Despite the January 2022 security update, Windows 11 still has an issue where some devices may run slower than usual. The bug affects HDDs and SSDs, with reports of their storage drives running more than 50% slower, the issue was first reported in July 2021, and it’s been bothering some users for a long time.
The issue is officially resolved in the December 2021 cumulative update, with Microsoft acknowledging that the Windows 11 bug affects “all disks (NVMe, SSDs ), HDD by performing unnecessary operations every time a write occurred.
As we mentioned in December, Windows 11 cumulative updates only fixed these performance issues for some users, with reports that SSDs or HDDs are still slower than they should be. The bug was present in both the December 2021 and January 2022 security updates, but it appears a new optional update has finally fixed the storage drive mess.
In the release notes, Microsoft noted that it fixed another bug in USN journaling that was causing a strange performance regression. Windows 11 KB5008353 applies some important fixes and also addresses critical SSD/HDD issues for everyone. The performance issues that have plagued the operating system for nearly eight months have been fixed.
“Resolves a performance regression that occurs when you enable Update Serial Number (USN) journaling,” Microsoft said. Additionally, users have confirmed that they no longer see performance issues with storage drives and the operating system feels faster.
“Not only on NVMe, but even my SATA SSD is also faster now. Earlier, Windows 11 was a lot slower to boot than Windows 10.” One user pointed to a similar report on Feedback Hub.