Hard Drive Activity ???

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davidemm

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Hey Gang,

Thanks for reading.

I recently bought a new computer and nstalled a new SATA 130gig hard drive. The computer case has very distinctive HD lights and it is very easy to see when the HD is being accessed.

I would like this hard drive to last a while. I disabled and removed windows page swaping so that it won't work the hard drive so hard.

I figure, the less that is read/written to the hard drive, the less mechanical work it does, the less wear it will recieve, and the longer it will last (and work fast).

The problem is, even with page swapping removed, the HD lights are flashing in half-second intervals. I don't have much installed on this yet, so I am wondering why is the HD being accessed so frequently.

Is there something windows is doing that I can turn off? Is there a free util that I can use to see what proccesses are accessing my hard drive?

Thank you!
 
Since you shut off the swapping the hard drive has to accessed a lot to keep adding to the RAM. You need around 2GB to stop it from reading.

You don't have to worry about using the Hard drive a lot. Most companies offer a 5 year warranty now. I've had one for 5 years that runs constantly and hasn't had one problem.
 
well, I dont' think it's most companies, but for the most part, Turtile is right. Getting a good HDD is the key. One that has a large cache is good, as well as one that is by a good vendor. I only use Seagate drives now, as they are one of the only companies left building server quality drives for the desktops.

The other is not rebooting a lot. When you think about it, the hardest part of a drive's work is done when it boots. The Discs go from sitting still to 7200 RPM and that is a lot of work, so if you can, either standby the system, which puts them at a low spin/near stop or just let them run all the time. You also need to have good airflow over the drives.

As to the access thing, when you are doing anything on the machine, the drive is being used. the only time that it's not going to be used is if you are in sleep mode.

hope that helps...
Good luck
 
another thing you can do is get a 20-30 gig hard drive for your OS. use the other one for you storeage.

who cares, if it dies? you just get another one. leave a backup image on the storage drive.
 
Inaris said:
standby the system, which puts them at a low spin/near stop

That's not true. The drive is either spinning or it is not. The head requires the full 7200RPM speed, as it is designed to work on a layer of air at the pressure given at this speed. If it went down to a slow speed, the head would have a much higher chance of hitting the disk, which damages the surface.

To the original poster, don't worry about activity, if you look after the drive properly and use it for what it is designed for, it should last forever.
 
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