additional context

No response

Log(s) & preferences file(s)

[qBittUser]

I can't find this option in the settings because version 5 is different from version 4.

Doesn't matter, both qBit versions have multiple installers to choose with different libtorrent versions that have different settings.

Default installer includes libtorrent v1.2.19+ and has disk cache option, you had picked different one that includes libtorrent v2.0.11, so just open and read official download page again.

[HanabishiRecca]

Seagate BarraCuda Internal Hard Drive 8TB SATA 6Gb/s 256MB Cache 3.5-Inch (ST8000DM004),Mechanical Hard Disk

You have a 5400 RPM SMR drive. It is simply garbage and not feasable for any active workload.
Unfortunately, nothing would salvage it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAijmZsTd2A&t=717s

[marko090591]

i tryed also version with libtorrent v1.2.19 and changed values of "Disk cache" to 256mb but the problem persisted, nothing channged. Disk works ok when you copy one file to another folder, wtih no big delays or abnormalitys. Also problem desribted abowe persist if you only seed.

[qBittUser]

Disk works ok when you copy one file to another folder ok wtih no big delays...

Unfortunately torrenting is much more complex than just a copy & paste and it's difficult to lower high usage if you have fast internet, too many active torrent transfers or peer connections, many file fragments and slow drive. That constant load is most likely not fault of qBittorrent, but more how your drive and torrenting works, that you should have used discussion page instead of this issue page.

You can try defragment drive, increase file pool size, lower speed and limit amount of peer connections and active torrents, but I doubt it helps much.

Even better mechanical drives are too slow compared to a SSD, still SMR is unstable compared to a CMR ones and it's better to get a 7200rpm drive than to use such slow 5400rpm drive if you can't afford SSD or NVMe drives.

The drive your using is only good for temporary extra backup storage when multiple files aren't written or accessed simultaneously. Unfortunately BarraCuda series drives reliability and lifespan hours is very low that I would avoid them and not ever rely on it to last longer than what manufacturer had officially written.

[stalkerok]

I wouldn't recommend it for purchase, lol

I've had it for a long time and got it very cheap. Now I don't even consider models with this capacity.

[absolutep]

Disk usage is so high it is hanging [freezing] the computer.

[stalkerok]

This issue has nothing to do with qBittorrent.

[qBittUser]

Issue title has multiple typos that needs fixing and this should be closed.

If not interested to replace slow drive or don't like any previously suggested possible workarounds to lower down disk activity, then better to have a discussion thread in the discussion page to gather other users ideas and opinions.

Torrenting is complex and varies between different users usage scenarios, network speed, used settings and hardware.

I doubt there's any qBittorrent bug or any more easier way's to avoid high resource usage if it's known fact that mechanical drives have high random read and write latency compared to a SSD, if files aren't read and written sequentially.

[HanabishiRecca]

I could suggest to use a separate drive for downloads. Then, when download is finished, you can move them to the seeding drive.
qBittorrent even has an automatic option for that: Settings > Downloads > Keep incomplete torrents in.