HDDs switch off - but they shouldn't

[Tracey Woodmason]

Hi

I'm hoping that someone just may be able to point me in the right direction
to solve a problem.

I have a PC running WinXP Home w/SP3 and I have set up the Power Settings
such that my HDDs DON'T switch off. All well and good so far...but they
still do spin down and stop.

What prompted me to write this message was that I have not touch my PC for
perhaps an hour and a half but still the HDDs are spin up and then down
again. On occasions they thrash about doing something but what I've been
unable to find out so far. Am I missing something or is there another
setting which overrules the one set in the Power Settings in the Control
Panel?

Also is there some way of finding out (other than using Process Monitor)
what is causing my HDDs to thrash about - I've not had any luck so far with
Process Monitor. Incidentally, I have done a virus check using Avast4 and
everything appears to check out fine.

Hoping someone can help

Tracey Woodmason

PS I hope I'm posting this message in the right newsgroup as I don't know
where else to seek the help I need. If anyone knows of somewhere then please
let me know and I'll give it a try. Thanks.

 

[JS]

Have you tried Process Monitor:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

Once may be able to immediately spot what is causing the sudden burst
of disk activity. If not then by effectively weeding out the background
activity using "Filters" should easily show the info you are looking for.

JS
www.pagestart.com

 

[Unknown]

Obvious something running in the background. Run msconfig and delete items
in startup to find what is running.

 

[Tracey Woodmason]

Hi

Many thanks for your replies but I'm not really sure either suggestion is
that helpful. I've already tried using Process Monitor but to no avail - and
I don't have the time to check using msconfig and disabling programs one at
a time. I think I'll just let it go at this time. Apart from this I'm not
sure I won't be re-installing XP in the next couple of weeks anyway. Again
many thanks to you both.

Tracey