t41 hdd led blinks continuously and hdd moves heads.

[kaupz]

my t41 hard drive led on the lcd blinks and hdd head moves.
it dose not blink always, mostly when the computer is idle.

i have made the test with hitatchi program, but it said that everithing is OK. no bad sectors or smth.

the active protection system is switched on, but it blinks also when it is on the table or the protection is switched off.

i have no virus protection or other programs that should run in backround.
and that blinking and sound is rythmic.
pause between blinks is always 1sec.

os is windows xp pro sp2 (but edited with nlite program(only disabled windows security center))

[davidspalding]

A default setting in XP will optimize the drive when idle; you can turn it off with TweakUI for XP (search here or google for it, it's on Microsoft's site).

Another XP background process is the content indexing service to speed up searches. Open My Computer, hit F3, then look at the options. You can set it so that content indexing is turned off. It will save battery power, too.

[davidspalding]

BTW, there are other things you can do to keep your HDD running on high octane.

Clean up regularly
Run the command "cleanmgr /sageset:1" and pick the HDD Disk Cleanup actions you'd like to do regularly. Then run "cleanmgr /sagerun:1" to perform those. You can make as many sets as you like. You can also run the second command from a batch file (or schedule it, or make a shortcut on your desktop or QuickLaunch toolbar).

Defrag
You can run DFRG.MSC to defrag drive(s) interactively. Or simply use the XP command line version. "defrag c: -a" will analyze; "defrag c: -f" will force a defrag whether the hard drive "needs" it or not; "defrag c: -f -v" gives verbose output; and I'm told the undocumented "defrag c: -b" switch puts oft-used programs to the outside of a drive where they're retrieved fastest (this may be that "optimize while idle" function I mentioned; I'm not sure).

Again, you can do this manually, or batch file it, or schedule it, or make a shortcut.

Chkdsk
From time to time, run "chkdsk c: /f" to check and fix a drive. It requires a reboot for system drives or those in active use.

Defrag the log files, page files
SysInternals.com's PAGEDFRG utility allows defragging of otherwise un-defraggable files (unless you bought a 3rd party defragger). Handy, and it will run optionally, or automagically when you reboot. Best of all, it's free.