Unexplained hard drive access

[Greg]

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
Something is accessing my hard drive for about a half second every 7
seconds. How do I find out what is causing this?

 

[Kerry Brown]

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.
Something is accessing my hard drive for about a half second every 7
seconds. How do I find out what is causing this?

This should do the trick.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/FileAndDisk/Filemon.mspx

 

[JS]

You need to find the specific process or application that's runs every seven
seconds.
You can do this with Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del key), select the
Processes Tab,
Next, click on the CPU column twice, this should bring the System Idle
process to the top (as long as you are not using any other applications).
Then about every 7 seconds you should another process float to or near the
top of the list. This could be the Indexing service and if it is you need to
decide if you can live without it.

For more exploratory detail download and try Process Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/SystemInformation/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Once you have Process Explorer installed and running:
In the taskbar select View and check 'Show Process Tree' and 'Show Lower
Pane' options.
(This will provide the detailed info you need)
Next click on the CPU column to sort processes by %CPU usage.
Then click on the process of interest that's listed in the CPU % column,
once it's highlighted, right click and from the options listed select:
google
This should display what out there on the web about that process.

Note: some entries like Explorer and svchost may need to be expanded to show
the detail,
(sub processes), in this case click on the + located to the left on the
entry.

Still another tool is What's Running
http://www.whatsrunning.net/whatsrunning/main.aspx

JS

 

[Greg]

I ran Process Explorer and 2 items use a small amount of CPU time during the
hard drive access: Hardware Interupts and Deferred Procedure Calls. Clicking
on these items shows nothing in the Process Explorer lower pane. I Googled
them but the information is way over my head - don't know what they are
talking about.

 

[JS]

Can you list what the two items are, please use exact spelling/wording as
shown in Process Explorer.
I'll Google and see what there is to see.

JS

 

[Greg]

I changed the update speed in Process Explorer which gives better results.
The problem appears to be a svchost.exe process. Mouse over ballon says
Remote Procedure Call (RPC). I checked Task Manager and the User Name
column says NETWORK SERVICES. Could this be caused by a recent upgrade from
an old D-link wired router to a Linksys wireless router for cable internet
for two computers?

 

[JS]

I'm still using a wired router, so I can't say. Why not try the suggestion
that Kerry Brown made in this post:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/FileAndDisk/Filemon.mspx

Filemon may just show what file is being accessed and help narrow down the
problem.

JS

 

[Kerry Brown]

It usually takes a combination of tools to solve a problem like this.

 

[Greg]

Tried Filemon and finally found the problem. Perfect Disk 8 (defrag
program) is the program responsible. This program installs 2 services: PD
Engine and PD Agent.
PD Engine is the defrag engine and is set for manual start. PD Agent
controls defrag scheduling and remote communication and is set for automatic
startup. When PD Agent auto starts it will also startup PD Engine even
though it is in manual start. PD Engine is the service that is causing the
hard drive access every 7 seconds.
I do not use the automated scheduling of defragmentation (use manual defrags
only) so I changed the PD Agent service from automatic to manual. This
prevents the PD Engine service from auto starting. When I start Perfect
Disk from the start menu everything starts up as required. The only problem
is when I close down Perfect Disk the PD Engine and PD Agent services do not
shut down and my original problem returns. I have to go to Services and stop
the 2 services or restart the computer to correct the problem.
Guess I'll have to live with it because I really like Perfect Disk 8.
Thanks for your time. Couldn't have found the problem without your help.

 

[JS]

Some defrag software comes with a 'Background' defrag option, the idea is to
keep your disk defragmented as you work on other tasks.

It's suppose to be invisible to the user when used as a low priority
background service. You may want to see if Perfect Disk has such an option
and if so turn it off.

JS

 

[Greg]

Perfect Disk 8 has an Auto Pilot Scheduler where you schedule defrags by day
and time. Even with it turned off the PD Agent service loads at bootup
unless you manually change it from Automatic to Manual startup in Services.

 

[JS]

Thanks for the info you provided, I appreciate it.
Have a good day.

JS