From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 28 05:30:54 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 96F92106566B for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:30:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Received: from mx01.qsc.de (mx01.qsc.de [213.148.129.14]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5CBFA8FC13 for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:30:54 +0000 (UTC) Received: from r56.edvax.de (port-92-195-72-156.dynamic.qsc.de [92.195.72.156]) by mx01.qsc.de (Postfix) with ESMTP id 265A43CB53 for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 07:30:52 +0200 (CEST) Received: from r56.edvax.de (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by r56.edvax.de (8.14.5/8.14.5) with SMTP id p7S5UpJg027635 for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 07:30:51 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from freebsd@edvax.de) Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 07:30:51 +0200 From: Polytropon To: FreeBSD Questions Message-Id: <20110828073051.1ec5b66a.freebsd@edvax.de> Organization: EDVAX X-Mailer: Sylpheed 3.1.1 (GTK+ 2.24.5; i386-portbld-freebsd8.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Identifying disk activity X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: Polytropon List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:30:54 -0000 Since I have installed my new system (FreeBSD/i386 8.2-STABLE), I have found some kind of disk activity I've never had before on my home system. As this PC is a very cheap product, it doesn't have a HDD LED. Instead I have to listen to the disk. This is the strange sound: four groups of short "brrrrt" sounds within a second, with a short pause between them. #####-----#####-----#####-----#####----- = 1 s This can be heared over several seconds, then silence. From time to time, a "brrrt" sound appears for 3 seconds in one long rush. I am not sure this is related to a program, but I'd like to find it out. As FreeBSD's I/O subsystem does not work in real-time, I cannot conclude from actual program file I/O to physical disk I/O. Is there a way to force "synchronous disk activity"? I don't mind if this makes the system run slower, because it's just for diagnostics, but I'd like file I/O done by a program to cause immediate disk activity. My idea is to watch open files and running programs as precise as possible (as root: "top -St -s 0"). Which tools (e. g. top, htop, lsof) would you suggest to narrow down _which_ program is accessing _which_ file, causing the sound? I already do suspect Opera (due to opera-linuxplugins-11.50, linux-f10-flashplugin-10.3r183.5, nspluginwrapper-1.4.4 maybe), but I'd like to know _where_ exactly this strange sound came from, as there is no 1:1 relation (running Opera does not imply the sound to appear). I have already checked "smartctl -a /dev/ad4" which doesn't show any malicious behaviour of the disk itself (sometimes also the reason for strange sounds). -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...