HDD keeps spinning up for no reason - XP

[mistafeesh]

Hi guys 'n' gals,

I've built a lovely quiet PC for my living room. The only component that's noisy is the HDD, but that's OK, as it should only spin up when it's in use, which is when it's either playing music or video.

However, it just keeps spinning up running for a while, then spinning down again. Does anyone know of a utility that can keep it quiet for me? I will eventually buy a quieter drive, but at the moment it's all I can afford.

 

[jonny_uk]

It doesnt matter what price the HDD was, it shouldnt be randomly spinning up when the pc isnt doing anything!

I mean my 300GB Seagate barracuder sometimes makes the odd "click click" sound when im not doing anything but i think thats perfectly normal as the pc could be accessing the HDD for a number of reasons, but i think constantly fully spinning up and down all the time is not normal.............

 

[COD2_fanatic]

yuo want to hear a lound hard drive? go get one from 1995 and run it.

I would say windows is accessing it for something

 

[Nagasama]

^^haha^^
like someone has a lawnmower next to your head.

 

[saltynay]

yes bt it was awesome if the pc ever broke u could tell the hdd were running fine on start up without opening the case

 

[jonny_uk]

I know people say it all the time, but have you done spyware/virus checks?

 

[CrazeD]

Take the cover off your case and run a few Raptors in there. Talk about loud.

The operating system accesses the drive periodically for a number of reasons, such as gathering system info, saving event/performance logs, updating software, scanning for viruses/spyware, etc.

You can shut down a lot of services that you don't need via going to "Start > Run > services.msc". Be careful, because if you delete services you actually need then your O/S will no longer work.

 

[Nagasama]

^^lol^^ no doubt...
they call them raptors because it sounds like little vicious dinosaurs are eating your computer...

 

[reggie_da_man]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a virus or spyware. The spyware is going to have to access your hard drive to get information and viruses just **** with your computer.

 

[mistafeesh]

Hi.

I've run the usual checks, and it isn't spyware or virii,

The hdd probably is from about 1995!!! It's only 6gig - it accesses all my media across a network.

I'll have a look at services.msc and try not to blow anything up!