DEV Community: Jack Ge

How to avoid cloud drive scanning your folders -- use PowerShell and 7z to individually encrypt the files inside an entire folder

Jack Ge — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:15:52 +0000

In order to prevent the cloud drive from scanning my files, I need to encrypt all the content I upload. I use 7z software to encrypt individually. My requirements:

Encrypt all files and folders in the entire directory individually and export them to another directory
Preserve the original directory structure for all files and folders
Store without compression (so that 7z can encrypt quickly)

This is a test folder

D:.
│   beach-dominican-republic-dominican-caribbean-thumb.jpg
│   砂浜の上.jpg
│
├───3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y
│       autumn-forest-woods-nature-thumb.jpg
│       D'accord.jpg
│       Жаалгада.jpg
│       Хорошо.jpg
│       梦幻手绘绿色风景桌面壁纸.jpg
│
├───dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%
│   │   Hoy.jpg
│   │   No, ¿verdad.jpg
│   │   ¿Quién eres.jpg
│   │
│   └───Está bien, no se puede
│           cars-old-vintage-automobiles-classic-preview.jpg
│           casserole-seafood-paella-food-preview.jpg
│           新しく来てください.jpg
│           明日にしましょう.jpg
│
└───حسنًاreq!!f fgr
    │   Neu hier.jpg
    │   ربما غدًا.jpg
    │   لا بالتأكيد.jpg
    │   لا يمكن.jpg
    │
    └───二哥！！#￥#
            burger-cheese-vegetarian-halloumi-preview.jpg
            cake-cafeteria-desserts-dessert-preview.jpg

I had AI write a PowerShell script test.ps1：

# Configuration Parameters
$sourceDir = "D:\test\private thing"           # Source directory to be encrypted
$targetDir = "D:\test\private thing - Encryption"    # Target root directory for storing encrypted files
$password = "123"                     # password
$sevenZipPath = "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe"  # 7z path

# Check if 7z exists
if (-not (Test-Path $sevenZipPath)) {
    Write-Error "Cannot find 7z.exe, please check the path"
    exit 1
}

# Get all files (recursive)
Get-ChildItem -Path $sourceDir -File -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
    $file = $_

    # Calculate relative path
    $relativePath = $file.Directory.FullName.Substring($sourceDir.Length).TrimStart('\')

    # Construct target directory path
    if ($relativePath) {
        $targetFilePath = Join-Path $targetDir $relativePath
    } else {
        $targetFilePath = $targetDir
    }

    # Create the target directory (if it does not exist)
    if (-not (Test-Path $targetFilePath)) {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $targetFilePath -Force | Out-Null
    }

    # Construct 7z file path
    $archiveName = $file.Name + ".7z"
    $archivePath = Join-Path $targetFilePath $archiveName

    # Compress and encrypt using 7z
    & "$sevenZipPath" a -mx0 "-p$password" -mhe=on "$archivePath" "$($file.FullName)" -y

    if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
        Write-Host "Encrypted: $($file.FullName) -> $archivePath" -ForegroundColor Green
    } else {
        Write-Host "Encryption failed: $($file.FullName)" -ForegroundColor Red
    }
}

Write-Host "`nAll file processing is complete!" -ForegroundColor Green

Among them, $sourceDir, $targetDir, $password, and $sevenZipPath are variables that need to be modified according to your own needs.

Run a script using PowerShell

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\test.ps1

After the script execution is complete, this is the output folder structure

D:.
│  beach-dominican-republic-dominican-caribbean-thumb.jpg.7z
│  砂浜の上.jpg.7z
│
├─3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y
│      autumn-forest-woods-nature-thumb.jpg.7z
│      D'accord.jpg.7z
│      Жаалгада.jpg.7z
│      Хорошо.jpg.7z
│      梦幻手绘绿色风景桌面壁纸.jpg.7z
│
├─dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%
│  │  Hoy.jpg.7z
│  │  No, ¿verdad.jpg.7z
│  │  ¿Quién eres.jpg.7z
│  │
│  └─Está bien, no se puede
│          cars-old-vintage-automobiles-classic-preview.jpg.7z
│          casserole-seafood-paella-food-preview.jpg.7z
│          新しく来てください.jpg.7z
│          明日にしましょう.jpg.7z
│
└─حسنًاreq!!f fgr
    │  Neu hier.jpg.7z
    │  ربما غدًا.jpg.7z
    │  لا بالتأكيد.jpg.7z
    │  لا يمكن.jpg.7z
    │
    └─二哥！！#￥#
            burger-cheese-vegetarian-halloumi-preview.jpg.7z
            cake-cafeteria-desserts-dessert-preview.jpg.7z

This script can complete the task.

If you don't want the names to be known either, you can directly convert all paths into MD5 encoding.

# Configuration Parameters
$sourceDir = "D:\test\private thing"           # Source directory to be encrypted
$targetDir = "D:\test\private thing - Encryption"    # Target root directory for storing encrypted files
$password = "123"                     # password
$sevenZipPath = "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe"  # 7z path

# Create MD5 hash function
function Get-MD5Hash {
    param([string]$InputString)

    $md5 = [System.Security.Cryptography.MD5]::Create()
    $bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($InputString)
    $hash = $md5.ComputeHash($bytes)

    # Convert to lowercase hexadecimal string
    return ($hash | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString("x2") }) -join ''
}


# Check if 7z exists
if (-not (Test-Path $sevenZipPath)) {
    Write-Error "Cannot find 7z.exe, please check the path"
    exit 1
}

# Get all files (recursive)
Get-ChildItem -Path $sourceDir -File -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
    $file = $_

    # Calculate relative path
    $relativePath = $file.Directory.FullName.Substring($sourceDir.Length).TrimStart('\')

    # Split the path and hash each folder separately
    if ($relativePath) {
        $pathParts = $relativePath.Split('\')
        $hashedPathParts = @()

        foreach ($part in $pathParts) {
            # Perform MD5 hashing on each folder name
            $hashedPart = Get-MD5Hash -InputString $part
            $hashedPathParts += $hashedPart
        }

        # Recombining the hashed path
        $hashedPath = $hashedPathParts -join '\'
        $targetFilePath = Join-Path $targetDir $hashedPath
    } else {
        $targetFilePath = $targetDir
    }

    # Create the target directory (if it does not exist)
    if (-not (Test-Path $targetFilePath)) {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $targetFilePath -Force | Out-Null
    }

    # Perform MD5 hashing on the entire file name (including the extension)
    $fullFileName = $file.Name
    $hashedFileName = Get-MD5Hash -InputString $fullFileName

    # Construct 7z file path
    $archiveName = $hashedFileName + ".7z"
    $archivePath = Join-Path $targetFilePath $archiveName

    # Compress and encrypt using 7z
    & "$sevenZipPath" a -mx0 "-p$password" -mhe=on "$archivePath" "$($file.FullName)" -y

    if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
        Write-Host "Encrypted: $($file.FullName) -> $archivePath" -ForegroundColor Green
    } else {
        Write-Host "Encryption failed: $($file.FullName)" -ForegroundColor Red
    }
}

Write-Host "`nAll file processing is complete!" -ForegroundColor Green

After this, the encrypted folder:

D:.
│  43794276ebe0b4a5c9ac57c9f3d22898.7z
│  6c5aa696b01f76db7ef074536b03ed9a.7z
│
├─0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4
│  │  2763897780a0e2e645ec4d2e41556306.7z
│  │  430890ddd152b3c455a1478279e47a7b.7z
│  │  c430b7629217efeea6badf39a65cc058.7z
│  │
│  └─21e933b76e03210646eede333e76b4dd
│          42bde53eaf003f3dc4f3738294ae1464.7z
│          612faac79f62c16eaeacc2f75fbe19c8.7z
│          841d69a443b3701e7e9f55c511c58892.7z
│          e80cd4e138ecfae6846fd301b3f1a902.7z
│
├─2864dfea338f51a4579757ef81773061
│      456532e2f62fc75477bd0f1e1476a13b.7z
│      5ea01eb5a08b21d42e2f209a3fa713bf.7z
│      735dbc38b8fb2b016c660cdfb2b242df.7z
│      c47fcce46e5e29e8f039acbeecf85647.7z
│      cb3af4320d1388fa6cfbe98a6dae91f5.7z
│
└─fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24
    │  1b719344629ccf638066ecd2781cdd5d.7z
    │  635164eead60d30732f45a464811333a.7z
    │  b9d1f953b32f034acda5b049ee6797f8.7z
    │  e8f3dc25e3e56ce0d8bdc560dd267f76.7z
    │
    └─42fb902ad1ed5cee820e4b314324e29a
            4f82a3dde34e3eb1c9e42e610882001e.7z
            f19a29f5e526cf04369ea2a3ddd67c55.7z

But in this way, I won't be able to know which encrypted file path corresponds to the original file. I need to output an encrypted txt file to store these mappings. So the script later became like this.

# Configuration Parameters
$sourceDir = "D:\test\private thing"           # Source directory to be encrypted
$targetDir = "D:\test\private thing - Encryption"    # Target root directory for storing encrypted files
$password = "123"                     # password
$sevenZipPath = "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe"  # 7z path
$mapFileName = "encryption_map.txt"  # Mapping file name
$mapFile = Join-Path $targetDir $mapFileName  # Full path to mapping file

# Create MD5 hash function
function Get-MD5Hash {
    param([string]$InputString)

    $md5 = [System.Security.Cryptography.MD5]::Create()
    $bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($InputString)
    $hash = $md5.ComputeHash($bytes)

    # Convert to lowercase hexadecimal string
    return ($hash | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString("x2") }) -join ''
}

# Initialize mapping content
$mappingContent = @"

ENCRYPTION MAPPING FILE
===============================================
Generated on: $(Get-Date)

Original Path -> Encrypted Path
===============================================


"@

# Check if 7z exists
if (-not (Test-Path $sevenZipPath)) {
    Write-Error "Cannot find 7z.exe, please check the path"
    exit 1
}

# Create target directory if it doesn't exist
if (-not (Test-Path $targetDir)) {
    New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $targetDir -Force | Out-Null
}

# Get all files (recursive)
Get-ChildItem -Path $sourceDir -File -Recurse | ForEach-Object {
    $file = $_

    # Calculate relative path
    $relativePath = $file.Directory.FullName.Substring($sourceDir.Length).TrimStart('\')

    # Split the path and hash each folder separately
    if ($relativePath) {
        $pathParts = $relativePath.Split('\')
        $hashedPathParts = @()
        $originalPathParts = @()

        foreach ($part in $pathParts) {
            # Store original folder name for mapping
            $originalPathParts += $part
            # Perform MD5 hashing on each folder name
            $hashedPart = Get-MD5Hash -InputString $part
            $hashedPathParts += $hashedPart
        }

        # Recombining the hashed path
        $hashedPath = $hashedPathParts -join '\'
        $targetFilePath = Join-Path $targetDir $hashedPath

        # Store original folder path for mapping
        $originalFolderPath = $originalPathParts -join '\'
    } else {
        $targetFilePath = $targetDir
        $originalFolderPath = ""
    }

    # Create the target directory (if it does not exist)
    if (-not (Test-Path $targetFilePath)) {
        New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $targetFilePath -Force | Out-Null
    }

    # Perform MD5 hashing on the entire file name (including the extension)
    $fullFileName = $file.Name
    $hashedFileName = Get-MD5Hash -InputString $fullFileName

    # Construct 7z file path
    $archiveName = $hashedFileName + ".7z"
    $archivePath = Join-Path $targetFilePath $archiveName

    # Compress and encrypt using 7z
    & "$sevenZipPath" a -mx0 "-p$password" -mhe=on "$archivePath" "$($file.FullName)" -y

    if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
        Write-Host "Encrypted: $($file.FullName) -> $archivePath" -ForegroundColor Green

        # Prepare mapping entry
        if ($originalFolderPath) {
            $originalRelativePath = "\$originalFolderPath\$fullFileName"
            $encryptedRelativePath = "\$hashedPath\$archiveName"
        } else {
            $originalRelativePath = "\$fullFileName"
            $encryptedRelativePath = "\$archiveName"
        }

        # Add to mapping content
        $mappingContent += "ORIGINAL: $originalRelativePath`r`n"
        $mappingContent += "ENCRYPTED: $encryptedRelativePath`r`n"
        $mappingContent += "-" * 60 + "`r`n"

        Write-Host "  Mapping: $originalRelativePath --> $encryptedRelativePath" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    } else {
        Write-Host "Encryption failed: $($file.FullName)" -ForegroundColor Red
    }
}

# Add footer to mapping content
$mappingContent += "`r`n"
$mappingContent += "===============================================`r`n"
$mappingContent += "Total files processed: $($mappingContent.Split('ORIGINAL:').Count - 1)`r`n"
$mappingContent += "End of mapping file`r`n"
$mappingContent += "===============================================`r`n"

# Save the mapping file temporarily as unencrypted
$tempMapFile = $mapFile
Set-Content -Path $tempMapFile -Value $mappingContent -Encoding UTF8

Write-Host "`nCreating encrypted mapping file..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

# Encrypt the mapping file with the same password
$encryptedMapFile = $mapFile + ".7z"
& "$sevenZipPath" a -mx0 "-p$password" -mhe=on "$encryptedMapFile" "$tempMapFile" -y

if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
    # Remove the temporary unencrypted file
    Remove-Item $tempMapFile -Force

    Write-Host "Mapping file created and encrypted: $encryptedMapFile" -ForegroundColor Green
    Write-Host "" -ForegroundColor Green
    Write-Host "IMPORTANT NOTES:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    Write-Host "1. The mapping file is encrypted with the same password: $password" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    Write-Host "2. To view the mapping file, use: 7z e $encryptedMapFile -p$password" -ForegroundColor Yellow
    Write-Host "3. Keep this password safe - without it you cannot recover the original file names!" -ForegroundColor Red
} else {
    Write-Host "Failed to encrypt mapping file!" -ForegroundColor Red
    Write-Host "Unencrypted mapping file is saved as: $tempMapFile" -ForegroundColor Yellow
}

Write-Host "`nAll file processing is complete!" -ForegroundColor Green

It will eventually output an encryption_map.txt.7z file in the root path of the target directory, using the same encryption password. After decryption, you can see the mapping of file paths before and after encryption. This file can be used to find the original file locations:


ENCRYPTION MAPPING FILE
===============================================
Generated on: 03/02/2026 20:36:47

Original Path -> Encrypted Path
===============================================

ORIGINAL: \beach-dominican-republic-dominican-caribbean-thumb.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \6c5aa696b01f76db7ef074536b03ed9a.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \砂浜の上.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \43794276ebe0b4a5c9ac57c9f3d22898.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y\autumn-forest-woods-nature-thumb.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \2864dfea338f51a4579757ef81773061\c47fcce46e5e29e8f039acbeecf85647.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y\D'accord.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \2864dfea338f51a4579757ef81773061\456532e2f62fc75477bd0f1e1476a13b.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y\Жаалгада.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \2864dfea338f51a4579757ef81773061\cb3af4320d1388fa6cfbe98a6dae91f5.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y\Хорошо.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \2864dfea338f51a4579757ef81773061\5ea01eb5a08b21d42e2f209a3fa713bf.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \3人z#@@%R@$%T434b4y\梦幻手绘绿色风景桌面壁纸.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \2864dfea338f51a4579757ef81773061\735dbc38b8fb2b016c660cdfb2b242df.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\Hoy.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\2763897780a0e2e645ec4d2e41556306.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\No, ¿verdad.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\c430b7629217efeea6badf39a65cc058.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\¿Quién eres.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\430890ddd152b3c455a1478279e47a7b.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\Está bien, no se puede\cars-old-vintage-automobiles-classic-preview.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\21e933b76e03210646eede333e76b4dd\841d69a443b3701e7e9f55c511c58892.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\Está bien, no se puede\casserole-seafood-paella-food-preview.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\21e933b76e03210646eede333e76b4dd\e80cd4e138ecfae6846fd301b3f1a902.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\Está bien, no se puede\新しく来てください.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\21e933b76e03210646eede333e76b4dd\612faac79f62c16eaeacc2f75fbe19c8.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \dfわかったght3%^&&$&%%\Está bien, no se puede\明日にしましょう.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \0eb68956079d3cb6962dc2dc49f01be4\21e933b76e03210646eede333e76b4dd\42bde53eaf003f3dc4f3738294ae1464.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \حسنًاreq!!f fgr\Neu hier.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24\e8f3dc25e3e56ce0d8bdc560dd267f76.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \حسنًاreq!!f fgr\ربما غدًا.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24\1b719344629ccf638066ecd2781cdd5d.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \حسنًاreq!!f fgr\لا بالتأكيد.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24\635164eead60d30732f45a464811333a.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \حسنًاreq!!f fgr\لا يمكن.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24\b9d1f953b32f034acda5b049ee6797f8.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \حسنًاreq!!f fgr\二哥！！#￥#\burger-cheese-vegetarian-halloumi-preview.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24\42fb902ad1ed5cee820e4b314324e29a\f19a29f5e526cf04369ea2a3ddd67c55.7z
------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL: \حسنًاreq!!f fgr\二哥！！#￥#\cake-cafeteria-desserts-dessert-preview.jpg
ENCRYPTED: \fe9e0e69fda49d513796cd5fdca66f24\42fb902ad1ed5cee820e4b314324e29a\4f82a3dde34e3eb1c9e42e610882001e.7z
------------------------------------------------------------

===============================================
Total files processed: 263
End of mapping file
===============================================

At this stage, you can avoid your files being scanned by certain cloud drive services. They cannot know the file names, cannot unzip compressed files, and cannot view the list of files inside the compressed files. All your data is incomprehensible to them. For yourself, the most important thing is to properly save the encryption_map.txt.7z file and the password.

If you need to specify the input and output directories in the parameters, rather than hardcoding them in the script, you can modify it like this directly.

Delete

$sourceDir = "D:\test\private thing"
$targetDir = "D:\test\private thing - Encryption"

Replace with

param(
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string]$sourceDir,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
    [string]$targetDir
)

This way, when executing the script, it can be

.\test.ps1 -sourceDir "D:\test\private thing" -targetDir "D:\test\private thing - Encryption"

Or use positional arguments

.\test.ps1 "D:\test\private thing" "D:\test\private thing - Encryption"

How to use jigdo to download really old versions of Debian images

Jack Ge — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 08:55:26 +0000

I need to collect some old versions of Debian images. At first, I downloaded the full ISO files from this address: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/

But some old versions of the images don't have it, they only have the preserved jigdo files. So I decided to use jigdo to download these old version images.

The address for the Windows version of jigdo is: https://www.einval.com/~steve/software/jigdo/download/

There's another alternative link: http://chiark.greenend.org.uk/~stevem/software/jigdo/download/

After downloading jigdo, unzip it, then click on jigdo-lite.bat inside, and it will prompt you to enter the jigdo file address.

The address of the jigdo file can be found at this link according to the Debian image version you need: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/

Later, it will prompt you to scan existing image files to speed up the download. I didn't have any, so I just pressed Enter to skip.

It will automatically look for the template file to download

Then it will start downloading

Download finished

I found the image file, jigdo file, and template file in the jigdo tool directory.

I used 7z.exe to check the SHA256 info of the image:

Name: debian-31r0-i386-binary-1.iso
Size: 4686704640 bytes (4469 MiB)
SHA256: 9cf418dbb8985b98d15a2772da98d0c5ba6fd569d23b6b5a586fac42bc32b7a4

I compared the sha256sum file from the original website: https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/3.1_r0/i386/jigdo-dvd/SHA256SUMS

9cf418dbb8985b98d15a2772da98d0c5ba6fd569d23b6b5a586fac42bc32b7a4  debian-31r0-i386-binary-1.iso
6668cfe6d7593c8e30d89ee3fa43c0cc7865b8b0c2322f143ba04ca4f29d54c4  debian-31r0-i386-binary-2.iso

Exactly right. The download was successful.

After the first download, jigdo will generate a jigdo-lite-settings.txt file. Its content looks like this

jigdo='https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/archive/3.1_r0/i386/jigdo-dvd/debian-31r0-i386-binary-1.jigdo'
debianMirror='https://mirror.truenetwork.ru/debian-archive/debian/'
nonusMirror=''
tmpDir='.'
jigdoOpts='--cache jigdo-file-cache.db'
wgetOpts='-nv --passive-ftp --dot-style=mega --continue --timeout=30'
scanMenu=''
filesPerFetch='30'

After that, you can just edit this file to download the Debian image through the configuration.

So, jigdo is a powerful tool. Very few operating system images can still be downloaded in their very old versions, but Debian made it possible with jigdo.

Here are some sources that can be used to download old Debian images with jigdo.

Mirror Address (HTTP)	Location
`http://archive.debian.org/debian/`	Netherlands
`http://archive.kernel.org/debian-archive/`	USA
`http://debian.dynamica.it/debian-archive/`	Italy
`http://debian.ethz.ch/debian-archive/`	Switzerland
`http://debian.inf.tu-dresden.de/debian-archive/`	Germany
`http://debian.koyanet.lv/debian-archive/`	Latvia
`http://debian.snt.utwente.nl/debian-archive/`	Netherlands
`http://debian.volia.net/debian-archive/`	Ukraine
`http://ftp.hosteurope.de/debian-archive/`	Germany
`http://ftp.kaist.ac.kr/debian-archive/`	South Korea
`http://ftp.ticklers.org/archive.debian.org/`	United Kingdom
`http://mirror.eu.oneandone.net/debian-archive/`	Germany
`http://mirror.mephi.ru/debian-archive/`	Russia
`http://mirror.nl.leaseweb.net/debian-archive/`	Netherlands
`http://mirror.one.com/debian-archive/`	Denmark
`http://mirror.truenetwork.ru/debian-archive/`	Russia
`http://mirrors.accretive-networks.net/debian-archive/`	USA
`http://mirrors.advancedhosters.com/debian-archive/`	USA
`http://repo.jing.rocks/debian-archive/`	Japan

Windows goes crazy using the disk when the screen is off, and I figured out why

Jack Ge — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:41:45 +0000

When the Windows system screen turns off, it crazily uses the HDD. I can hear my Hitachi enterprise hard drive making frequent seeking noises. But when I turn the screen back on and try to check which app is reading the disk through Task Manager, everything goes back to normal. It stops using the disk.

At first, I thought it was Windows 10's search service indexing in the background. So I turned off the search service. But that didn't solve it. This program is like playing hide and seek—it goes crazy scanning the disk only when the screen is off, and goes back to normal as soon as the screen is on.

I want to know which program is doing this. I used the Process Monitor tool from the Sysinternals suite to monitor any program operating on files. I finally found out that while my screen was off, it was svchost.exe scanning my G drive.

svchost.exe itself is a system host process, and other programs operate on the disk through it. I found this process in Task Manager by its PID 8408 and jumped to the service.

The name of this service is defragsvc. It's a built-in disk optimization tool in Windows that automatically takes care of hard drive maintenance in the background. It regularly defragments the disk, reorganizing scattered file fragments into contiguous blocks to improve read and write performance. This process involves a lot of read/write head movements and data shifting, which makes the hard drive sound quite noisy.

When the user turns off the screen, it scans in the background at full power. When the user turns on the screen, it stops working so it doesn’t affect the user’s experience.