Strange disk access noises when disk should be idle
Call me paranoid, but my PowerBook G4 is doing something that I suspect may cause trouble later, and I'd like to know if anyone else has encountered something like this. I have a PowerBook G4 with a 1.5 GHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, and a 74 GB hard drive of which 24 GB is available. In the last couple of months I have noticed a strange thing about the hard drive sounds. It used to be that if the computer was idle (I wasn't typing, storing or accessing the network, etc.), the hard drive was quiet except for the disk-rotation sound. If I set the computer to power-conserve mode, it would shut the hard drive down altogether until I tried to do something.
Well, no longer. These days, once the thing powers up, I can hear the hard drive continuously accessing something or other, even if there's no particular application running. I have used the Activity Monitor to see if it identifies any hard-drive activity, and during the supposedly idle periods it says there is no accessing going on. But I know there is something, because I can hear the head-drive mechanism running around in a kind of cycle that takes a few seconds to complete. Another thing is, anytime I move the cursor over the screen, the head drive mechanism follows it, as if it's recording every move I make.
I don't have any anti-spyware software on this thing, but before looking for some I'd like to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience and knows what's going on. It seems like there is something manipulating the hard drive that is flying below the Activity Monitor radar screen, which seems suspicious to say the least. I have not noticed any slowdowns in operation or other problems with the machine. It quit making the start-up bong about a year ago, but other than that it's normal.
Any ideas? This is not a hard drive about to crash with bad bearings. It's mechanically fine, just doing something mysterious.
Well, no longer. These days, once the thing powers up, I can hear the hard drive continuously accessing something or other, even if there's no particular application running. I have used the Activity Monitor to see if it identifies any hard-drive activity, and during the supposedly idle periods it says there is no accessing going on. But I know there is something, because I can hear the head-drive mechanism running around in a kind of cycle that takes a few seconds to complete. Another thing is, anytime I move the cursor over the screen, the head drive mechanism follows it, as if it's recording every move I make.
I don't have any anti-spyware software on this thing, but before looking for some I'd like to hear from anyone who has had a similar experience and knows what's going on. It seems like there is something manipulating the hard drive that is flying below the Activity Monitor radar screen, which seems suspicious to say the least. I have not noticed any slowdowns in operation or other problems with the machine. It quit making the start-up bong about a year ago, but other than that it's normal.
Any ideas? This is not a hard drive about to crash with bad bearings. It's mechanically fine, just doing something mysterious.
Comments
If you are running 10.4.8 it more than likely is spotlight indexing your HD. This can cause the HD noises as it seems to do it more when idle.
Thanks for the reply. I forgot to mention I'm runniing OS X 10.3.9. So I don't think I have spotlight on it.
Do you have any antivirus software installed?
Any third party system addons/haxies?
You could try open Activity viewer in HD/Aplications/Utilities and see what is taking the most processor time.
Do you have any antivirus software installed?
Any third party system addons/haxies?
That's the funny thing. Activity Viewer says there are no accesses to the hard drive during times when I can hear the head jumping around in this pattern. I do not have antivirus software---is there some freeware you could recommend? And no, I don't have any third party system software (don't know what "haxies" are).
App: http://www.unmetered.org.uk/clamXav/....7_appOnly.zip
Engine for 10.3.9: http://www.unmetered.org.uk/clamXav/..._0.90_10.3.zip
Install the app and then the engine and set the prefs and it will auto update the defs sometime 4 or 5 times a day.
Which item in the activity viewer is taking the most mb/Percentage time this may give an indication to something. And also did you have any apps open at the time the noises where heard.
Regarding the activity monitor, I turn off all optional applications and usually the activity monitor itself is taking the most mb/percentage. And as I said, the disk usage monitor frame says nothing's going in and out. Maybe it's always been this way and I've only noticed it recently. But it does seem like a properly operating Mac with nothing going on will eventually turn off the disk until you do something. Any other ideas?