Idle running WinXP system accesses alway the hard disc. Why?

[Martin Caldwell]

I have a WinXP+SP2 system which runs fine from the functionality point of view so far.

However when I close all browser windows and applications and let the WinXP run alone.
then approx. every second WinXP accesses the hard disc for a couple of milli seconds.
This behavior is still observable even after 20 minutes.

Because a couple of weeks/month ago this was not the case it can not be a hardware reason but
is a previously installed software or changed setting.

Lack of memory can not be the reason: I have 1 GB RAM.

Is there a tool which helps me to identfy which process try to access the hard disc?

Martin

 

[Jon]

I have a WinXP+SP2 system which runs fine from the functionality point of
view so far.

However when I close all browser windows and applications and let the
WinXP run alone.
then approx. every second WinXP accesses the hard disc for a couple of
milli seconds.
This behavior is still observable even after 20 minutes.

Because a couple of weeks/month ago this was not the case it can not be a
hardware reason but
is a previously installed software or changed setting.

Lack of memory can not be the reason: I have 1 GB RAM.

Is there a tool which helps me to identfy which process try to access the
hard disc?

Martin

Try filemon
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Filemon.html

Jon

 

[Vanguard]

I have a WinXP+SP2 system which runs fine from the functionality point
of view so far.

However when I close all browser windows and applications and let the
WinXP run alone.
then approx. every second WinXP accesses the hard disc for a couple of
milli seconds.
This behavior is still observable even after 20 minutes.

Because a couple of weeks/month ago this was not the case it can not
be a hardware reason but
is a previously installed software or changed setting.

Lack of memory can not be the reason: I have 1 GB RAM.

Is there a tool which helps me to identfy which process try to access
the hard disc?

Many anti-virus programs will continually read the hard drive. Use
SysInternal's FileMon to see what is making all the constant disk
accesses.

I was using EzAntivirus with the Prevx (an intrusion detection software
to fight malware). Prevx would update its logfile once or twice per
minute but this triggered EzAntivirus to rescan those files. I ended up
with 2700 file accesses per minute. I got rid of EzAntivirus and got
McAfee VirusScan (it was free to me). The disk access lowered
considerably but there is still about a dozen per minute. It is a bunch
of overhead of using these products. I tried disabling Prevx which
reduced the disk accesses but did not completely eliminate them.
Disabling the anti-virus program, too, quiesced my hard drive. In my
opinion about the current crop of anti-virus programs, their real-time
scanner(s) are overly proactive rather than being reactive.

 

[Unk]

I have a WinXP+SP2 system which runs fine from the functionality point of view so far.

However when I close all browser windows and applications and let the WinXP run alone.
then approx. every second WinXP accesses the hard disc for a couple of milli seconds.
This behavior is still observable even after 20 minutes.

Because a couple of weeks/month ago this was not the case it can not be a hardware reason but
is a previously installed software or changed setting.

Lack of memory can not be the reason: I have 1 GB RAM.

Is there a tool which helps me to identfy which process try to access the hard disc?

Martin

Some great FREE stuff here...
http://www.sysinternals.com/ProcessesAndThreadsUtilities.html

 

[Unk]

I have a WinXP+SP2 system which runs fine from the functionality point of view so far.

However when I close all browser windows and applications and let the WinXP run alone.
then approx. every second WinXP accesses the hard disc for a couple of milli seconds.
This behavior is still observable even after 20 minutes.

Because a couple of weeks/month ago this was not the case it can not be a hardware reason but
is a previously installed software or changed setting.

Lack of memory can not be the reason: I have 1 GB RAM.

Is there a tool which helps me to identfy which process try to access the hard disc?

Martin

Some great FREE stuff here...
http://www.sysinternals.com/ProcessesAndThreadsUtilities.html

 

[Guest]

Hi Martin,

There are two possible reasons:

1. Background programs that are still active.
2. Bad hard drive.

If you have any background programs running in the system, probably you need
to stop them, if you dont require. You can use the MSCONFIG utility to
uncheck the startup items. To know more about msconfig utility, go to the
following web site:

http://www.whizatpc.com/kbase/ka10079.html

However, if the issue is not with the background programs, it might be due
to a bad hard drive. If you are using a Segate hard drive, I recommend you to
download and install the segate utility from the following web site, which
tells the status of the hard drive. If it is going to die soon, you may need
to backup all the important data and go for a new one:

http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools/


--
Raghu Boddu,
MS MVP - Win Client

Visit:
http://www.merawindows.com
http://www.whizatpc.com