Why so much HD activity?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry Pinnell
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Terry Pinnell

My new MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM is running as the primary drive
on the PCI card I installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket 133 2CH'. (That
appears in XP Device Manager under the category 'SCSI & RAID
Controller', as 'HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller')

I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise
it makes. When just spinning, it's fine. But most of the time there's
'activity', and that makes a sort of deep 'throbbing' sound which gets
rather wearing. I've unchecked 'Allow Indexing', so that doesn't
account for this apparently redundant activity or seeking. Why would
it do this, even when I'm making no access to the files so far moved
to this drive? Is there anything I can do to calm it a little please?
 
My new MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM is running as the primary drive
on the PCI card I installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket 133 2CH'. (That
appears in XP Device Manager under the category 'SCSI & RAID
Controller', as 'HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller')

I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise
it makes. When just spinning, it's fine. But most of the time there's
'activity', and that makes a sort of deep 'throbbing' sound which gets
rather wearing. I've unchecked 'Allow Indexing', so that doesn't
account for this apparently redundant activity or seeking. Why would
it do this, even when I'm making no access to the files so far moved
to this drive? Is there anything I can do to calm it a little please?
Click to expand...

Find out which program(s) are using it the most:
Windows Task Manager | Processes | Show processes from all users
View | Select columns... | select all starting with "I/O"

Sysinternals Filemon
 
Peter said:
Find out which program(s) are using it the most:
Windows Task Manager | Processes | Show processes from all users
View | Select columns... | select all starting with "I/O"

Sysinternals Filemon
Click to expand...

Thanks, I had a crack at that. The main activities in those I/O
columns appear to be Explorer, svchost.exe and NAVAPW32.EXE.

Strangely, when I disabled Norton Antivirus Auto-Protect, the I/O
activity continued to be reported by TM (and the HD activity
continued). Any idea why that would be please?

Presumably those other two are 'active' most of the time anyway?
 
Terry Pinnell said:
Thanks, I had a crack at that. The main activities in those I/O
columns appear to be Explorer, svchost.exe and NAVAPW32.EXE.

Strangely, when I disabled Norton Antivirus Auto-Protect, the I/O
activity continued to be reported by TM (and the HD activity
continued). Any idea why that would be please?

Presumably those other two are 'active' most of the time anyway?
Click to expand...

FWIW, I've just noticed that services.exe is constantly active too.
 
Terry Pinnell said:
Thanks, I had a crack at that. The main activities in those I/O
columns appear to be Explorer, svchost.exe and NAVAPW32.EXE.

Strangely, when I disabled Norton Antivirus Auto-Protect, the I/O
activity continued to be reported by TM (and the HD activity
continued). Any idea why that would be please?

Presumably those other two are 'active' most of the time anyway?
Click to expand...

I don't know whether this is related, but I just tried using Filemon
and something odd is happening. Unless I have Log Successes checked,
*nothing* is being captured. I can see entries flashing up and
disappearing on the top line, but not being retained. Only Successes
are retained. I'm not an experienced Filemon user, but in several
years of occasional use I've never seen that before.
 
When just spinning, it's fine. But most of the time there's
'activity', and that makes a sort of deep 'throbbing' sound which gets
rather wearing.
Click to expand...

It could be a beat frequency between the drive and a fan or another
drive.
 
Terry Pinnell said:
My new MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM is running
as the primary drive on the PCI card I installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket
133 2CH'. (That appears in XP Device Manager under the category
'SCSI & RAID Controller', as 'HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller')
Click to expand...
I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise it
makes.
Click to expand...

That's basically why I use Samsungs, completely silent with
the rotation and the seeking. So quiet I had to put my hand
on the drive to check that it was actually spinning up when
I install them and that's obviously with no cover on the case
and the system on the desktop while being setup.
When just spinning, it's fine. But most of the time there's 'activity',
and that makes a sort of deep 'throbbing' sound which gets
rather wearing.
Click to expand...

You could try setting the AAM if it available on that drive.

Forget which of the Maxtor utes does that, Hitachi's
Drive Feature Tool will do it, and has a convenient
iso for making a bootable CD to run it too.
I've unchecked 'Allow Indexing', so that doesn't account for this
apparently redundant activity or seeking. Why would it do this, even
when I'm making no access to the files so far moved to this drive?
Click to expand...

What is on that drive ?
Is there anything I can do to calm it a little please?
Click to expand...

Set the AAM.
 
Terry Pinnell said:
My new MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM is running as the primary drive
on the PCI card I installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket 133 2CH'. (That
appears in XP Device Manager under the category 'SCSI & RAID
Controller', as 'HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller')

I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise
it makes. When just spinning, it's fine. But most of the time there's
'activity',
Click to expand...
and that makes a sort of deep 'throbbing' sound which gets rather wearing.
Click to expand...

Since you specifically make a point of it, is this sound different from the
usual activity, as instigated by yourself?
Does the drive activity LED light up during this 'deep throbbing' activity?
I've unchecked 'Allow Indexing', so that doesn't
account for this apparently redundant activity or seeking. Why would
it do this, even when I'm making no access to the files so far moved
to this drive? Is there anything I can do to calm it a little please?
Click to expand...

It may be SMART.
 
Terry said:
My new MAXTOR 200GB HARD DRIVE 7200RPM is running as the primary drive
on the PCI card I installed, a 'HighPoint Rocket 133 2CH'. (That
appears in XP Device Manager under the category 'SCSI & RAID
Controller', as 'HPT302 UDMA/ATA133 Controller')

I've only had it a day, but am getting a bit irritated with the noise
it makes. When just spinning, it's fine. But most of the time there's
'activity', and that makes a sort of deep 'throbbing' sound which gets
rather wearing. I've unchecked 'Allow Indexing', so that doesn't
account for this apparently redundant activity or seeking. Why would
it do this, even when I'm making no access to the files so far moved
to this drive? Is there anything I can do to calm it a little please?
Click to expand...
It sounds like the infamous "Windows" virus, created by some kids
in Redmond, Washington, and propagated by Dell, HP, and other vectors.
 
Sysinternals Filemon
I don't know whether this is related, but I just tried using Filemon
and something odd is happening. Unless I have Log Successes checked,
*nothing* is being captured. I can see entries flashing up and
disappearing on the top line, but not being retained. Only Successes
are retained. I'm not an experienced Filemon user, but in several
years of occasional use I've never seen that before.
Click to expand...

That is weird Filemon behavour indeed. Which version do you use? I have 7.02
and there is no "Log Successes" option. Only "Advanced Output" (normally
off) under Options tab.
Can you check your HD activity using Performance monitor? Use "PhysicalDisk"
object and "Disk Reads/sec", "Disk Writes/sec", "Avg. Disc sec/Read", "Avg.
Disc sec/Write", "Split IO/sec" counters.
With all applications closed, I have most of those counter averages close to
zero (and no HD activity).
 
Rod Speed said:
(e-mail address removed) wrote


Nope, you'd see that when just spinning.
Click to expand...
No, Steve is right, I was mistaken/misleading in my initial
description. Now that I've been more careful and also taken the cover
off, I can clearly see/hear that the 'throbbing' is coming from the
fan mounted on top of the Athlon CPU heat sink.

It's intermittent and it's not consistently the same sound. I can
alter it by touching the case.

I obviously muddied the water by my description, in particular the
distinction about spinning. I was confused partly because I hadn't
realised that activity on this new HD still caused the existing HD LED
to come on, despite being on a new PCI controller. And I had not found
anywhere to connect the little LED that came with the 5.25" mounting
tray, so I was guessing whether the HD was seeking! I now realise that
the existing LED *does* get activated. So I can now definitely state
that this noise is not arising from disk seeking. Which is a relief.
But sorry for causing confusion <g>.

OK, now how to cure the problem. After much googling, it's plainly a
common problem. Largely caused by OEMs fitting cheap fans. Here's a
photo:
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/NoisyCPUFan.jpg
(Note how my digicam flash managed to freeze the spinning label BTW!
Didn't want to waste time re-booting, given the slowness of that
procedure at present on this system.)

Presumably the fan will come off completely after unscrewing the 4
corner screws? Can I then lubricate it with thin oil by peeling off
that label? And it clearly needs the dust removing. Is that a job best
done by buying a can of pressurised air?

For a better solution I suppose I should replace it. It seems to be
6cm square - a standard size? Is it worth buying a more expensive one
with ball bearings?
 
It could be a beat frequency between the drive and a fan or another
drive.
Click to expand...

You're right, Steve, thanks!

See my detailed reply to Rod, with photo.

Would appreciate anyone's input on possible cure please.
 
J. Clarke said:
If you can alter it by touching the case it's either something loose or a
panel resonance. If it's something loose find out what and tighten it. If
it's a panel resonance there are at least three fixes--different case with
different resonant frequency, alter the RPM of the fan so it's no longer in
resonance with the case, or add some mass and damping to the resonant
panel, which you can do by sticking in some purpose-made soundproofing
(Dynamat Extreme <http://www.dynamat.com/> is the gold standard--"ice and
water shield" that you can get in the roofing section building supply
stores is cheap and works well but read all the fine print, if you go to


Yes to both. Use a very small quantity of oil. Rather than trying a drop,
flow it down a wire or a needle or something and you'll get more control,
but practice on something else to get the technique down.


Panasonic Panaflo (or in the UK Papst/BKM might be more readily
available--they're of about the same quality as Panaflo) with fluid dynamic
bearings. Make sure you get one with about the same flow rate as the
original--if you're not sure err on the side of increased flow. Ball
bearing fans are inherently noisier than FDB fans, and get noisier.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for that detailed reply, John. Will follow-up on all of
your suggestions and report back.
 
An immediate finding is that one of the 4 screws is not 'threading',
IOW is completely loose and cannot be tightened up. However, all the
others are firm (and I've just given them another 1/4 turn). The
'resonance' diagnosis is one possibility, which maybe I could cure
with a replacement fan, or adding a couple of diodes in series with
leads to reduce voltage applied? But how about bearing failure or dust
build-up? As you saw from my photo, there's a fair amount of dust
inside the fan. Could this unbalance it, and - combined with wear on
the presumably cheap bearing - cause this throbbing? It changes every
few minutes, sometimes deeper sometimes higher.
 
Peter said:
That is weird Filemon behavour indeed. Which version do you use? I have 7.02
and there is no "Log Successes" option. Only "Advanced Output" (normally
off) under Options tab.
Can you check your HD activity using Performance monitor? Use "PhysicalDisk"
object and "Disk Reads/sec", "Disk Writes/sec", "Avg. Disc sec/Read", "Avg.
Disc sec/Write", "Split IO/sec" counters.
With all applications closed, I have most of those counter averages close to
zero (and no HD activity).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the follow-up.

First, to get this red herring of my making out of the way, the 'HD
noise' turns out to be CPU fan noise! See my reply earlier today to
Rod.

Now the Filemon issue. I'm puzzled by your reply, because I have 7.0
and wouldn't have expected 7.02 to be radically different. Here's a
screenshot showing the options, including Log Successes.

http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/Filemon1.gif
 
Presumably the fan will come off completely after unscrewing the 4
corner screws? Can I then lubricate it with thin oil by peeling off
that label? And it clearly needs the dust removing. Is that a job best
done by buying a can of pressurised air?
Click to expand...

Pressurized air from a can is the way I do it. Works sufficiently well.
Yes, you can apply lubrication (I use a mix of thick lubricant with a bit of
WD-40), but you may need to cap it back with something else than the
original label. Because it won't stick anymore. It usually quiets the fan
for a year or more.
 
Peter said:
Pressurized air from a can is the way I do it. Works sufficiently well.
Yes, you can apply lubrication (I use a mix of thick lubricant with a bit of
WD-40), but you may need to cap it back with something else than the
original label. Because it won't stick anymore. It usually quiets the fan
for a year or more.
Click to expand...

Thanks. No can of air at hand so used toothbrush and small vacuum
cleaner. Drop of 3-In-One oil, and 'GlueStick' to replace label. Only
snag was that one of 4 threads in h/s had 'gone', so screw was
complexly loose. Found another slightly larger diameter, hacksawed to
correct length, and that seems OK.

Pleased to report now quietened!
 
Peter said:
Sorry, yes. That is the same. I was not looking in Filemon Filter settings.

But your Filemon behavior is still weird.
Click to expand...

Whatever the cause of that bizarre behaviour, pleased to say it
appears to have cured itself <g>.

BTW - if I can be excused for continuing OT briefly - do you use
Filemon with filters? If so, could you give me any pointers on a few
examples please? Its output is daunting without them! Of course,
entering 'J' was simple enough, and got me references to my new HD.
But I'm sure there are some really clever techniques... Is there a
newsgroup or online forum good for Filemon discussion?
 
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