Ticking

[OldGuy]

New Win 7 Pro PC.
Recently the PC is ticking with no user activity. This is a new
aberration that did not happen until several days after bringing it
home. The HDD light flashes with each tick. I thought it was due to
indexing but I think I have turned indexing off. As soon as I move the
mouse the ticking stops but the HDD light does still blink. The blink
is one about every second. After a while of user inactivity the
ticking starts again.
I have one HHD that is partitioned into a C: and D: and one DVD RW.

1) Where to I look to see if indexing is really off?
2) What might be causing this if not indexing?

If it is not a problem, it sure is annoying.

I am thinking of running some program that will access the disk every
once in a while and see it that stops the ticking.

 

[SC Tom]

New Win 7 Pro PC.
Recently the PC is ticking with no user activity. This is a new aberration
that did not happen until several days after bringing it home. The HDD
light flashes with each tick. I thought it was due to indexing but I
think I have turned indexing off. As soon as I move the mouse the ticking
stops but the HDD light does still blink. The blink is one about every
second. After a while of user inactivity the ticking starts again.
I have one HHD that is partitioned into a C: and D: and one DVD RW.

1) Where to I look to see if indexing is really off?
2) What might be causing this if not indexing?

If it is not a problem, it sure is annoying.

I am thinking of running some program that will access the disk every
once in a while and see it that stops the ticking.

To check if indexing is off, got to Start, Run, type in SERVICES.MSC and
press enter. Scroll down to 'Windows Search' and make sure it's set to
Disabled.

The HDD activity may be your anti-malware program scanning while the system
is idle. Or it could be Windows running its maintenance programs like Defrag
in the background. Most of those are also set to run after a certain period
of inactivity.

 

[Miles]

* SC Tom wrote, On 20-Jun-13 05:00:

To check if indexing is off, got to Start, Run, type in SERVICES.MSC and
press enter. Scroll down to 'Windows Search' and make sure it's set to
Disabled.

The HDD activity may be your anti-malware program scanning while the system
is idle. Or it could be Windows running its maintenance programs like Defrag
in the background. Most of those are also set to run after a certain period
of inactivity.

And after disabling in Services (using right click), if you want the
indexing space back, go to C\programData\microsoft\search\ and delete
the Data folder.

 

[Desk Rabbit]

New Win 7 Pro PC.
Recently the PC is ticking with no user activity. This is a new
aberration that did not happen until several days after bringing it
home. The HDD light flashes with each tick. I thought it was due to
indexing but I think I have turned indexing off. As soon as I move the
mouse the ticking stops but the HDD light does still blink. The blink
is one about every second. After a while of user inactivity the ticking
starts again.
I have one HHD that is partitioned into a C: and D: and one DVD RW.

1) Where to I look to see if indexing is really off?
2) What might be causing this if not indexing?

If it is not a problem, it sure is annoying.

I am thinking of running some program that will access the disk every
once in a while and see it that stops the ticking.

Ticking or any unusual noise from a hard disk is more likely an
indication of impending hard disk failure rather than indexing.

 

[teste]

"OldGuy" escreveu na mensagem
New Win 7 Pro PC.
Recently the PC is ticking with no user activity. This is a new
aberration that did not happen until several days after bringing it
home. The HDD light flashes with each tick. I thought it was due to
indexing but I think I have turned indexing off. As soon as I move the
mouse the ticking stops but the HDD light does still blink. The blink
is one about every second. After a while of user inactivity the
ticking starts again.
I have one HHD that is partitioned into a C: and D: and one DVD RW.

1) Where to I look to see if indexing is really off?
2) What might be causing this if not indexing?

If it is not a problem, it sure is annoying.

I am thinking of running some program that will access the disk every
once in a while and see it that stops the ticking.

- I had that clicking noise problem, after a search, it was identified as HD
head parking. I remember that I had to download a software utility named
quietHDD to stop the clicking noise. Now everything is ok. I don't use the
utility anymore.

 

[Wolf K]

Ticking or any unusual noise from a hard disk is more likely an
indication of impending hard disk failure rather than indexing.

+1 If the machine is still under warranty, get it fixed. The shop
should image the failing drive, and Restore it to a new one.

Another poster refers to head parking as cause of ticking. If the drive
parked the head silently when new, and now ticks, I'd worry about it.

If it's not under warranty, you can image and replace the drive
yourself. You need an external drive for backup anyhow, so buy one, 2TB
drives a cost under $200 these days. See the thread on "Am I really
backing up...?" for advice of imaging software.

Good luck,

 

[Bob H]

New Win 7 Pro PC.
Recently the PC is ticking with no user activity. This is a new
aberration that did not happen until several days after bringing it
home. The HDD light flashes with each tick. I thought it was due to
indexing but I think I have turned indexing off. As soon as I move the
mouse the ticking stops but the HDD light does still blink. The blink
is one about every second. After a while of user inactivity the ticking
starts again.
I have one HHD that is partitioned into a C: and D: and one DVD RW.

1) Where to I look to see if indexing is really off?
2) What might be causing this if not indexing?

If it is not a problem, it sure is annoying.

I am thinking of running some program that will access the disk every
once in a while and see it that stops the ticking.

The Hard Drive is on the way out, get it replaced as soon as, but backup
your user data first.

I know this because I have just recently changed a HD for someone who
had the same problem, and now everything is running ok.

 

[Wildman]

Ticking or any unusual noise from a hard disk is more likely an
indication of impending hard disk failure rather than indexing.

I would agree with that. The only thing in a hard drive
that could make a "ticking" sound is the heads. Either
slapping against their stops or the platters. <yikes!>

Replace it before it's too late.

 

[OldGuy]

"OldGuy" escreveu na mensagem news:[email protected]...

New Win 7 Pro PC.
Recently the PC is ticking with no user activity. This is a new
aberration that did not happen until several days after bringing it
home. The HDD light flashes with each tick. I thought it was due to
indexing but I think I have turned indexing off. As soon as I move the
mouse the ticking stops but the HDD light does still blink. The blink
is one about every second. After a while of user inactivity the
ticking starts again.
I have one HHD that is partitioned into a C: and D: and one DVD RW.

1) Where to I look to see if indexing is really off?
2) What might be causing this if not indexing?

If it is not a problem, it sure is annoying.

I am thinking of running some program that will access the disk every
once in a while and see it that stops the ticking.

- I had that clicking noise problem, after a search, it was identified as HD
head parking. I remember that I had to download a software utility named
quietHDD to stop the clicking noise. Now everything is ok. I don't use the
utility anymore.

quietHD site explained what was going on. My hardware fits the
description.
installed quietHD and it works. no ticking now.

 

[Paul]

quietHD site explained what was going on. My hardware fits the
description.
installed quietHD and it works. no ticking now.

So the ticking was head parking then ?

Paul

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

So the ticking was head parking then ?

Paul

Or at least it was one of the things that quietHD fixes

From the beginning of this thread, I have wondered what "ticking" meant.
My own guess was that it was just the sound of normal head movement
caused by Windows's propensity to be doing things that it considers to
be important, like what happens on this computer, thus nothing to worry
about, except perhaps for esthetic reasons

But that's my *guess*; the OP didn't describe it in a way that was
unambiguous to me.

 

[Paul]

Or at least it was one of the things that quietHD fixes

From the beginning of this thread, I have wondered what "ticking" meant.
My own guess was that it was just the sound of normal head movement
caused by Windows's propensity to be doing things that it considers to
be important, like what happens on this computer, thus nothing to worry
about, except perhaps for esthetic reasons

But that's my *guess*; the OP didn't describe it in a way that was
unambiguous to me.

Some desktop Seagate drives, have aggressive head parking settings in
firmware. And the Seagate forums had a few comments from users, seeking
to get the firmware updated. It was enough of a problem, it changed
my purchase choice when I bought my 3.5" disks last year (rejected 1TB and
2TB models due to head parking, bought the older 500GB drive instead).

I'm not interested in running a quiethdd program, when I can just
have a drive that works.

Aggressive head parking, is a cheesy way to allow companies to make
own-branded 3.5" USB external drives, without a cooling fan. By
parking the heads all the time, the drive doesn't get quite as
warm (lower power state, but not completely zero). The problem for
Seagate, was letting their fetish for head parking, leak into
drive models headed for desktops, where the users aren't interested
in listing to that noise all the time. As long as they restrict
that crap, to products of theirs I won't be buying, I'm happy.
(I don't buy own-branded externals from these companies, when
I can assemble my own fan-cooled model with proper cooling.)

I don't know what the policies are on laptop drives now. At
one time, if I used a laptop, there was always a long delay
while the drive spun up from zero. So they seemed to be
spinning them down. My current laptop doesn't do that,
and the drive seems to spin all the time. And I don't hear any
ticking from head parking, implying it works better
than some of those excessive head parking types. But maybe
the sound is too low for me to hear, which is possible.

Paul