Why is XP constantly accessing my HD ???

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by ctal

...In any event, I believe that my experiments above are conclusive...

I believe you. Thanks Al.

[traveler]

Absolutely amazing first hand research ctal !!!!!!!




I can't wait to try that all out now!



__________________
Asus X48 Rampage Formula / Intel Q9450 / 2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2 8500 / VisionTek Radeon HD3870X2 OverClocked Edition /
Western Digital Raptor X Hard Drive / Two Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5001ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives /
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 / Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speaker System /
Lian Li 343B cube case / PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition

[Baud]

Hi ctal, I'm lucky you found a solution to you problem. By the way, did you check if your led to mobo connector was positionnned the right way?

[traveler]

Originally Posted by Baud

Hi ctal, I'm lucky you found a solution to you problem. By the way, did you check if your led to mobo connector was positionnned the right way?

Baud! Good to see you posting again Bud!

Weeks ago I experimented with my two wire HDD LED case light. One way it works, the other way it is remains dark. It definitely is DC positive/negative sensitive.



__________________
Asus X48 Rampage Formula / Intel Q9450 / 2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2 8500 / VisionTek Radeon HD3870X2 OverClocked Edition /
Western Digital Raptor X Hard Drive / Two Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5001ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives /
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 / Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speaker System /
Lian Li 343B cube case / PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition

[Baud]

Hi traveler, I didn't know that: by me the LED keeps lightening (not flashing) when connected the wrong way

[Baud]

Traveler, by the way, did you check with task manager's extended parameters what was causing he I/O's (or with Sysinternal's Procmon) ?

It's very nice to participate on an active way to the forum again, and I thank you for your appreciation

[traveler]

Originally Posted by Baud

Traveler, by the way, did you check with task manager's extended parameters what was causing he I/O's (or with Sysinternal's Procmon) ?

It's very nice to participate on an active way to the forum again, and I thank you for your appreciation

Not yet. But I intend to.

I'm still in the building stage of my new rig although I did get it operational and did a preliminary XP install on it. I have new RAM enroute to me, for example, to cure Memtest86 errors.

This is my first ever XP install. I hate XP, but am forced to use it now by worldwide software and hardware pressures. So now I need to figure out how to tweak it. It already is a downgrade to me because features that I use all the time in win2000 were dropped in XP. All XP does for me is to allow the running of software and hardware which could have easily been designed to run in win2000 (BioShock is an example). It's not a pleasure to run the OS itself, too many missing features from the OS for me.



__________________
Asus X48 Rampage Formula / Intel Q9450 / 2 x 2GB OCZ Reaper HPC PC2 8500 / VisionTek Radeon HD3870X2 OverClocked Edition /
Western Digital Raptor X Hard Drive / Two Western Digital Caviar RE2 WD5001ABYS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives /
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro 7.1 / Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 Speaker System /
Lian Li 343B cube case / PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Crossfire Edition

[WhiteEclipse]

Originally Posted by traveler

Not yet. But I intend to.

This is my first ever XP install. I hate XP, but am forced to use it now by worldwide software and hardware pressures. So now I need to figure out how to tweak it. It already is a downgrade to me because features that I use all the time in win2000 were dropped in XP. All XP does for me is to allow the running of software and hardware which could have easily been designed to run in win2000 (BioShock is an example). It's not a pleasure to run the OS itself, too many missing features from the OS for me.

I know, I didn't like Vista either at first, but still you can do a lot of things to make it better. Oh wait, you're talking about XP.

LOL, sorry traveler, I couldn't help but tease you a little because your post sounds exactly like the XP to Vista posts, but a gen behind. Have a beer!

There are some things that are missing, but you will learn to appreciate it soon enough. I have used all three extensively, and still dual boot XP/Vista. XP is my favorite of all 3 and, besides you, I was one of the last on the XP boat.

[ctal]

Originally Posted by Baud

By the way, did you check if your led to mobo connector was positioned the right way?

Originally Posted by Baud

by me the LED keeps lightening (not flashing) when connected the wrong way

Baud -- Are you sure you aren't thinking of a floppy drive's indicator led, which will stay on all the time if the data cable connected to the rear of the floppy drive is inserted upside down (which is easy to do)?

A led itself cannot illuminate if it is connected backwards. It is a diode which can only conduct current in one direction (aside from an extremely small leakage current that will occur in the reverse direction if it is connected backwards). It is the flow of forward current that causes the Light Emitting Diode (led) to illuminate. In the example of the floppy drive that I mentioned, it is not the led that is connected backwards; it is the connector carrying data to and from the floppy drive's internal circuitry that is inverted, resulting in the floppy's internal circuits turning the led on all the time.

On all four of the systems that I've built, using several different cases and mobos, I've made the assumption that the colored wire for the leds was +, and the white wire was -. That has always resulted in proper operation.

Regards,

-- Al

[zsaz1029]

Actually, I have a case that acts the same as Baud's. If I have the HDD led connected backwords, it's always on.

[ctal]

Originally Posted by zsaz1029

Actually, I have a case that acts the same as Baud's. If I have the HDD led connected backwords, it's always on.

OK, well then I stand corrected. In those situations the motherboard must be doing something unusual in how it controls the led, such as turning the led on and off by reversing the polarity of which wire is high and which wire is low (the more conventional way would be to always have one wire high, and switch the other wire between low and high). In that case the miswired led would be on whenever there was no hdd activity, and flash off when there is activity.

In any event, as I said I have always had proper operation of the hdd light on all four of the systems that I have built, and misconnecting the led is definitely not a reason for the once per second flashing, especially given the experiments I described in post 45 above.

Regards,

-- Al

[polonyc2]

Why is XP constantly accessing my HD ???

um...wasn't the answer to this question given by shaihulud back in post #5?

the guy really knows what he is talking about...very knowledeable fellow, I would trust him...and subsequent posts have just proven his answer was correct all along

[jearl]

I'm having the same problem with my Dell Latitude laptop.

I've disabled the CD-ROM "check for auto-insert". The HDD LED even flashes every second when in SAFE mode.

I'm running XP Pro SP2, and it is a fresh install.

Here is what I get when I run DISKMON:

0 2.073936 0.00017166 0 Write 6175047 48
1 2.073936 0.00017166 0 Write 6160455 8
2 2.073936 0.00017166 0 Write 6160431 8
3 2.334310 0.05264282 0 Write 6175095 16
4 2.334310 0.05264282 0 Write 6160447 8
5 2.334310 0.05264282 0 Write 6160455 8
6 2.584670 0.00017166 0 Write 923303 8
7 2.584670 0.00017166 0 Write 1225103 3
8 2.584670 0.00015259 0 Write 6291511 8
9 2.584670 0.00022888 0 Write 57060239 8
10 3.586110 0.00022888 0 Write 51199311 40
11 3.586110 0.00022888 0 Write 51199367 8
12 3.586110 0.00022888 0 Write 51199463 8
13 3.586110 0.00022888 0 Write 51199303 8
14 7.081136 0.00022888 0 Write 6175111 32
15 7.081136 0.00022888 0 Write 6160447 8
16 7.081136 0.00022888 0 Write 6160439 8
17 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6317535 8
18 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6326239 8
19 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6329087 16
20 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6349767 8
21 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6291607 8
22 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6297399 8
23 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6298527 8
24 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6311791 8
25 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6312167 8
26 7.591870 0.00022888 0 Write 6314607 8
27 8.012475 0.00260353 0 Write 5613071 1
28 8.012475 0.00260353 0 Write 6160455 8
29 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613072 1
30 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613073 8
31 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613081 8
32 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613089 16
33 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613105 16
34 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613121 8
35 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613129 8
36 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 5613137 8
37 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 6175143 8
38 8.042518 0.00260353 0 Write 6160447 8
39 8.052533 0.00261307 0 Write 5613071 1
40 8.052533 0.00261307 0 Write 6160455 8
41 8.072562 0.00261307 0 Write 6160447 8
42 8.102605 0.00261307 0 Write 57455759 32
43 8.102605 0.00261307 0 Write 6160455 8
44 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57456431 32
45 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57455759 32
46 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57456559 32
47 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57456495 32
48 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57457135 32
49 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57458063 8
50 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 57458079 8
51 8.132648 0.00261307 0 Write 6160447 8
52 8.202749 0.00261307 0 Write 57455759 8
53 8.202749 0.00261307 0 Write 6160455 8
54 8.232792 0.00261307 0 Write 1826271 1
55 8.232792 0.00261307 0 Write 6175151 8
56 8.232792 0.00261307 0 Write 6160447 8
57 8.252821 0.00261307 0 Write 1826272 9
58 8.252821 0.00261307 0 Write 1826281 8
59 8.252821 0.00261307 0 Write 1826289 8
60 8.252821 0.00261307 0 Write 6160455 8
61 8.272850 0.00261307 0 Write 1826271 1
62 8.272850 0.00261307 0 Write 6160447 8
63 8.302893 0.00261307 0 Write 6160455 8
64 8.312907 0.00261307 0 Write 56614647 32
65 8.312907 0.00261307 0 Write 6160447 8
66 8.352965 0.00261307 0 Write 56628151 32
67 8.352965 0.00261307 0 Write 56614647 32
68 8.352965 0.00261307 0 Write 6160455 8
69 8.403037 0.00261307 0 Write 56614647 8
70 8.403037 0.00261307 0 Write 6160447 8
71 8.593310 0.00022888 0 Write 57060191 8
72 10.596190 0.00022888 0 Write 1554559 39
73 12.088336 0.00022888 0 Write 6175159 40
74 12.088336 0.00022888 0 Write 6160455 8
75 12.088336 0.00022888 0 Write 6160431 8
76 12.599070 0.00022888 0 Write 57061007 8
77 13.600510 0.00022888 0 Write 57060183 8
78 13.600510 0.00015259 0 Write 57064455 8
79 17.095536 0.00015259 0 Write 6175199 32
80 17.095536 0.00015259 0 Write 6160447 8
81 17.095536 0.00015259 0 Write 6160439 8
82 18.607710 0.00015259 0 Write 57063271 8
83 18.607710 0.00022888 0 Write 57064943 8
84 22.102736 0.00022888 0 Write 6175231 40
85 22.102736 0.00022888 0 Write 6160455 8
86 22.102736 0.00022888 0 Write 6160431 8
87 25.617790 0.00022888 0 Write 6317535 8
88 25.617790 0.00022888 0 Write 6329063 8
89 25.617790 0.00022888 0 Write 6298527 8
90 25.617790 0.00022888 0 Write 6311791 8
91 27.109936 0.00022888 0 Write 6175271 32
92 27.109936 0.00022888 0 Write 6160447 8
93 27.109936 0.00022888 0 Write 6160439 8
94 28.622110 0.00022888 0 Write 51199319 16
95 29.623550 0.00022888 0 Write 57064167 8
96 32.117136 0.00022888 0 Write 6175303 32
97 32.117136 0.00022888 0 Write 6160455 8
98 32.117136 0.00022888 0 Write 6160431 8
99 49.812581 0.00022888 0 Write 6175335 80
100 49.812581 0.00022888 0 Write 6160447 8
101 49.812581 0.00022888 0 Write 6160439 8
102 54.819781 0.00022888 0 Write 6175415 40
103 54.819781 0.00022888 0 Write 6160455 8
104 54.819781 0.00022888 0 Write 6160431 8
105 59.826981 0.00022888 0 Write 6175455 32
106 59.826981 0.00022888 0 Write 6160447 8
107 59.826981 0.00022888 0 Write 6160439 8
108 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6319583 8
109 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6326023 8
110 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6329991 8
111 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6349863 32
112 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6354919 8
113 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6295623 8
114 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6295687 8
115 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6295719 8
116 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6295839 8
117 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6295919 8
118 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6295967 8
119 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6296079 8
120 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6296263 8
121 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6296319 8
122 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6296439 8
123 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6296479 8
124 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6296855 8
125 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6297207 8
126 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6297247 8
127 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6297343 8
128 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6297359 16
129 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6297423 8
130 60.668190 0.00022888 0 Write 6297479 8
131 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297615 16
132 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297703 8
133 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297759 8
134 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297863 8
135 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297887 8
136 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297903 8
137 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297943 8
138 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6297975 8
139 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6298015 8
140 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6301087 8
141 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6301167 8
142 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6302655 8
143 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6302759 8
144 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6302791 8
145 60.678205 0.00022888 0 Write 6302951 8
146 61.669630 0.00022888 0 Write 57060927 8
147 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064463 16
148 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064487 24
149 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064519 16
150 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064543 8
151 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064559 24
152 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064623 8
153 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064647 8
154 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064663 16
155 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064687 8
156 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064719 16
157 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064751 8
158 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064791 8
159 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064807 8
160 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064823 16
161 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064887 8
162 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064903 8
163 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064919 8
164 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064359 8
165 61.669630 0.00015259 0 Write 57064439 8
166 62.671070 0.00015259 0 Write 57061015 24
167 63.672510 0.00015259 0 Write 57063991 8
168 64.673950 0.00015259 0 Write 57065183 8
169 64.834181 0.00015259 0 Write 6175487 32
170 64.834181 0.00015259 0 Write 6160455 8
171 64.834181 0.00015259 0 Write 6160431 8
172 123.047888 0.00000954 0 Write 57523791 16
173 123.047888 0.00000954 0 Write 57524271 16
174 123.047888 0.00000954 0 Write 57525439 16
175 123.047888 0.00000954 0 Write 57525631 16
176 123.047888 0.00000954 0 Write 6160447 8
177 123.468493 0.00000954 0 Write 6175519 8
178 123.468493 0.00000954 0 Write 6160455 8
179 123.498536 0.00000954 0 Write 57469231 6
180 123.498536 0.00000954 0 Write 6160447 8
181 123.528579 0.00000954 0 Write 57466807 7
182 123.528579 0.00000954 0 Write 6160455 8
183 123.578651 0.00000954 0 Write 6160447 8
184 128.055088 0.00015259 0 Write 6175527 32
185 128.055088 0.00015259 0 Write 6160455 8
186 128.055088 0.00015259 0 Write 6160439 8
187 133.062288 0.00015259 0 Write 6175559 40
188 133.062288 0.00015259 0 Write 6160447 8
189 133.062288 0.00015259 0 Write 6160431 8
190 138.069488 0.00015259 0 Write 6175599 48
191 138.069488 0.00015259 0 Write 6160455 8
192 138.069488 0.00015259 0 Write 6160439 8
193 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6175647 8
194 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6311791 8
195 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6296095 8
196 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6160447 8
197 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6296799 8
198 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6297399 8
199 138.780510 0.00015259 0 Write 6302343 16

---

Interesting, while the LED flashes every second, DiskMon only puts out a new line about every 10-15 seconds. And then, it prints out a whole bunch of lines at once. Is it buffering? DiskMon would be far more helpful if it showed what files were being written to, rather than sector numbers.

Anyway, it looks like it is only doing WRITEs, no reads.

Why would it keep writing to the HD every second?

Jim

[ctal]

Originally Posted by jearl

I'm having the same problem with my Dell Latitude laptop.... Why would it keep writing to the HD every second?
Jim

It isn't. See post 45 of this thread, as well as comments by Shaihulud and others. I suspect Diskmon is not caching once per second writes, just capturing intermittent bursts.

Regards,
-- Al

[Baud]

Hi Jearl,

to get more comprehensive information, you shoud try Task Manager with extended properties or Sysinternal's Procmon.