Constant hdd writing/reading? Crazy stuff!

Old_Fogie · 06-07-2006, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kodon

the default is 4:40am

my clock is never right on this pc. the darn KDE messes it up. i made the mistake of telling it my time zone, and now whenever I reboot from windows into this my time is always off.

so yeah, LOL you're probably right.

and if so, what am I doing awake at that time of day

bye for now.

zborgerd · 06-07-2006, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Svip

I can constantly hear my hdd being (ab)used. I am wondering what I can do to limit this. Because my system is very slow when running X, well... slow at starting up applications, when they are running, it's almost like flying.

I just wish to know reasons for a lot of hdd activity, when I had ubuntu on this very machine, the hdd activity was much less active.

Have you considered running a program like "top" or the gnome process viewer to see which processes are making the most of the CPU?

Svip · 06-08-2006, 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zborgerd

Have you considered running a program like "top" or the gnome process viewer to see which processes are making the most of the CPU?

Interestingly, the CPU is not very much in use when the hdd is active. In fact, rarely are they highly active at the same time, although it do happen.

I have that system monitor on my GNOME panel. Where for some reason, hdd information does not work, so I just listen for the sounds.

zborgerd · 06-08-2006, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Svip

Interestingly, the CPU is not very much in use when the hdd is active. In fact, rarely are they highly active at the same time, although it do happen.

I have that system monitor on my GNOME panel. Where for some reason, hdd information does not work, so I just listen for the sounds.

Have you tried testing your drive with a manufacturer-provided drive fitness tool? Most major HD manufacturers make these. They typically provide an ISO image or BIN file that can be burnt to a CD or written to a floppy to allow you to boot up and test the drive for mechanical problems and write errors.

davidsrsb · 06-08-2006, 09:41 PM

I have found that smartmontools works on a pc where the bios does not work properly with SMART.
I agree that the manufacturers own diagnostics is the best way to check a drive.

Sustainded activity when the cpu is idle could be the drive attempting to calibrate itself and having problems..