OK, new Vista machine is finsihed indexing, but hard drive still being access continuouksly

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chippy
  • Start date Start date
C

Chippy

OK, so how do I find out what is reading my drive continuously, for as long
as the machine is on, and stop it?
This happens even when no programs are running and it's just the desktop.
This is going to kill my drive.
C
 
This is going to kill my drive.

Actually, there is no evidence at all that accessing a drive like that
shortens its life. If you don't believe me, find those Google White Papers
which discuss at length hard disk failure modes. Nobody gets through more
hard disks than Google.

Lots of things cause ongoing disk accesses in Vista, and they all operate at
the lowest I/O and CPU priorities in order not to affect performance. Apart
from indexing, Vista spends a lot of time defragging the disk, preloading
stuff into memory in anticipation of you wanting it, and I believe it also
shuffles files around on the disk to improve boot performance.

Please don't worry. Vista accesses the disk more than XP. Eventually it'll
calm down, but you may need to wait several days.

SteveT
 
Oh, I forgot: other things which cause ongoing disk access are security
software (including Vista's built in anti-malware thing, and certain OS
functions such as the automatic creation of restore points, backups, etc.

I should also add that excessive disk thrashing can be caused by
insufficient RAM (although not normally when the machine is idle for any
length of time). You should have 2G of RAM, or more.

SteveT
 
Has your "new" computer become part of (one of many) a bot net? This would
certainly account for disk activity as your computer spews out hundreds of
thousands of bogus emails per day - behind your back.

Get a good internet monitoring program to see if this is happening. I use
NetMeter.

I went to my sons house a few weeks back. He had not actively used his
computer for a couple of hours. Yet, NetMeter showed that his out going
stream was using about 2.1 meg of bandwidth. This went on for over 2 hours.
His computer was "owned" as it turned out.

After retreating to a system image I had created for him a few weeks prior
all activity stopped and his hard disk was again quiet.
 
Richard Urban said:
Has your "new" computer become part of (one of many) a bot net? This would
certainly account for disk activity as your computer spews out hundreds of
thousands of bogus emails per day - behind your back.
Click to expand...

Also have you got any p2p stuff on the pc? The bbc iplayer for instance,
you have to uncheck the box in settings so you dont allow file sharing from
other users.
 
have ever seen the vista schecduled tasks as apposed to xp?
No? Yes? Oh you have? And you still are here to remind us about vista
needing 2 gigs just to function properly?
Click to expand...

What on earth are you talking about?

SteveT
 
You are such an idiot. No need to worry about gravity or Einstein. You
should stay away from Vista and migrate to Ubuntu. That is more your speed.

Get with Alias and he will help your sorry ass out.
 
Non Sequitur! said:
idiots like you are the reason for this mess:

http://io9.com/5074071/humans-will-need-a-second-planet-by-2030

One Earth just doesn't cut it anymore. As our population grows and we
continue to consume resources at an alarming rate, we'll need the
equivalent of a second Earth by 2030 to maintain our current lifestyle.
That's the finding of the latest report from the World Wildlife Fund. And
since we don't have a spare lying around, it's time to make a drastic
change.
Click to expand...
Why not gather some dirt and start building that new Earth you are talking
about. That should keep you busy enough to stop posting here.
 
It's bee a couple of weeks now, almost three.
C

Steve Thackery said:
Actually, there is no evidence at all that accessing a drive like that
shortens its life. If you don't believe me, find those Google White
Papers which discuss at length hard disk failure modes. Nobody gets
through more hard disks than Google.

Lots of things cause ongoing disk accesses in Vista, and they all operate
at the lowest I/O and CPU priorities in order not to affect performance.
Apart from indexing, Vista spends a lot of time defragging the disk,
preloading stuff into memory in anticipation of you wanting it, and I
believe it also shuffles files around on the disk to improve boot
performance.

Please don't worry. Vista accesses the disk more than XP. Eventually
it'll calm down, but you may need to wait several days.

SteveT
Click to expand...
 
I don't think I read one post that explained what I asked for, how to
determine which procs/apps are reading my disk.
Is there no way to determine this?
I made a big mistake if the answer is no.
C
 
Reliability and Performance Monitor. Use disk monitor to see what is
reading/writing the most.
 
It's bee a couple of weeks now, almost three.

OK, that's long enough. As Richard says, the Reliability and Performance
Monitor will tell you exactly what is going on.

People like to criticise Vista, but the instrumentation is WAY better than
XP's.

SteveT
 
thanks
c
Richard Urban said:
Reliability and Performance Monitor. Use disk monitor to see what is
reading/writing the most.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience
Click to expand...
 
mfg drivers

philo said:
Well that's all I needed to know >

With that much RAM you should definately not be having that problem!

Do you have the manufacturer's chipset drivers installed...
especially for your (S)ATA controller...
or are you just using the Windows drivers.

The mfg's drivers are advised
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top