What is DEMigrator.exe and why does it use so much of CPU?

[AMISH]

I have recently noticed a steep increase in CPU usage on my Windows Home Server. This was not the case initially. I have upgraded the .NET FRAMEWORK to version 3 recently and I don't think that might be causing any problem. I opened the Task Manager to see what is going on the server and noticed that DEMigrator.exe and whsbackup.exe is utilizing most of the CPU. I am unaware about the first process and why it is acquiring some of CPU resources. Can anyone look into the matter to [provide a helping hand to me?

[Eric B]

DEMigrator is basically a defragmentor which runs automatically on Windows Home Server. This process, however, has the low priority on the server and so can be preceeded by any of the other processes. Whenever some other process gets started, this process is either suspended or stopped for certain period of time. It basically start on itself if there is no other process running on your the server. So I don't think there should be any problem like high CPU usage because of this process. Just check of the problem lies somewhere else.

[GeforceUser]

DEMigrator should not create any problem on your computer. However if you want then you can create a batch file to turn it off and on as and when required.

TurnOffDemigrator.bat

@echo off
sc stop "DriveExtenderMigrator"
sc config "DriveExtenderMigrator" start= disabled
exit

TurnOnDemigrator.bat

@echo off
sc config "DriveExtenderMigrator" start= demand
sc start "DriveExtenderMigrator"
exit

[chroma]

I have seen this kind of problem occurring if you have a heavy screensaver which creates potentially dozens of open file locks affecting the DEMigrator operation. So basically, the DEMigrator tried to skip those files but then later on comes to the same file again and again. This is the main reason of reappearing the problem.

[Leonard]

DEMigrator stands for Drive Extender Migrator service. This service basically deals with folder duplication and balancing of the data load across all the disks in the storage pool. Adding too much of data on your server, duplication of folders containing a very long data, or even adding a new module of hard disk may be the main reason for DEMigrator to take a lot of time in its process. Just let it go as it is and see if it goes down after sometime. If it isn't then there is certainly some issue. Otherwise its normal, do not worry.

[Sam.D]

I didn't faced any kind of such problem until now on my Windows Home Server. The main reason for this could be, you can say, I don't have too much of HD content, or duplication on my server. However, if I remember correctly, the problem occurred when there was some cofiguration problem on some hardware or software. So it is recommended for you too to check if this is the case. Moreover, if you identified that the Demigrator process was causing the problem then why didn't you stopped that process and see if you have any problem. You can anytime terminate any process from the TASK MANAGER and this is just one time process. So it will restart if you reboot your computer.