Extended read/write times can often be attributed to disk fragmentation or potential drive failure. Disk fragmentation occurs when a file system cannot lay out the data sequentially, which leads to increased seek times as the drive's read-write head moves to different areas of the disk to access the fragmented files. This process significantly slows down file access times. Alternatively, a hard drive nearing the end of its life could exhibit prolonged read/write times due to wear and mechanical issues obstructing data access speed.