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This is a problem that started a few days ago. Basically, the first time it happened, i ran microsoft security essentials (Beta, which installs) full scan while i was playing a game. After i stopped playing, and closed the game, i noticed the scan was completely frozen (both timer and file progress werent moving). At that time i also noticed the HDD led was turned on all the time, not blinking, but solid red. Naturally i first tried restarting the pc, but the HDD LED was still on, plus some funky stuff going on like MSE saying antimalware service wasn’t running, and just PC generally being sluggisher. After that i started PC in safe mode, where that didn’t happen, and restarting it again in normal mode made it all ok again.
Until like 2 hours ago, when after i closed a game, the game just wouldn’t close properly (yes i tried killing its process in task manager, didn’t work). At which point i again noticed PC acting weird, and HDD led was, once again, perma on. However, doing my previous routine didn’t help. Even in safe mode the light just keeps on going, i tried checking with Resource Monitor, especially in safe mode it was obvious that (at least according to it), there’s nothing special going on on the drive. The PC now most of the time doesn’t wanna turn off, always says its waiting for random service to shut down (previously it shut wins down in like 5 sec), so i have to restart it by button. Also, for like a few mins the network icon next to the clock just keeps having the busy marker (with the circle), windows update wouldn’t launch for ages.After checking MSE some more, i noticed it said that regular scan is scheduled at sundays, 2:00, which would mean i belive (unless it meant PM but it didn’t say) that it would run while i played the game that then didn’t wanna close. So considering MSE might have been involved in both incidents i decided to uninstall it. Unfortunatelly it didn’t help.
So now im totally lost as to what to do other than wiping the drive and reinstalling the whole system :/.
BTW, the drive is a brand new (2 weeks old) OCZ Vertex 2 120gb.
Hi Ianesz,
Sorry to hear about your problem. From what limited knowledge I have I’ll be happy to advise you on what I suspect might be causing your disk thrashing. I see from your post you are running a technologically advanced SSD which is known for very instant access times and high read speeds. As fast as your computer is at fetching data from the SSD it should come as no surprise that the HDD light is always blinking. A flickering SSD HDD light is pretty common occurrence when keeping the default configuration (programs, settings, etc) on Windows. Also keep in mind that a SSD HDD activity light is not only limited to data traffic but whenever communications with the device is required (for example when boot Windows up for first time and it has to initialize the device). However in Windows 7 when a SSD is detected it is supposed to automatically disable disk thrashing features such Superfetch, Page File and also useless unnecessary features such as disk defrag utility. However in Windows Server 2008 R2 I cannot verify this process actually takes place.
My advice to you would be to first try to disable these disk thrashing features.
1. Disable Superfetch service (if applicable)
If you have installed ExpertUser’s Superfetch service from the R2 Converter GUI I would advise disabling the Superfetch service in MSCONFIG or Services.msc. Solid State Drives have ridiculously low access times and enabling Superfetch just wastes unnecessary writes to the disk.
2. Disable your Page File
Go to Start > Run. Type in : systempropertiesadvanced
Click Settings… under Performance
Click on the Advanced tab.
Under Virtual Memory click Change
Uncheck Automatically manage paging file size for all drives
Select the No Paging file radio button and then hit Set. Click yes to confirm.
Click Ok buttons to close out. Restart your computer to take affect.
3. Disable Indexing (aka Windows Search) if applicable
If you have installed the Windows Search feature while it can be a useful tool if you rarely use it you could save a lot of disk thrashing by disabling the Windows Search service in MSCONFIG/Services.msc.
4. Disable write caching
SSD drives don’t have cache on the drives like traditional mechanical drives.
Go to Start > type in Device Manager. Hit enter.
Expand disk drives, locate your SSD.
Right-click on it and choose properties.
Go to Policies tab
Uncheck enable write caching to disk option.
5. System Restore (if you choose)
System Restore doesn’t run all the time so it won’t thrash your disk all the time however when it does occasionally run your HDD light will be active for a minute or so or however long it takes to create the scheduled restore point.
Hope some of my tips will help resolve your HDD activity light problems.
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