Hard Drive always seems to be writing or active why..???

mkha0246

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my hard drive in my new computer built started been acting like its downloading something so it always makes the sound when u load or download something from the hard drive even though I'm not. can anyone explain this or give me a soultion. thank you.
 

mkha0246

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so the OS requests it even though i just move like the mouse and open up a internet screen?? like im not downloading anything or loadin up anything it just makes that sound which is like a grasshopper creakin every few seconds....
 

SirCrono

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Sep 9, 2006
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Belive it or not OS's do stuff even when you aren't, so it's perfectly normal, it's not normal if a) it's really loud, this would point to a crappy or dying HD or b) the sounds are too long (0.5 secs or more) this could mean some spyware or hidden process using your HD, on a side note, if the OS is Vista and it's freshly installed (or you have installed lots of programs and created lots of files in a short time) it could be the search function indexing your HD contents, this could also happn if your power options are set to indexing only when the PC is idle.

Anyway, it's most likely normal.
 

malveaux

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Heya,

Which OS are you running? How much RAM? And what are your Drives?

As others mentioned, it's likely the page file/swap file (I assume you're using Vista). In Vista this is normal. If you're using XP, I would be a little more intrigued and tell you to look at your processes list in the task manager for something funky.

Cheers,
 
Not to worry. On a new install, Vista will index all your data in the background. This generates lots of low priority I/O operations and is normal. When it has done it's job, the activity will diminish. What you get for this is very fast search.
 
geo is on the right track. the indexing on a new vista build makes the hard drive constantly active for a while. just leave your computer on for a while and when the indexing is finished the hard drive activity should go back to normal.
 

mkha0246

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i had it on for at least 18 hrs when it was built at first, but its been three days and i have Warhammer online downloaded and cpuz and gpuz and realtemp and drivers and riva tuner, so would these things might have an impact on the hard drvie? and how much longer do u guys estimate this will go till?
 

malveaux

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Heya,

Turn off indexing. A fast search is not worth all the trouble and bother of indexing. You save a few seconds to find a document file or some crap that you forgot about or didn't pay attention to where you saved it.

Turning off page filing with only 4gigs is still not a good idea. At 8 gigs, sure, but 4, no.

Cheers,