My harddrive light turns solid red and computer gets really slow and freezes sometimes

[John 12]

when the hd light come on my computer gets extremly slow and when it stops things get s little faster.
this has been happening for about 7 months now i re installed windows and it still does the same thing
also when i am away from the computer it remains off no hd light at all
also my computer remains on 24/7
Any advice will be appreciated

 

[terry4536]

What are your system specifics? What are the components? What operating system are you using?

 

[terry4536]

I would guess that your hard drive is beginning to fail? Have you ran any diagnostics on the drive?

 

[terry4536]

Here are some instructions for Windows 7.

Check a drive for errors

You can solve some computer problems by checking a drive or drives for errors. For example, you can check your computer's primary hard disk to fix some performance issues, or you can check an external hard drive if it's not working properly.

Click to open Computer.

Right-click the drive that you want to check, and then click Properties.

Click the Tools tab, and then, under Error-checking, click Check now. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

To automatically repair problems with files and folders that the scan detects, select Automatically fix file system errors. Otherwise, the disk check will report problems but not fix them.

To perform a thorough check, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. This scan attempts to find and repair physical errors on the drive itself, and it can take much longer to complete.

To check for both file errors and physical errors, select both Automatically fix file system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors.

Click Start.

Depending on the size of your drive, this might take several minutes. For best results, don't use your computer for any other tasks while it is checking for errors.

Note
If you select Automatically fix file system errors for a drive that's in use (for example, the partition that contains Windows), you'll be prompted to reschedule the check for the next time you restart your computer.

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Welcome to the community, John!

The problem is most probably with your hard drive and not your computer.
That's why the problem still occurs even after the re-install of Windows.
I suggest you download a diagnostics tool from your HDD's manufacturer and run some tests on it.
Another thing you can try is run CMD (command prompt) as administrator and type:
chkdsk x: /r (where x - is the drive letter assigned to the HDD you want to test)
This will locate and fix bad sectors on your drive that may improve its performance and hopefully stop the PC freezing.
I'd also recommend to back up all the data from that drive, because it might be failing you.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD