Set HDD access priority like CPU priority: is it possible?

[moeburn]

You know how in the Windows task manager, you can set the priority of certain applications to "above normal, below normal, realtime (which I never use), etc". Well correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, this is only for CPU instructions. So that an application with "below normal" priority will wait for all the apps with "normal and above" to finish using the CPU before the below-norm app gets a chance.

Is there a way to do this with hard-drive access? There are situations when a certain app is using a lot of HDD bandwidth to check file integrity, or when I'm copying files from one drive to another, or an app flushes something to the disk. I would like to be able to continue browsing the web or playing games and such, without any performance hit, with this HDD-heavy app running in the background, accessing the HD only when it will not affect the high-priority applications.

Either there's software that can do this, or this is what the task manager in Windows 7 already does, or it is technically impossible to do. Either way, any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Phouchg]

There's software that can (kind of) do this - Process Lasso can adjust I/O priorities.

Task Manager certainly does not do this.

It's technically possible. And Windows even does this increasingly* better.

* Or so it seems, because teh hardware is getting faster/better, creating the illusion... I'm not acquainted with the proper facts in respect to this.

It's still an area where a lot of progress could be made, and I'm afraid, being already shadowed by throwing hardware at the problem - namely, SSDs. Look how long it took them to add Pause button to file copy dialog. :pinch:

[moeburn]

  On 02/03/2013 at 23:38, Phouchg said:

There's software that can (kind of) do this - Process Lasso can adjust I/O priorities.

Task Manager certainly does not do this.

It's technically possible. And Windows even does this increasingly* better.

* Or so it seems, because teh hardware is getting faster/better, creating the illusion... I'm not acquainted with the proper facts in respect to this.

It's still an area where a lot of progress could be made, and I'm afraid, being already shadowed by throwing hardware at the problem - namely, SSDs. Look how long it took them to add Pause button to file copy dialog. :pinch:

Thanks for the info! Yeah, I'm aware that if I got an SSD, I wouldn't have to worry about this issue. Unfortunately, I can't afford any kind of PC upgrades at the moment.

There's a pause button in the file copy dialog?! This is something I've been complaining about for years! I assume you're talking about Windows 8? If only it weren't suck a clusterfark of a GUI, I would make the switch. Unfortunately, my computer still has a keyboard and a mouse, which Windows 8 was clearly not designed for.

[edityness] - Wow, Process Lasso was exactly what I was looking for! Kind of... very minimal GUI, no frills whatsoever there, and an abysmal documentation, but it gets the job done! I/O priorities, huraah! thanks again!