From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 28 05:54:36 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 264011065673 for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:54:36 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D7FB68FC12 for ; Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:54:35 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.5/8.14.5) with ESMTP id p7S5sWUJ035193; Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:54:32 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.5/8.14.5/Submit) with ESMTP id p7S5sWbi035190; Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:54:32 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:54:32 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: Polytropon In-Reply-To: <20110828073051.1ec5b66a.freebsd@edvax.de> Message-ID: References: <20110828073051.1ec5b66a.freebsd@edvax.de> User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (BSF 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.2.7 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Sat, 27 Aug 2011 23:54:32 -0600 (MDT) Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Identifying disk activity X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2011 05:54:36 -0000 On Sun, 28 Aug 2011, Polytropon wrote: > 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. That could be a "t-cal", thermal calibration. Depends on the age and model of the drive, some drives don't do it. Could be other internal drive activity. WD drives like to park heads often, loudly, and for no good reason. > Is there a way to force "synchronous disk activity"? Turning off soft updates will help, but not make disk writes totally synchronous.