My HP laptop has developed a problem where disk usage runs 100% for 10 to 20 minutes at startup. As a result the computer is crippled and nothing will open or run efficiently. The computer is about 1.5 yrs old, Win10, i7 processor and a single 1Tb spinning disk. I have seen multiple examples and potential fixes on internet but none has worked. Chkdsk finds no problems although some have said that swapping out the drive has fixed the problem. I am tempted to go that route and install an ssd to replace the spinner. So I have 2 questions:
1) Anyone else encountered this issue and been able to fix it without a drive swap?
2) if I swap the drive, what is the bedt way to get the OS onto the new drive? It was preinstalled on the computer so I don't have a disk.
 
Thanks,
Brian

1.  Before replacing hardware, check for processes running/using disk.  Also check system event logs to see if you're getting errors of some kind.
2.  Macrium Reflect has worked fine for me for swapping system drives.

I would suspect a disc problem, whether it is "bad data" or format issues, etc. 
 
You need another disc and a disc imaging program.  You DO NOT want to "clone" the hard drive to the new SSD as that will bring over corrupted data, disc sectors, deleted data, etc.  You need to do regular disc imaging (backup) anyway.  You really need to make a backup now, whether or not you change the drive.  Its not for "if" the drive fails but for "when" the drive fails.  The free Macrium Reflect image program will do the job.  Make a complete disc image, all partitions, to the separate (USB) drive.  Then "restore" the created disc image to the new SSD.
 
I just used Macrium to backup and restore my Laptop SSD.  I replaced the original 250GB M.2 SSD with a 500GB M.2 SSD
 
 https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree?x-ca=blog
 

Sounds like a bad disk.
 
Use something like Acronis True Image to create a backup image file of the boot drive, replace the boot drive, then load the backup image file onto the replacement drive.
 
With True Image, their Bootable Rescue Disc makes this process quick/easy.
Once done, you can use that same disc to create future backups (or restore if ever necessary).

One quick thing to try:
Disable the Win10 "Fast Boot" option... to see if this has an effect.
 

I have an Acer laptop with a 500GB spinning disk, and I started experiencing the same thing after upgrading to Windows 10.
 
I have shut down as many things as Win 10 Home will let me, such as file indexing, search, etc.  But after boot I still see my disk usage go to 100% for a while after first booting up.  Once I let it finish and settle down, everything works fine!
 
At this point the delay has been cut down from about 10 mins, to about 2-3 mins.  Unless it has been a while, and everything starts automatically checking for updates at the same time.  That will beat a 5400RPM drive to death as well.
 
What I usually see in task manager is that Windows processes are mainly behind this, particularly related to Service Host and Superfetch.  I could disable that like I did on my PC with an SSD, but it probably helps performance to leave it enabled on a spinning drive.
 
If I swapped the drive in my laptop to SSD this problem might go away, or at least become so quick that it wouldn't be detectable.  Plus I would disable Superfetch in that case.  But unfortunately the drive swap on my laptop model is very difficult as it requires a near total teardown to access the drive.  If you are lucky enough to have an  drive access door in the bottom of the case, I would say go for the SSD!

Could be a number of reasons why this is happening.
Here are the steps I use when I run into this.
 
First check Windows task manager for runaway processes - item or items consuming CPU time.
Check Windows Event viewer for items causing repeated errors.
You can use MSCONFIG to disable startup programs/services that are causing issues.
 
If you can't find a clear culprit try:
 
press Windows+R
type services.msc
Disable 
  1-Super fetch
  2-Windows Search
  3-Background Intelligent Transfer Service 
   <this hasn't worked the times I've tried it but some people report it helps>
 
Also
* Check virtual memory, too small Windows swap size <with 32GB ram this shouldn't be an issue>
and run chkdsk

This happened with a couple of laptops in the household and it was software, services, to blame.  There is some info on the web regarding this problem.  On one laptop I uninstalled AVG Free and switched to Avast, but a Windows Update also had a machine locked up.

Thanks for all of the thoughtful replies. I have checked for runaway processes and there are none. The services with most of the disc access have included Superfetch at times but not consistently. Sometimes its just something like host services with a number after it. Disabling them has helped but only briefly. There is no antivirus other than Defender active on this machine although avg free is on the disc. I will uninnstall that. And check for fast boot - ironic if that turns out to be the culprit!
This problem is present on every boot but always much worse after a windows update. Once it settles down, it is fine.
There are many threads on this issue but nothing official from Microsoft as far as I can tell.
 
Brian

You may want to consider pursuing this on the Windows 10 forum (not a Microsoft site)   www.tenforums.com
Some knowledgeable users there.