Windows 7 - Hard Drive Activity
 

I've had this issue since I've installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 to my new built about 6 months ago. My new built never ran any previous OS, so I am assuming that it's only happening with Windows 7. Anyway, my Windows 7 is running 3 Hard Drives, occasionally, the PC will lag, immediately followed by the sound of a Hard Drive powering on or off, the entire lag happens for a few seconds then it returns to normal, does anyone run into this issue running Windows 7?

It gets pretty annoying because it happens randomly, not according to what I do on my PC.

My specs are the following:

AMD X4 630 2.4GHz
4GB RAM RipJawz
1 x 640gb WD
1 x 250gb WD
1 x 250gb Samsung
Integrated Video

TIA!

sounds like the drive goes into power saving mode and spins down. Then something causes windows to look for data on the drive and you have to wait for it to spin up.

i'd suggest disabling that.

control panel > hardware and sound > power options

i generally keep my desktop on a modified version of high performance, but whatever one you want to use, pick that and hit change plan settings.

then change advanced power settings > hard disk > turn off hard disk after

set it to 0 minutes (disabled)

if its still happening, then i'd think possible HD failure.

edit: also give your bios a once over to see if there are any power saving options that might be doing it. Also some drives have a jumper on them that will cause it to power on in powersaving mode. Make sure thats not enabled.

its probably one or more of the hard drives are about to fail on you

Possible hdd failure.. or loose power cable.

This is what it is. My comp does the same thing on my storage drive.

Failing HDs does not sound like it's powering ON and OFF and does not cause the OS to lag for a few seconds then return to normal.

I've seen bad drives that do that. It's possible. I mean 3 of us suggested it.

Perhaps the drive is parking its head.

Install quietHDD and see if it still happens.

Does it only happen when you access the drive your OS is not installed in?

If so, then it has something to do with your power saving options. Go to control panel and make sure the option that put the hard drive to sleep is not ticked. You don't want your hard drives on sleep mode if you don't want the lag.

Well, I followed Jeremy's suggestion and have changed the power saving options, so far, everything seems to be fine.

Thanks guys!