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Hard drive constantly running

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by wdkempf

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There appears to be some process causing my hard drive to keep running. I can't tell what it might be as it doesn't show up in Task Manager (running Win2000). Computer operates normally otherwise. It stops on shutdown (naturally)and does not start on bootup until I choose to load the first program. Then it whirs constantly. Getting out of the first program does not cause it to stop. I defragragmented the drive twice, but that hasn't cured it. Any clues of where I should look or try next?

3 replies

by joseph moore

Click Start -> Programs -> ADministrative Tools -> Performance and bring up the Performance Monitor.
Load up some performance counters in the Process, Processes, Paging File, and Physical Disk section. That should help you figure out what process is using the disk so much.

hope this helps

by w2ktechman

I recently had a similar problem, except, after the drive light stayed on for a while, the drive would stop spinning altogether. I replaced the hard drive and all works fine.
It could be that the system reads from the drive for a second and then fails to find the drive and keeps trying. Sometimes it will come back, sometimes it wont. It could be the HDD or drive controller.

by wlbowers

Back up the drive.

Download the manufacturers diagnostic software and create a boot/test disk. If it is the drive it will do it in dos.

Now boot to the test disk and test the drive.

Lee

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