Buy a hard drive: HDD, SSD in the Crimea in the online store Indicator. The hard drive activity indicator is another of the security vulnerabilities in computer systems Software indication of the hard drive operation instead of LEDs

The LED indicator (Light Emiting Diode, LED) of the hard drive operation (can be green, yellow or red) is usually located on the front panel of the case and serves to control the operation of the hard drive. Each access to the hard drive is accompanied by an indicator light, usually Indicators, switches and connectors 33

designated on the control panel of the system unit as HDD. Let it not scare you that the hard drive indicator does not burn constantly, but flashes periodically. The point here is not a bad contact, but a visual display of a quick access to the hard drive.

PC power indicator

The PC On light should always be on when the computer is turned on. The cable of this indicator is marked in most cases in green. This is a two-wire cable that terminates in a three-pin plug, with the middle pin not being used. The color of the cable corresponds to the color of the indicator - green-black or green-white cable.

Usually, the PC power-on indication cable is combined with the KeyLock cable (PC keyboard lock cable). In this case, the cable is supplied with a five-pin connector. Motherboard manufacturers usually label all connectors to motherboard, so the corresponding terminal can be found without problems. The connection point of the KeyLock connector can be easily identified even without markings. Look on the motherboard for a single-row, five-pin bracket with one of the five pins missing. This missing pin is a kind of key for correct connection connector.

Since this plug does not have guides, it is likely to be connected incorrectly. The result of this error will be no operation indication. In this case, you need to turn the plug 180P.

Mains switch Normally, the mains switch is already connected to the power supply. If this is not the case, you should use the instruction manual and connect it.

Attention!

When buying, pay attention to the fact that the switch is connected to the power supply. If there is no instruction, then entrust the connection of the network switch to a specialist. Due to the wide variety of power supplies, there is no single color coding network switch terminals. Be extremely careful when connecting it! We are talking about a mains voltage of 220-240 V.

By turning on the computer using the network switch, a cold start of the PC is performed, i.e. starting the system from rest (cold state). During a cold start, you should wait at least half a minute before turning on the computer again, because the mechanics of the drives require a certain time to completely stop.

Attention!

Frequently turning the computer on and off without pause using the network switch can cause serious damage to the disk drives and the hard drive.

After turning on the PC, a self-test of the power supply is performed for approximately 0.3-0.5 s. If all supply voltage levels are within acceptable limits, the Power_Good signal is sent to the motherboard. This signal is sent to the motherboard, where the clock generator chip generates a signal for the initial setting of the processor.

In the absence of a PowerGood signal, the clock generator chip will constantly send a reset signal to the CPU, preventing the PC from operating on an "abnormal" or unstable supply voltage. When a Power Good signal is received by the generator, the processor reset signal will turn off and the PC test program (Power On Self Test, POST) written in the ROM BIOS will begin. After the successful completion of the test, the system will boot.

Some cheap power supplies do not have a Power Good signal conditioning circuit at all, and this circuit is simply connected to a +5 V supply voltage.

Some motherboards are more sensitive to Power Good signals than others. Start-up problems often arise precisely from insufficient delay of this signal. Sometimes, after replacing the motherboard, the PC stops working normally. In such a situation, it is quite difficult to figure it out, especially for an inexperienced user who thinks that the reason lies in new board. But do not rush to write it off as faulty, because it often turns out that the power supply is "to blame": either it does not provide enough power to power the new motherboard, or the Power Good signal is not connected or formed incorrectly. In such a situation, it is best to try connecting the motherboard to a different power supply.

But really, there's probably nothing to worry about. Computers with standard Windows settings they do that all the time. Although, of course, the possibility of infection cannot be ruled out, so it will not hurt to check the system with an antivirus for your own peace of mind.

The computer politely waits for its turn

In fact, the computer does not try to do nasty things secretly from the owner. On the contrary, he tries to be smart and polite. Windows needs to run in background various service tasks, and the system patiently waits for idle time (that is, the user leaves) to run them. This ensures that computer resources are not wasted on extraneous matters when the user needs them to work. If the system is being actively used, background housekeeping processes are suspended so as not to degrade performance.

So it's not a figment of the imagination: Windows is really waiting for idle time to start maintenance. And when the user comes back, service tasks usually stop, so it's usually impossible to find out why the hard disk activity indicator blinked when idle. Windows Scheduler allows you to configure the task to run exclusively during idle time, and many tasks are performed this way.

What is the computer doing when idle?

But what exactly is the computer doing in the background? The specific set of tasks depends on the system settings and installed programs, but you can list the most common options.

File indexing. All modern operating systems are equipped with a file indexing function. They check each file (including its contents) and create a database that then instantly returns results when searched. For search to work, the indexing service must regularly check for file changes, and this may explain hard drive activity when idle.

Disk Defragmenter. In Windows times 98 for success defrag hard disk had to close all other programs. Modern Windows versions perform defragmentation automatically in the background, but only when idle.

Scheduled antivirus scanning. Many antivirus programs and other security tools are set to automatically scan your system regularly by default. Perhaps the activity of the hard drive is due to the fact that the antivirus is just checking the files stored on it.

Backup. If automatic is enabled backup(and it should be turned on!), hard disk activity may be caused by the process of archiving files.

Automatic update. Windows itself and many programs such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, equipped with the function automatic update. If the computer is busy with something when idle, it is quite possible that it is just downloading and installing updates.

Of course, this is by no means full list. There can be an infinite number of options, depending on the specific set of installed programs. For example, if the Steam client is open in the background and an update has just been released for one of the games, the hard disk activity may be due to the download and installation of this update. File download programs, such as BitTorrent clients, can also cause disk activity.

How to find out what programs are using the disk when idle

In theory, everything is clear, but how to find out what the computer does in practice? First of all, if there is a suspicion of infection, it is worth scanning the system with a reliable antivirus, not relying solely on built-in tools. But if you just want to track disk activity, you can do that too.

You can find out which processes are using the disk using the Task Manager ( task manager) and the Resource Monitor built into Windows. This is especially true if the disk activity indicator is constantly blinking and the computer's performance is for some unknown reason fell.

To open Task Manager, click right click mouse on the taskbar and select "Task Manager" or press the ++ keys. In Windows 8, disk usage is displayed right in the Task Manager - you can click on the "Disk" column to sort processes by this parameter and see which one uses the disk the most.

Windows 7 does not have this option, so you need to open the Performance tab and click the Open Resource Monitor link. In the Resource Monitor window, go to the "Disk" tab - and you will see a list of processes that can be sorted by the degree of disk load. By the way, in Windows 8 / 8.1, the Resource Monitor also gives much more information than the Task Manager.

To track disk activity over time, you can use the program Process Monitor by SysInternals - developer useful utilities who are so fond of advanced Windows users. You can start Process Monitor and leave it running during downtime. Then, returning to the computer, you can see which processes were used HDD in your absence.

Process Monitor logs any activity, but you can use the buttons on the panel to filter the list so that only events related to file system. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that disk activity is caused by file indexing.

Process Monitor is good because it can show past activity. Even if a process stops using the disk or terminates altogether, information about it remains in the log. But it is hardly worth using this utility all the time, because event logging also creates a load on the system and, as a result, reduces performance. It should also be understood that Process Monitor keeps an event log only while it is running: if you start it after a surge in hard disk activity, it will no longer be possible to find out what exactly caused it.

Many have long dreamed of doing something like that with their computer (paint, highlight, cut through the window :-)). And everyone wants everything to turn out beautifully, simply and, most importantly, safely - after all, it is fear that usually repels beginners from thinking about modding their camper! In this article, I would like to offer you ALL IN ONE! The mod that I will describe is simple and almost absolutely safe to implement and, importantly, the beauty and functionality will simply amaze everyone around you and will undoubtedly increase your rating. And I want to talk about the hard drive loading indicator, or to be more precise, about its modernization. So, while looking at various MODs on thematic sites, I somehow came across a fairly simple and effective home-made device for a PC - an HDD loading indicator.

100% of computers are equipped with a conventional hard drive operation indicator based on a single LED. I propose to expand the possibilities and add spectacularity to a seemingly ordinary indicator. The device variant discussed below will no longer consist of one, but of 10 LEDs! Interested? Then we move on.

Principle of operation

As you know, a lot of wires stretch from the motherboard towards the front panel of the PC (power indicator, hard drive loading, reset, on / off, etc.) For more information regarding the location and number of wires, as well as their polarity, I strongly recommend that you look into mom manual!!! In our case, we will be interested in two contacts on the board, signed H.D.D. and LED (Fig. 1a) (depending on the motherboard model).

It is from them that our future indicator will receive data. IN this moment connected to them is a simple LED on the front of your case. When the system accesses the hard drive, the power to the LED begins to pulsate. If the indicator just glows, the propeller is fully loaded; if it flickers, it is approximately half loaded, etc. Agree, it is somewhat inconvenient, especially for advanced users :-). We will significantly improve the proposed default display system and instead of flickering we will use a number of LEDs up to 10 pcs. The point is that now the degree of access to the hard drive will be determined not by one, but by ten LEDs lined up (Fig. 2).

In principle, no one forbids placing them in any form convenient for you, and the shape of the indicator is limited only by your imagination. The LEDs will light up in turn (you choose the direction yourself), creating the effect of a jumping column. Our indicator will have two modes of operation: 1) the LEDs light up in turn, and when fully loaded, the entire row lights up; 2) the LEDs light up one by one, that is, instead of a column, a jumping dot is obtained. The device will be powered by 5V, refined, of course, in our PSU. Well, here are the pies :-), let's start assembling ...

materials

For complete happiness, we need the following materials:

• chip - LM3914(a);
• four resistors - 3.3 kΩ, 10 kΩ, 470 ohm, 330 ohm (all at 0.25 W);
• capacitor - 220 uF at 25V (not necessarily 25V, but not less, but the capacitance will affect the reaction speed of the indicator);
• optocoupler - 4N2x (4N25, 4N26, 4N28 or TIL111);
• ten LEDs (preferably super-bright and different colors, experience has shown that two are better: 7–8 of one and 3–2 of the other);
• two panels: for 18 and 6 legs (required to protect the microcircuit and optocoupler from possible overheating with a soldering iron);
• mini-switch, jumper (to select the indicator mode);
• molex MAMA (Fig. 1b) (we need only two contacts: red and black, it is better to cut off the rest);
• connector for connecting the indicator to the mother (Fig. 1a) (cut off from the old indicator);
• 10-wire cable with connectors MALE, MAMA (Exclusively for the convenience of connection, so as not to mess with separate wires);
• frame;
• textolite, ferric chloride, flux, tin, rosin, nail polish :-), connecting wires about 50 cm (standard set of a young soldering iron lover :-));
• Pryamyje Ruki - 2 pcs. (Without this, the assembly does not start!).

All of the above is easily found on the local radio market, except for the last item.

The most expensive element is mikruha - about 6-8 UAH, the rest is 0.3-2 UAH.

I think you can buy a dead flopik there without any problems. As for textolite and ferric chloride: there is an opportunity and a desire - be sure to buy it (about 10 UAH), otherwise you will have to suffer with cardboard and wires! Personally, for verification, I first assembled it on cardboard, and only then I bought textolite. In principle, it makes no sense for you to do this, since it has been checked - there are no viruses :-)!

Step 1. It is simply not possible to describe drawing, drilling, etching and soldering in this article, we will proceed from the fact that you already know all this or you can ask someone. The diagram of our indicator is shown in fig. 3 (from the side of the legs).

Step 2. First, carefully solder everything necessary components(Fig. 4).

Step 3. After that, you need to decide where the main indicator board will be located, since the length of the wires to the motherboard, power supply and cable to the LEDs will depend on this! Personally, I used an old floppy drive (3.5″) (Fig. 5).

Step 4. Having pulled out all the stuffing and removed the front panel, we get an excellent case for our device. The advantage of this solution is that such a case is very easy to fix inside the system unit, the minus is that it is completely metal, and this is fraught when interacting with the 5V power supply from the PSU! That's exactly why we need varnish - to cover the surface of the board and isolate it from the metal case, to be sure, you can pack it in a small plastic or plastic bag. Of course, in the absence of an old drive, you can use something else (anyhow it fit into the system unit :-)), or, at your own peril and risk, fix the board without a case (100% isolation!) Since my whole circuit was located in close proximity to LEDs, the length of the loop was about 10 cm, the power wires - no more than 5 cm (two pairs of wires come from the molex: 12V and 5V-red and black, we need the latter (Fig. 1b)), to the motherboard - about 20 cm.

Step 5. Now solder the pre-measured wires. The indicator is ready!

Step 6. To check, it is necessary to close contacts 1 and 2 of the optocoupler, if everything is assembled correctly, then the entire chain of LEDs or only the last one will light up (depending on the state of the jumper). If, when connected to a PC, nothing works the first time, we try to turn the HDD LED connector on the mother (it will not get worse). I attached the board with LEDs to the drive with hot glue. My indicator is located in the 3.5″ bay, below the drive, where I specially cut out an oval window in the stub and covered it with transparent plastic from the CD box (Fig. 6).

That's basically it. With a small investment of time and money, we get a pretty good and, most importantly, effective indicator.

Disk Activity Indicator is a free, simple and portable computer program that is an indicator of hard drive activity.

Unfortunately, modern personal computers and laptops are not equipped with simple, but at the same time convenient and familiar tools for monitoring the system and individual hardware components, one of which is monitoring the activity of the hard drive. Therefore, if you need to track disk activity, then you can use the Disk Activity Indicator program for this.

As already noted, this program does not require installation on the system ( portable version) and after launch it places a small indicator in the tray (notification area), which shows the current disk activity. By clicking on the icon with the right mouse button, a window with settings will open. Here you can select the required disk (partition) for monitoring, specify the indication interval, change the notification icons and set the program to start along with the start operating system. Additionally offered detailed information about the disk itself: size, manufacturer, label and other characteristics. Plus, the program has a Russian-language interface. That's all - simple, convenient and visual.

Anton Maksimov , 07.12.2012

Many modern laptops do not have key press indicators. cap lock/ Num Lock, and somewhere they don’t even put disk activity indicators. Therefore, it can be problematic to know if these buttons are active or if the disc is working in currently. Yes and system blocks often stand under the table and the user does not see if their computer is working hard or idle. To keep abreast of everything that happens to your PC, you can install a small free utility called TrayStatus which will add Caps Lock / Num Lock button press indicators to the system tray, indicator work hard disk, as well as other indicators of your choice.

In addition to the indicators described, TrayStatus allows you to add indicators for pressing the Ctrl, Alt, Shift and Win buttons. Frankly, I don’t quite understand why they are needed, but the Cars Lock / Num Lock indicator is very useful in modern world. In addition to the disk activity indicator, TrayStatus can show the current read / write speed, which will allow you to understand how intensively the disk is working.

Unfortunately, the utility is in English, but the ease of installing and using it should not cause any problems. During operation, the utility constantly hangs in memory, therefore it takes resources. But since this is a small utility, it also takes up few resources - only 7 MB of RAM, which is comparable to zero by the standards of a modern PC.

Download TrayStatus 1.2.3