Is there any software that can identify what application or service is causing my spare drives to spin up? Since my latest install of XP a few days ago, my 2 spare drives will spin up (simultaneously) without any apparent reason. There are no applications installed on these drives, and indexing is off.
external or internal drive? 1. It can be that some applications have dependent files on the drive in question, 2. can be that window manages this drive and it may boot the drive when you have an open dialog( I'm assuming you have this drive mapped into "My Computer") or recently used files in a program. i.e. open excel when you edited a file residing on this drive; or music players with files last played located on that drive 3. Remote drive manager(applies to most USB drives); 4. Antivirus running background scans; 5. Spyware As far as I recall, there's an application manager when you right click my computer, and that might give you an idea of what running, and their paths. Other than that and alt+ctrl+detele, I don't know of this app you speak of. Using linux here..... Edit: with XP, the spare drives WILL spin when XP starts, unless you convert those 2 drivers to unmapped network drives.
Both are internal PATA drives, with nothing on them except an encrypted TrueCrypt container (basically just one huge file). The files are only accessed when I manually mount them, and run my backup software. It's weird that it's only just started since I reinstalled XP. I've barely got any software installed yet, and have nothing that I didn't already have running before. It's puzzling...
Who is the manufacturer of the drives? Why did you do the reinstall, did you do any hardware or configuration changes?
Seagate and WD. I reinstall Windows on this machine every 6 months. No hardware changes. No BIOS changes. Nothing.
How do you manually mount the drives in XP? Are you Plugging/Unplugging the IDE cable(s) as needed? XP automatically recognizes most drives present in BIOS, hence automatically mapping the drive under "My Computer" What I would do, if I were you, is hook up a switch mounted anywhere on the front of my workstation to the positive cable wire going to the HDD, to turn ON those drives when needed, or I'd spend moola in a Network Storage System Why do you install Windows so often? Doesn't it ever become a nuisance to back-up files and format the HDDs so many times? Yes, it's major rejuvenation, but still, overkill much? it may be an XP thing from so many installs, maybe windows deposited a file on one of the drives upon install while you weren't looking. What if you do a clean install next time, with the spare drives unplugged? It's weird that it's starting to do that now, under the same case scenario, it would drive me crazy to hear them go, especially that loud Seagate.
I unplug both my PATA drives whenever I reinstall. I've reinstalled XP so many times, without this ever happening. I've got XP (re)installation down to a fine art The only new/updated versions of previously installed software that I'm using are Firefox and Thunderbird. I've uninstalled AVG (which I was hoping was the culprit), but NOPE. The little buggers are still spinning up every now and then. They both spin up at the same time, which must be some kind of clue. The Seagate is actually pretty quiet. I've been using Seagates for long enough that I might have tuned out whatever frequency they whine at It's the "spin up freeze" that I hate. Every time they spin up, my PC freezes for a couple of seconds. Usually when I'm right in the middle of a drag and drop.
Then, it definitely has something to do with your back-up and recovery system that may be setting recovery points as you're going on with your day, (System Restore[ "My Computer">Properties>System Restore]) for all your drives.
System restore is all OFF on all drives! I'm going to try booting into an Ubuntu live CD tomorrow, and fiddle around with the HDD power settings (should only take me an entire day to work that out!).
I ran Spinrite on both of them (the WD took twice as long as the Seagate). Moved the WD to slave by cable select (instead of jumper). And went on a four day vacation. It doesn't seem as bad as before, but I still occasionally hear them spin up when I'm in the other room watching TV. I might try a new IDE cable if I can find one in my storeroom, but frankly, I'm kinda over it. If they want to spin up, fine. They're not going to be around for long anyway. Let them have their fun. I never liked that WD anyway