Hard Drive Light On For Extended Time

[JodyWood]

On both XP Home and XP Pro, I have experienced cases where the hard drive light on the case is on for extended periods of time. Many times when there is no activity this occurs. Even when in power saving mode. When the light is on, it does not sound as if the hard drive is running (i.e. not making a slight grinding noise).

Any ideas on what causes this? Is it something to be concerned about? How does one correct this from happening?

Thanks in advance,
Jody Wood

[SuperSparks]

Do you have the Indexing Service enabled? If so that would explain the hard drive activity.

[JodyWood]

How come it does not sound like the drive is spinning, but the light is on?

I believe the indexing service is enabled, but not 100% sure. Does it need to be? What does it do? I haven't had a chance to research.

Thanks,
Jody

[paisan]

Right Windows XP help:

"Indexing Service overviewIndexing Service is a service that extracts the information from a set of documents and organizes it in a way that makes it quick and easy to access that information through the Windows XP Search function, the Indexing Service query form, or a Web browser. This information can include text from within a document, (its contents), and the characteristics and parameters of the document, (its properties), such as the author's name. Once the index is created, you can search, or query the index for documents that contain key words, phrases, or properties. For example, you can query all documents containing the word "product" or you can query for all Microsoft Office documents written by a specific author. Indexing Service returns a list of all documents that meet your search criteria."

It's a hog so turn it off.

[SuperSparks]

The hard drive is always spinning, the slight clicking sound that you sometimes hear is the headds moving, and you only hear it when a lot of data is being written/read.

You can turn off the indexing service by right-clicking the drive in Windows Explorer and unchecking "Allow indexing service...". You can also do away with it completely from Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs>Windows Components.

[Ridgerunr]

Suggest you go to Black Viper's site and dn/load his 'Services configuration' tips. You'll find the zipped dn/load at the bottom of the first paragraph on this page: http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

[JodyWood]

Thanks for the information. I will give that a try to see if it resolves the issue.

BTW - This is a great forum with quick and knowledgeable responses. Thanks to all for your help in the past, present, and the future. This is an awesome resource!

Jody Wood

[JodyWood]

I have turned off the Indexing Service. However, the drive light still remains an issue with it remaining on. I don't believe that it is hurting anything and it doesn't seem to affect performance. Thus, it is a tolerable item. Though, it would be nice to correct.

I'll have to review the Black Viper's items further to see if he has anything that may help.

Jody Wood