What hard drive features to turn off XP Pro SP2 / 3

Hey there fellow geeks,

I am wondering if someone can tell me what, windows or other related programs access the Hard disk, I am trying to

1) prevent extra power consupmtion

2) prevent Hard disk wear and tear

3) be a better skilled geek

Anything such as indesxing etc, and also the method to achieve the reccommended configuration.:cool

Have already gone through the power options to turn off disk and monitor after a pre-determined / certain length of time etc.. Just trying to minimise extra disk activity.

Have the P.C set to auto defrag to a monthly schedule, if this is of any importance.

Working on a new build for work.

L8r Guys:wave

 

the main thing i notice when working on computers is that people dont have enough cooling for them. you dint need much, but putting a fan somewhere near them to blow cool air on or take hot air off extremly lengthens HD life imo. take it or leave it, hope it helps!

 

Hey there fatjake440,:wave

Cheers for the input, not quite what i was after, but on a similar note what I have seen is people installing a fan at the rear at front of the case and both are postioned as an intake fan rather than one at the front typically as an intake and the other at the rear as an exhaust. Of course this can be altered depending on the location of the p.c and how close it resides to a wall or if in a entertainment system cabinet etc.. the front closest to the door or open area maybe positioned as the units exhaust fan output... thats my dimes worth on fans...

l8r geeks:wave

 

eh, i tried, good luck though!

 

Let me take a shot at answering some of your questions/comments:

Preventing extra power consumption at a software level isn't all that simple. Most hard disks have to have that part built-in to the actual drive. For example, Western Digital offers their line of 'Green' hard disks that consume less power when not under load. This offers SIGNIFICANT power management capabilities, but, in most cases, results in lower high-end/high-spin performance.

Again, something that's not going to happen at software level. If I was going to say to place your bet on one particular thing at that level, I would say Disk Defrag, but you've already tackled that issue with your monthly defrags. Your best bet for something like this is to take great care in the position inside of your case where you mount the drive. Drives, if possible, should be in the middle or the rear of a case. Look for ATX cases that have mounting in the rear for the hard disk(s). This confirms great airflow as well, keeping the disks as cool as possible. My case, the Thermaltake Armor, has mounting in the rear & it allows an exhaust fan to be mounted right behind the hard disks, allowing the airflow from the front and side fans to be blown through the disks and having the hot air tugged from them and exhausted from the case.

Another suggestion that is always overlooked, and I cannot stress this enough: Mount the drives securely to the chassis! People always forget to sit these drives snug, but if the drive is spinning up and doing it's job and you've got it jerry-rigged to the chassis, bouncing around, you're going to cause disk surface scratches, resulting in bad sectors and bad cylinder performance.

Keep asking questions like this. However, if you absolutely want to know how to be better at being a geek, it will just take time. Believe it or not, when your computer: freezes up, won't start, won't boot, won't post, beeps, blue screens, locks up randomly, dies, etc, you will research it, learn it and be able to prevent it or troubleshoot it, yourself, in the future. This is the best and only way to become much better at 'geekin`'.

Another thing, you've said you have this thing automatically defrag monthly. This is a GREAT step in ensuring that your disk runs fantastic. Another way to save a disk from too much stress is by getting a second hard drive and putting, say, your music, application setups, etc on there, reducing the amount of disk space you are using on the main drive that's doing the majority of the work.

Good luck!

 

I made a mistake. When I said that they were called "Western Digital Green", they are actually called "GreenPower". My mistake ;-)

 

Thanks for the replies,

So there are no windows software accessing disk type services to be turned off, have 15 units run on a small network of p.c's, if I gather the jist of the replies to date..

Thanks again l8:wave

 

Thanks

so turning off write behnd caching aint going to help, just slow the performance...?

l8r

 

Find and study some recent threads similar to this one; older SSD's are very slow to write to and prone to wearing out - many of the tips for running XP on SSD's are based on minimising the amount that is written to the drive so some of these tips will be applicable to your question.

 

Cheers Starow :cool, a helpful link and somethings to consider on the link.

have an awesome Christmas L8r:wave