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Just curious if it's normal for a computer running Windows 7 Home Premium to keep accessing the hard drive every other second. My HDD LED light lights up every other second, the hard drive never seems to rest. No unusual background programs running, I have my auto-defrag programs and A/V scans turned off. Just wondering if I should be worried. Thanks!
Well, now that you made me stare at my computer for 60 seconds, I can say it looks normal to me. The light on my rig blinks with varying intensity and speed. Very pretty blue. ("MS-We never sleep")
Should you be worried? YES. You're supposed to be looking at the monitor, not the tower! 
Is search indexing set to 'active' in windows, Kona?
That's just one thing that would keep yer led blinkin'...
lol ...'sup buddy?
Yeah, I'm still around 
....I lurk a lot these days, but I'm never far away 
G'day RND Hope all's good with you & yours..
Sorry to hijack your thread a little, Kona - so hi to everybuddy who'd thunk I was m.i.a. ~I'm here but just don't post a lot anymore.
I work crazy hours in my real job, but I still love this place ...and the people who make it nice to stay around. 
I don't know where to find out if search indexing is on or off. Is there a benefit to keeping it on?
Gesundheit! 
Kona, if you search "search" from the start menu and then select change how windows searches, it should take you to a place where you can find out what you need to know. I really didn't look much further into it, I just searched "search" because Erk mentioned search indexing........
BTW..........
Hello Erk! 
....okay, now back to lurking........ 
No prob!
.....and now I keep looking at the blinking light too......... 
Turns out that indexing is turned off on my drive, or it says indexing is complete. Yet that LED still blinks on and off every other second. I looked into task manager, no services are using the system to that extend to explain it.
What??
Services/ Windows Search: Disable it.
I disabled the service. The LED is still going nuts. Any other ideas?
It is perfectly normal for the LED light to blink occasionally, at random intervals. There are things in an OS that you just cannot see or control that are important to the operations of that OS. If it is always a constant light, going on and of almost continuously all the time, then other factors may be involved, but as to what those may be could vary, like a defrag program running, or unfortunately even a system Trojan or virus.
Lightstar - it is a continuous on and off light every other second. I have no scanners running and all virus and malware scans I have run say I am clean.
Nothing to worry about. It's just a RPM gauge for the hamster wheel.
/me wants one too ...;)
Mine blinks almost every second too Kona, sometimes quicker and brighter occasionally too even when I am not doing anything, but I do not worry about it. Probably just a service the OS needs to run that you cannot control.
Is this keeping you up at night?
Tip: The light will go out if you turn the computer off.
...........................you hope....;p
Only, if you kill the hamster.....
Are you aware that Windows 7 has a service called Superfetch that tries to memorise user habits and pre-loads applications to memory so that they are available for fast start? If your schedule is consistent (for example you read mails from 6-8 p.m., and start playing Counter Strike after 8 p.m. every day), you should experience very fast system response. The downside is of course a lot of IO activity - your drive does not stop. Also, some background defrag is running when your own activity is not IO heavy.
Not on my computer. I have the auto defrag set to off.
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