What is My Hard Drive Doing

[DJW]

So is there a way to see what your hard drive is writing. I noticed while I was watching the FB game tonight that my HD light was just flashing away. I was not online and no Win 10 updates showed up? Nothing else that I am aware of would download updates without me saying ok.

 

Thoughts

 

Thanks

 

Dennis

[RV_]

You were not online but left your computer on and the modem connected? Turn the computer off! It could have been doing a scan of some sort? I shut down my systems when done with them except for the Surface Pro Tablet that sits by the recliner all day but is shut down when the battery gets below 15% or so. It is still new enough to be conditioning it for deepest cycles.

[DJW]

​RV

 

I never shut the laptop down during the day. I turn it off at night. I always log off the net when I am not using it.

 

Dennis

[gypsydan]

RV - Check the settings for indexing, as your OS might also have been indexing the drive.

[DJW]

gyspydan

 

What is indexing and how do you check for it?

 

Dennis

[Pat & Pete]

I use to use a little program called "What's Running" . It showed just that , what was running at the moment . I'm not sure if it would work on W7 or later .

 

Now I just use Iobit : Advanced System Care 9 . I'm sure there's something better out there , but this is pretty good for being free .

[lenp]

Open Task Manager and see what process(es) are using the hard drive.

 

Lenp

[wildmandmc]

your HD could be just thinking, as its waiting for next job/command

[gypsydan]

gyspydan

 

What is indexing and how do you check for it?

 

Indexing creates a table of contents (data base) of words on your hard drive. open Control panel and click on Indexing Options to see what is being indexed. also you can google hard drive indexing for more info. You can also check windows help and read about indexing.

http://www.techrepublic.com/forums/questions/what-exactly-is-indexing-a-drive/

[Al F]

Open Task Manager and see what process(es) are using the hard drive.

 

Lenp

How do your use Task manager to see the usage for the hard drive?? I see CPU usage & memory usage, but I don't see a option to see the Hard Drive usage.

 

I am running Windows 7.

[skunk workz]

How do your use Task manager to see the usage for the hard drive?? I see CPU usage & memory usage, but I don't see a option to see the Hard Drive usage.

 

I am running Windows 7.

 

Go to the Performance Tab, and click on the Resource Monitor button at the bottom.

 

In Resource Monitor there is a Disk tab that shows what apps are reading and writing to the disk at any point in time.

[wildmandmc]

Ctrl Alt Del gives option for task mang.

[Al F]

 

Go to the Performance Tab, and click on the Resource Monitor button at the bottom.

 

In Resource Monitor there is a Disk tab that shows what apps are reading and writing to the disk at any point in time.

Many thanks. I frequently use task manager when things aren't working the way I think they should be, but never knew I could use task manager to see the hard drive, network, etc.

[RV_]

Al,

I reduce it to the taskbar on all my computers and pin it. It makes it easy if you suddenly think something is downloading or trying to or you just think the drive is running wrong in use only to just click it and stop whatever browser you are using which cuts the cord. When I shut it down it is back on the task bar. I use it a lot for all of the above. For those confused just click more detail;l at he bottom of the small task manager screen in Windows 8.1 and 10, and all the options appear.