Constant disk access even when machine is idle?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sriram
  • Start date Start date
S

Sriram

Hello all,

I recently upgraded my Inspiron 8100 (866 MHz P3 Mobile, 256 MB RAM)
to a 60GB Hitachi Travelstar drive. At the same time, I went from Win
2K Professional SP1 to SP4.

I have 5 partitions on this drive, 3 of them unformatted as yet. (I
thought I'd use them for Linux.) The sizes are 4GB, 4GB, 16 GB, 16 GB,
20 GB respectively. Partitions 1 and 3 are currently in use by
Windows.

I am noticing that the HD activity LED goes on almost all the time,
even when the machine is totally idle. SystemInternals'
FileMon/DiskMon tell me that there's no file system activity, but
something is constantly doing a low level disk access, as captured
below:

4736 9:52:25 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3540474 Length: 128
4737 9:52:26 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3540539 Length: 128
4738 9:52:26 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3540602 Length: 128
4739 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS IoControlCode:
0x0007C088
4740 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS IoControlCode:
0x0007C088
4741 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3541051 Length: 128
4742 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3541114 Length: 128
4743 9:52:28 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3542939 Length: 128
<snip>
4788 9:52:36 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544282 Length: 128
4789 9:52:36 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3544347 Length: 128
4790 9:52:36 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544410 Length: 128
4791 9:52:37 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3544475 Length: 128
4792 9:52:37 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544538 Length: 128
4793 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3544603 Length: 128
4794 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544666 Length: 128
4795 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3540947 Length: 8
4796 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3541010 Length: 8
4797 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3564875 Length: 8
4798 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3564938 Length: 8
4799 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3564867 Length: 8
4800 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3564930 Length: 8
4801 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3548835 Length: 8
4802 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3548898 Length: 8
4803 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3424395 Length: 8
4804 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3424458 Length: 8
4805 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3540907 Length: 128
4806 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3540970 Length: 128
<snip>
4869 9:52:52 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3546779 Length: 128
4870 9:52:52 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3546842 Length: 128
4871 0.00092610 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3546907 Length: 128
4872 0.00088587 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3546970 Length: 128
4873 0.00091660 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3547035 Length: 128
4874 0.00087693 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3547098 Length: 128
4875 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3547163 Length: 128
4876 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3547226 Length: 128
4877 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
4426212 Length: 24
4878 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
4426275 Length: 24
4879 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
4393180 Length: 8
4880 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
4393243 Length: 8
4881 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
4393156 Length: 8
4882 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
4393219 Length: 8
4883 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS IOCTL_STORAGE_PREDICT_FAILURE
4884 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3533299 Length: 8
4885 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3533362 Length: 8
4886 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3251595 Length: 8
4887 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3251658 Length: 8

I am not sure if this has to do with the OS, the disk, or the number
of partitions on the disk. My older 10GB IBM Travelstar was a lot
quieter, but it only had one partition on it. I'm afraid the constant
spin cycles will wear out the new drive.

Any pointers as to what's going on and how to fix it (if possible) are
greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sriram
 
Sriram said:
Hello all,

I recently upgraded my Inspiron 8100 (866 MHz P3 Mobile, 256 MB RAM)
to a 60GB Hitachi Travelstar drive. At the same time, I went from Win
2K Professional SP1 to SP4.

I have 5 partitions on this drive, 3 of them unformatted as yet. (I
thought I'd use them for Linux.) The sizes are 4GB, 4GB, 16 GB, 16 GB,
20 GB respectively. Partitions 1 and 3 are currently in use by
Windows.

I am noticing that the HD activity LED goes on almost all the time,
even when the machine is totally idle. SystemInternals'
FileMon/DiskMon tell me that there's no file system activity, but
something is constantly doing a low level disk access, as captured
below:

4736 9:52:25 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3540474 Length: 128
4737 9:52:26 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3540539 Length: 128
4738 9:52:26 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3540602 Length: 128
4739 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS IoControlCode:
0x0007C088
4740 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS IoControlCode:
0x0007C088
4741 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3541051 Length: 128
4742 9:52:27 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3541114 Length: 128
4743 9:52:28 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3542939 Length: 128
<snip>
4788 9:52:36 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544282 Length: 128
4789 9:52:36 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3544347 Length: 128
4790 9:52:36 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544410 Length: 128
4791 9:52:37 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3544475 Length: 128
4792 9:52:37 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544538 Length: 128
4793 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3544603 Length: 128
4794 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3544666 Length: 128
4795 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3540947 Length: 8
4796 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3541010 Length: 8
4797 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3564875 Length: 8
4798 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3564938 Length: 8
4799 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3564867 Length: 8
4800 9:52:38 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3564930 Length: 8
4801 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3548835 Length: 8
4802 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3548898 Length: 8
4803 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3424395 Length: 8
4804 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3424458 Length: 8
4805 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3540907 Length: 128
4806 9:52:39 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3540970 Length: 128
<snip>
4869 9:52:52 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3546779 Length: 128
4870 9:52:52 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3546842 Length: 128
4871 0.00092610 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3546907 Length: 128
4872 0.00088587 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3546970 Length: 128
4873 0.00091660 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3547035 Length: 128
4874 0.00087693 IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3547098 Length: 128
4875 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3547163 Length: 128
4876 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3547226 Length: 128
4877 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
4426212 Length: 24
4878 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
4426275 Length: 24
4879 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
4393180 Length: 8
4880 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
4393243 Length: 8
4881 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
4393156 Length: 8
4882 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_WRITE \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
4393219 Length: 8
4883 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_DEVICE_CONTROL \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS IOCTL_STORAGE_PREDICT_FAILURE
4884 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3533299 Length: 8
4885 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3533362 Length: 8
4886 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition5 SUCCESS Sector:
3251595 Length: 8
4887 9:52:55 PM IRP_MJ_READ \Harddisk0\Partition0 SUCCESS Sector:
3251658 Length: 8
Click to expand...
I am not sure if this has to do with the OS,
Click to expand...

Most likely its something running doing that.
the disk, or the number of partitions on the disk.
Click to expand...

Cant be either of those.
My older 10GB IBM Travelstar was a lot quieter,
but it only had one partition on it. I'm afraid the
constant spin cycles will wear out the new drive.
Click to expand...

Shouldnt do, but its obviously undesirable.
Any pointers as to what's going on and how
to fix it (if possible) are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

See what task is using all the cpu resources.
That should tell you what is doing that drive activity.
 
Sriram said:
Hello all,

I recently upgraded my Inspiron 8100 (866 MHz P3 Mobile, 256 MB RAM)
to a 60GB Hitachi Travelstar drive. At the same time, I went from Win
2K Professional SP1 to SP4.
Click to expand...

Does SP4 have any of WinXP's built in defrag or indexing code (or am I way
off beam?)
 
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