Why does it sound like my hard drive is working too hard?

[Foxxy]

Why is it that my hard drive sounds like it has stomach pains or something! This is on one of my older computers that I just use for music and a bit of web browsing. It has always been noisy but lately its slow and noisy like its working too hard or something. Its almost sounding like a tractor idling next to me!!! What can I do? Its a Maxtor (which I know can be noisy) and running XP. At this rate I am either going run it over with a tractor or purchase ear plugs (ok, thats a bit extreme but you know what I mean by the noises it makes).

[Chris]

Wow - your computers certainly seem to have lots of ailments! Almost as bad as mine!

Lots of HDD chatter will obviuously signify that the computer is doing a lot of read and writing. I'm assuming you're not constantly copying a beethoven symphony or something! Do you have BBC Iplayer installed or the equivalent? It could be a P2P software or AV software running a scan.

Is there at least 15% free memory and is it defragged? Lots of fragmentation will obviously mean that the computer will have to chop and change files regularly.

C

[Foxxy]

Yes I certainly do have lots of issues. The family expect me to fix theirs but I hardly know how to fix my own! I am trying to learn as I have been avoiding these things so I have various old ones set up now.

Thanks for the info. I don't have a lot installed on this one and I think it has about 23% free space or something last time I checked. I have AVG 7.5 installed as AVG8 refused to let my computer work! I will ask another question in a new thread about fragmentation because everyone seems to talk about it.

[WWP]

Geeks with culture - able to talk about beethoven too! :-)

You're right about banging on about defragmentation - but with 23% free its probably a good idea! Start --> Accessories --> Sys Tools --> Disk Defrag. Let it run overnight as it will take a while!

Did it give you a reason why it wouldn't let AVG8 install? I agree with Chris in that if it is slow AND a lot of hard drive reading/writing then anti virus software is the first place to look. Its a shame that you're not using Vista as it has a load of tools built in to detect overuse of the hard drive (one of the better features). Try disabling your antivirus software. Does this change anything?

[Foxxy]

I think I need the Beethoven to help me relax a bit with all the frustration this box of silicone has given me! lol

Ok, I tried the defrag on this computer. It has helped, it just took a hell of a long time to actually do it and it kept restarting, even though I (thought) stopped other things running. There is definitely a difference too when I try and launch something, like clicking the start button. The music is also not hanging like before when I did this.

Oh, and I am only using one ear plug now :-)