Random SSD usage spikes at idle

Devoid · 16 November 2025 21:54

Tried looking through a few other posts first, but couldn’t find a solution.

Forum post 1: Obviously high SSD I/O usage from btrfs-cleaner after upgrading to Kernel 5.16
Forum post 2: High CPU Usage: Process with Changing PID

This started happening around after I was messing around with getting some exe’s to work in Wine via lutris, Wine CLI, Bottles. After that, I had cleared some logs using the tutorial titled “Cleaning Arch Linux“ from Chris Titus. Then, I enabled trimming on a schedule using fstrim. Tried disabling it but to no avail. Same usage spikes.

One thing I seem to notice is that a few processes pop into existence for a few seconds then disapear. Those processes are kdeworker, journald, and gvfsd metadata.

My question is, what could be causing these spikes from 0 to 100% disk usage on my system?

Logs of the event here:

Total DISK READ :       0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE :       0.00 B/s
Actual DISK READ:       0.00 B/s | Actual DISK WRITE:       0.00 B/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
Total DISK READ :       0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE :     252.65 K/s
Actual DISK READ:       0.00 B/s | Actual DISK WRITE:     364.32 K/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
    499 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   45.94 K/s  ?unavailable?  systemd-journald
   2573 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   22.18 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth?
   2594 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.01 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [HangWatcher]
   2623 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.01 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [CompositorTileW]
   2642 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.01 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolSingl]
   2633 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   60.19 K/s  ?unavailable?  renderD128 --crashpad-handler-pid=2576 
   3071 idle user    0.00 B/s   16.63 K/s  ?unavailable?  localsearch-3
   8194 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:38-gfx_0.0.0]
   8195 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:39-events_unbound]
   8439 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   34.85 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:5-events_unbound]
   8443 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:10-btrfs-endio-write]
   8447 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:15-btrfs-endio-write]
   8456 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   12.67 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:24-btrfs-endio-write]
   9852 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.50 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:1-btrfs-endio-write]
  10015 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   31.68 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:2-btrfs-endio-write]
  10652 be/4 root        0.00 B/s  811.01 B/s  ?unavailable?  python /usr/bin/iotop -b -o -d 5 -n 12
Total DISK READ :       3.59 M/s | Total DISK WRITE :       2.49 M/s
Actual DISK READ:       3.59 M/s | Actual DISK WRITE:       3.93 M/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
    438 be/4 root        3.17 K/s 1378.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  [btrfs-transaction]
    499 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   46.74 K/s  ?unavailable?  systemd-journald
   2138 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   26.93 K/s  ?unavailable?  gvfsd-metadata
   2282 be/1 user    0.00 B/s   38.02 K/s  ?unavailable?  wireplumber
   2573 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  212.30 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth?
   2597 be/4 user 1877.44 K/s   84.76 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2599 be/4 user  643.24 K/s  183.78 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2601 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    7.13 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [Chrome_IOThread]
   2617 be/4 user  770.78 K/s   23.77 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2618 be/4 user   16.64 K/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2619 be/4 user   54.66 K/s    5.55 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2620 be/4 user    3.17 K/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2621 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.18 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolSingl]
   2622 be/4 user 1622.37 B/s   11.88 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [CacheThread_Blo]
   2642 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolSingl]
   2633 be/4 user  106.15 K/s  148.14 K/s  ?unavailable?  renderD128 --crashpad-handler-pid=2576
   8194 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.51 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:38-kcryptd-254:0-1]
   8195 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   41.19 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:39-flush-btrfs-1]
   8439 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   66.54 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:5-gfx_0.0.0]
   8443 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   25.35 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:10-writeback]
   8447 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:15-kcryptd-254:0-1]
   8456 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   19.01 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:24-btrfs-endio-write]
   8474 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:46-kcryptd-254:0-1]
   9852 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   12.67 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:1-btrfs-endio]
  10015 be/4 root        0.00 B/s  107.74 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:2+events_unbound]
  10016 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   28.52 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:3-btrfs-endio]
  10436 be/4 user  123.58 K/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  chromium --type=renderer --crashpad-handler-pid=2576 
  10652 be/4 root        0.00 B/s  811.18 B/s  ?unavailable?  python /usr/bin/iotop -b -o -d 5 -n 12
Total DISK READ :      79.52 K/s | Total DISK WRITE :     880.28 K/s
Actual DISK READ:      79.52 K/s | Actual DISK WRITE:     473.94 K/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
    499 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   73.95 K/s  ?unavailable?  systemd-journald
   2573 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   69.98 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth?
   2594 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  814.28 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [HangWatcher]
   2596 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  814.28 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolServi]
   2597 be/4 user   38.17 K/s  253.67 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2599 be/4 user   23.86 K/s  814.28 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2601 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    3.98 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [Chrome_IOThread]
   2618 be/4 user 1628.56 B/s    0.00 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2622 be/4 user  814.28 B/s    9.54 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [CacheThread_Blo]
   2633 be/4 user   15.11 K/s  166.99 K/s  ?unavailable?  renderD128 --crashpad-handler-pid=2576 -
   8195 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.54 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:39-btrfs-endio-write]
   8439 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   38.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:5-btrfs-endio-write]
   8443 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   79.52 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:10-events_unbound]
   8461 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.36 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:29-btrfs-endio-write]
   8474 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   19.08 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:46-flush-btrfs-1]
   9817 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   44.53 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:0-events_unbound]
   9852 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.54 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:1-btrfs-endio-write]
  10646 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    2.39 K/s  ?unavailable?  nautilus --gapplication-service [pool-45]
  10015 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.54 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:2-btrfs-endio-write]
  10016 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   34.99 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:3-kcryptd-254:0-1]
  10652 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.98 K/s  ?unavailable?  python /usr/bin/iotop -b -o -d 5 -n 12
Total DISK READ :       0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE :     659.81 K/s
Actual DISK READ:       0.00 B/s | Actual DISK WRITE:    1376.66 K/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
    499 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   42.77 K/s  ?unavailable?  systemd-journald
   2573 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   30.10 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth?
   2597 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   80.00 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2599 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   45.94 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2601 be/4 user    0.00 B/s 1622.21 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [Chrome_IOThread]
   2617 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    2.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2618 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.10 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2619 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.10 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2622 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  301.00 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [CacheThread_Blo]
   2642 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    2.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolSingl]
   2633 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    3.96 K/s  ?unavailable?  renderD128 --crashpad-handler-pid=2576
   8443 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.51 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:10-gfx_0.0.0]
   8454 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.51 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:22-btrfs-endio-write]
   8461 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:29-btrfs-endio-write]
   8474 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   38.02 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:46-btrfs-endio-write]
   9817 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   38.02 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:0-gfx_0.0.0]
   9852 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   22.18 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:1-btrfs-endio-write]
  10015 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:2-btrfs-endio-write]
  10016 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   19.01 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:3-comp_1.3.0]
  10652 be/4 root        0.00 B/s 1622.21 B/s  ?unavailable?  python /usr/bin/iotop -b -o -d 5 -n 12
Total DISK READ :       2.38 K/s | Total DISK WRITE :     265.35 K/s
Actual DISK READ:      34.06 K/s | Actual DISK WRITE:     792.10 K/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
    499 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   10.30 K/s  ?unavailable?  systemd-journald
   2282 be/1 user    0.00 B/s   20.59 K/s  ?unavailable?  wireplumber
   2573 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   41.98 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth?
   2594 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.11 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [HangWatcher]
   2597 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   64.95 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2601 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    2.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [Chrome_IOThread]
   2619 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.11 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2622 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    2.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [CacheThread_Blo]
   2642 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.11 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolSingl]
   2633 be/4 user  811.11 B/s   34.85 K/s  ?unavailable?  renderD128 --crashpad-handler-pid=2576
   8194 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:38-mt76]
   8195 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:39-btrfs-endio-write]
   8474 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   15.84 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:46-btrfs-endio-write]
   9817 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:0-flush-btrfs-1]
  10016 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   53.86 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:3-kvfree_rcu_reclaim]
  10652 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  python /usr/bin/iotop -b -o -d 5 -n 12
Total DISK READ :       0.00 B/s | Total DISK WRITE :     177.42 K/s
Actual DISK READ:       0.00 B/s | Actual DISK WRITE:     286.72 K/s
    TID  PRIO  USER     DISK READ  DISK WRITE  SWAPIN      IO    COMMAND
    499 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   42.77 K/s  ?unavailable?  systemd-journald
   2573 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   41.19 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth?
   2597 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   13.46 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2599 be/4 user    0.00 B/s 1622.12 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolForeg]
   2601 be/4 user    0.00 B/s    3.96 K/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [Chrome_IOThread]
   2642 be/4 user    0.00 B/s  811.06 B/s  ?unavailable?  auth? [ThreadPoolSingl]
   2633 be/4 user    0.00 B/s   26.93 K/s  ?unavailable?  renderD128 --crashpad-handler-pid=2576
   8454 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    3.17 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:22-kcryptd-254:0-1]
   8461 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:29-btrfs-endio-write]
   8474 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:46-btrfs-endio-write]
   9817 be/4 root        0.00 B/s   12.67 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:0-flush-btrfs-1]
  10015 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    6.34 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:2-comp_1.3.0]
  10016 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    9.50 K/s  ?unavailable?  [kworker/u64:3-gfx_0.0.0]
  10652 be/4 root        0.00 B/s    2.38 K/s  ?unavailable?  python /usr/bin/iotop -b -o -d 5 -n 12
type or paste code here

System information:

System:
  Kernel: 6.12.48-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 15.2.1 clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: GNOME v: 48.5 tk: GTK v: 3.24.50 wm: gnome-shell
    tools: gsd-screensaver-proxy dm: GDM v: 48.0 Distro: Manjaro
    base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Framework product: Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen
    7040Series) v: A7 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Framework model: FRANMDCP07 v: A7 serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: FRANDGCP07 uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: INSYDE v: 03.16
    date: 07/25/2025
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 27.2 Wh (56.9%) condition: 47.8/60.6 Wh (78.8%)
    volts: 15.12 min: 15.48 model: NVT FRANGWA type: Li-ion
    serial: <filter> charging: status: discharging cycles: 212
CPU:
  Info: 8-core model: AMD Ryzen 7 7840U w/ Radeon 780M Graphics bits: 64
    type: MT MCP smt: enabled arch: Zen 4 rev: 1 cache: L1: 512 KiB
    L2: 8 MiB L3: 16 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 1397 min/max: 400/5132 boost: enabled cores:
    1: 1397 2: 1397 3: 1397 4: 1397 5: 1397 6: 1397 7: 1397 8: 1397
    9: 1397 10: 1397 11: 1397 12: 1397 13: 1397 14: 1397 15: 1397
    16: 1397 bogomips: 105437
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2
    sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Phoenix1 vendor: Framework
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-3 pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, DP-6,
    DP-7, DP-8, Writeback-1 bus-ID: c1:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:15bf
    class-ID: 0300 temp: 30.0 C
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.18 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.8
    compositor: gnome-shell driver: gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display 0x0bca res: 2256x1504 dpi: 201
    size: 285x190mm (11.22x7.48") diag: 343mm (13.5") modes:
    max: 2256x1504 min: 640x480
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0
    drv: radeonsi device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless:
    drv: radeonsi wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 25.2.3-arch1.2
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon 780M Graphics
    (radeonsi phoenix LLVM 20.1.8 DRM 3.61 6.12.48-1-MANJARO)
    device-ID: 1002:15bf display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.321 layers: 5 surfaces: N/A device: 0
    type: integrated-gpu hw: amd driver: mesa radv device-ID: 1002:15bf
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    x11: xprop,xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Radeon High Definition
    Audio [Rembrandt/Strix] vendor: Framework driver: snd_hda_intel
    v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: c1:00.1
    chip-ID: 1002:1640 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Audio Coprocessor
    vendor: Framework driver: snd_pci_ps v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: c1:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2 class-ID: 0480
  Device-3: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h/19h/1ah HD Audio
    vendor: Framework driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: c1:00.6 chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.48-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa
    type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network
    Adapter driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: MediaTek Wireless_Device driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB
    rev: 2.1 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-5:3 chip-ID: 0e8d:e616
    class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up
    address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 232.89 GiB used: 117.25 GiB (50.3%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Kingston model: SNV2S250G
    size: 232.89 GiB speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: CRTP2324 temp: 30.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 232.59 GiB used: 117.25 GiB (50.4%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/dm-0 mapped: luks-7d308940-7fab-4509-a8e1-c22e9f7f279d
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 824 KiB (0.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
  ID-3: /home size: 232.59 GiB used: 117.25 GiB (50.4%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/dm-0 mapped: luks-7d308940-7fab-4509-a8e1-c22e9f7f279d
  ID-4: /var/log size: 232.59 GiB used: 117.25 GiB (50.4%) fs: btrfs
    dev: /dev/dm-0 mapped: luks-7d308940-7fab-4509-a8e1-c22e9f7f279d
Swap:
  Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 32.6 C mobo: 32.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 30.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB note: est. available: 30.66 GiB
    used: 5.02 GiB (16.4%)
  Processes: 429 Power: uptime: 5h 5m states: freeze,mem,disk
    suspend: s2idle wakeups: 3 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 257
    default: graphical
  Packages: 1521 pm: pacman pkgs: 1516 pm: flatpak pkgs: 5 Compilers:
    gcc: 15.2.1 Shell: Zsh v: 5.9 running-in: kgx inxi: 3.3.39

Devoid · 17 November 2025 02:35

I’m sure I would be lambasted for this by some, but I did try asking chatGPT about this. It surmises that it’s possibly an issue with the BTRFS file system, and that I should attempt to expand it.

Nachlese · 17 November 2025 02:51

You are very vague.
Never say what you actually did - or how you (tried to) undo it.
And there is no system information.
And no logs.
Please: no video of logs - the actual logs
It’s just text, can be copy/pasted.
Best to some file sharing site and then post the link to it here.

Nachlese · 17 November 2025 03:38

What is this log supposed to show?
How (by which command) was it created?
some variation of the iotop command, I suppose.

There is literally no disk read/write to see in there.

inxi -zv8

to obtain it

soundofthunder · 17 November 2025 04:23

Please provide the requested system information as described (below). Also added some links which may be useful.

Regards.

Everything about producing logs:

Information about btrfs:

General system maintenance:

What follows is from a standard template.

Welcome to the Manjaro community

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linux-aarhus · 17 November 2025 05:32

btrfs is a CoW filesystem - great for data that do not change often but not good for systems where files change very often e.g. games which constantly download data and write changes in progress to disk.

soundofthunder · 17 November 2025 05:37

Devoid · 17 November 2025 07:01

That’s what I thought, I don’t understand how to get it to export with actual data in it. Maybe I’m using the wrong flags?

Devoid · 17 November 2025 07:31

Thanks for the reminder, I did look through the starter article, but I must have missed some stuff. I’ve added in the system information and exported more useful logs.

Devoid · 17 November 2025 20:07

I do play games sometimes, but I noticed this whole thing at idle. Is this normal behavior for COW? Conventional wisdom would seem to say that this sort of thrashing is probably not good for the long term health of an SSd.

This is from mission center, and is kind of illustrative of the behavior that I’m concerned about. Does not seem normal to what I’m used to coming from Windows.

nikgnomic · 18 November 2025 11:45

Manjaro Wiki has a page about File Systems but it has not been updated since Manjaro Team replaced Ext4 with BTRFS as the default file system in calamares

Aragorn · 18 November 2025 14:06

It doesn’t have anything to do with copy-on-write itself, but rather with the delayed syncing of the virtual filesystem layer with the physical medium.

In addition to that, you may have maintenance tasks going on in the background, some of which may be scheduled, and some of which depend on the system load and will run when the system is idle.

You could check with iotop which processes are accessing the drive.

andreas85 · 18 November 2025 16:15

Done

Please check the page to see if everything is updated as desired. The table about file systems, in particular, could use some more information about less frequently used file systems. If you have any experience with these, please share some tips.

Devoid · 22 November 2025 05:31

I’m not sure if I’m fully following, you’re saying that what the physical drive is reporting is delayed from what the software side is actually requesting? Attached a log for the IOTOP events in the original post.

Devoid · 22 November 2025 05:34

This would be useful for sure. I’ve read a bit about BTRFS since, and some sources seem to say that this could be normal behavior for the file system? It still just seems weird to me.

andreas85 · 22 November 2025 11:10

Older file systems required occasional cleanup. You’d run a disk defragmentation program and wait for it to finish before you could do anything else.

Modern file systems do this automatically in the background during normal operation. This means, of course, that the hard drive’s LED often lights up even when you’re not actively using it. (This used to be one of the indicators of a virus infection )
That’s why btrfs doesn’t need defragmentation (with very rare exceptions). btrfs simply tries to keep its disk space clean continuously (this isn’t unnecessary work and stops when everything is clean).

This will not harm an SSD !

If you’re coming from Windows, there’s a lot to learn. Even if you’re switching from ext4 to btrfs, you should do some research.
use noatime with btrfs, manual rollback, rescue data, unable to boot → out of space

You find good Information about Btrfs in the wiki, in Out of space and btrfs layout info

Aragorn · 22 November 2025 16:27

No, what I am saying is that btrfs does not write to the storage medium in real-time — as the matter of fact, neither do most other Linux-native filesystems, unless specified as such in the mount options. In btrfs, the delay between a write to the virtual filesystem and the underlying physical storage medium is finely configurable at mount time, even.

btrfs also conducts certain maintenance tasks when the CPU load is lower, so as to not take away CPU time from your daily work.

soundofthunder · 22 November 2025 17:22

Off-topic: I used to appreciate that wait, as it often gave me an excuse to catch up on movies I’d missed – and there were many that I’d missed – one plus is that in hindsight I can now afford to be very selective.

Molski · 23 November 2025 23:34

I think it’s perfectly fine, and you can really make btrfs handle it how you want. Especially if you have a slow Internet, and re-downloading is a massive undertaking. Some games do accumulate a lot space with updates, it just depends. Steam binaries I generally don’t care about, but there are always exceptions. (Still perfect for the volume @steamapps, and you can treat it differently.)

It’s not thrashing. Plasma’s monitor of I/O wait times are extremely exaggerated. Plus, often they are just reads, which does not wear an SSD.

Aside from the regular read write operations of any storage device, the most I/O that happens is when you delete. You essentially say, “free me when you get the chance”, and the space gets reclaimed in the background. It just so happens the way NVMe technology even works, by deleting (clearing cells in bulk), also takes the longest. So you do it in batches with TRIM. (You can do this asynchronously, or enable the weekly systemd fstrim.timer.) Btrfs was designed along side SSDs, and work very well together. Parallel I/O and all!

Usually any attempt to optimise it as if it were a conventional incrementally sectored drive can have adverse effects.

Kids these days will never get to experience the mesmerizing dance of sounds from the 7200 rpm platters, as they matched the color coded blocks in Windows 95 Defrag.
defrag

But @Devoid, you can flush out all the deletes (and obviously writes) to a volume, with:

sudo btrfs filesystem sync /mnt
# sudo btrfs fi sy /

It’s not sci-fi, but it’s fi sy!

As btrfs operates in these 2GB chunks, it also does some background block group reclamation. Which you can also force to a high value, and essentially defrag the data blocks..

sudo btrfs filesystem balance start -dusage=90 /

Not the same satisfaction as Win95, I know..

(But it should settle down I/O after these commands, the former being the important one and you can run anytime you want.)

soundofthunder · 23 November 2025 23:55

Off-topic: In those times I used Norton Speed Disk (on which the M$ defragmenter was based) – the main functional difference being that there were more blocks to watch.