Three distinct task-byte, task-wait and device lanes share an observation window without identifying a proven culprit.

iotop shows which process is burning the disks

iotop connects task-level kernel accounting with a system-wide storage investigation. It can identify tasks reporting substantial IO or waiting, but those are different observations. A task blocked behind other work may be a victim rather than the source of contention. Kernel counters do not provide perfect attribution for every filesystem, cache, or storage layer. ...

March 15, 2028 · 6 min · XB Field Notes