Random or repeat disk access.

[trevatxtal]

Hello Folk.
I hope some one may point me in the right direction for a cure.
The problem appears to be that I have random and some times continued disk access on my My Desktop PC .
It took many hours to track down that it is not specific to one operating system (Linux any flavour or Windows), I found it even happens when the system is in Bios set-up.
I have done hours of internet search on the Bios (Phoenix Award 6.0rev 1801) or any Bios with no answers.
I have ordered a new Bios chip to try but that will be some time coming.
The main board is an Acer P5N32-E-SLI.
I have three disk drives 0=IDE, 1=IDE=, and 2=SATA disk 2 is the boot drive, and the Grub boot entry.
The Bios will not let me alter the mode on the Sata drive to EIDE, it is fixed as Auto.
The random drive accesses is to all drives including a USB stick if fitted.
This is the reason for my concern, for if I leave a memory stick in the PC how long will it last if constantly accessed.
Top shows no activity, have done a root search with rkhunter all OK.
All ideas appreciated.
Trev

[kjpetrie]

Has the BIOS any settings relating to disc housekeeping, flushing etc? I can't imagine it's a faulty BIOS ROM, because damaged software/firmware causes crashes rather than nuisance behaviour on an otherwise functional system.

A brief Google search suggests the Phoenix BIOS is SMART enabled, which means it tests the drives regularly and polls them for performance information to predict drive failure. I suspect that might be what you see.

[Tony]

Hi trevatxtal, I'm looking around the Net to try to understand your situation. Frustrating.
There are mainly Topics concerning Windows unfortuneately, and random access to floppy drives.

The Bios will not let me alter the mode on the Sata drive to EIDE, it is fixed as Auto.

Well as it is a Sata Drive it doesn't have the capacity to be an IDE drive, if I misunderstood, apologies.
You'd kind of expect the Master Drive to be "drives 0", however it's, 0=IDE, 1=IDE=, and 2=SATA disk 2

if you: su
then run:
[root@localhost USER]# fdisk -l
would be interesting to see how PCLinuxOS sees your Drives ?

This little Video might 'Brighten your Day', ...however doesn't solve your problem.    (sorry, I digress... )

Understand The IDE And Sata Hard Drives

The Comp I'm using now has a Sata HDD, however I don't have IDE drives, just a straight "Master" config.

You have the Sata drive assigned as the 'Master' HDD, being the boot Drive, containing the Grub boot entry.

There should be no problem mixing SATA and IDE drives, as long as the SATA is the main drive.
You must be sure to set the jumpers to 'master' and 'slave'; however seeing your Computer boots, that must be the case. Just thinking out loud, sorry trevatxtal

I'll keep looking; actually as I just have a Sata Drive installed will reboot and see if there's any clue in my HDD settings (Sata) in Bios. If so will post back, otherwise, will keep searching...

EDIT:
Dell System -GX 520
Yes, I have some performance settings for the Sata Drive in the Bios:
Bypass (Older drives)- Quiet - (Drive Manufacturer settings) - Performance -(A little Noisier); which I have mine set to. This takes you nowhere though, I'm sorry. Maybe given you something to think about, otherwise contact your Mainboard / BIOS Manufacturer seems last option. 

[trevatxtal]

Thank you for your replies      kjperie and tony.
Phoenix BIOS is SMART enabled, which means it tests the drives regularly and polls them for performance
Yes it does but can and is switched off.

I can't imagine it's a faulty BIOS ROM
I think so to but my experience with flashing the Bios is not so good so I sent for a new one, then I can play with a fall back.
I do not think this is to do with operating system as it happens while in Bios set-up.

The Bios will not let me alter the mode on the Sata drive to EIDE, it is fixed as Auto.
Some Bios's let one set the drive as IDE as if two drives are on the same cable (slows it down) this Bios will not let any setting be alteration.

You'd kind of expect the Master Drive to be "drives 0", however it's, 0=IDE, 1=IDE=, and 2=SATA disk 2
Disk 2 the Sata is the fastest drive so used as root.

The Bios thinks the two IDE drives are the first and second the SATA further down the list. But has boot options.

The results of  fdisk -l is as follows.

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x41e9dfbc

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *          63    25189919    12594928+  83  Linux
/dev/sda2        25189920   156296384    65553232+   5  Extended
/dev/sda5        25189983    33367004     4088511   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6        33367068   156296384    61464658+  83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 120.0 GB, 120034123776 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14593 cylinders, total 234441648 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00069116

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *          63    82057215    41028576+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb2        82057216   234440703    76191744   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 160.0 GB, 160041885696 bytes
240 heads, 63 sectors/track, 20673 cylinders, total 312581808 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x089c24a7

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *          63   312581807   156290872+   7  HPFS/NTFS

Again many thanks for your input.
Trev

[trevatxtal]

This is the result of HDSentinel
Please note highlight, this is a fairly new drive, I wonder could this be the problem.

Hard Disk Sentinel for LINUX console 0.08 (c) 2008-2011 info@hdsentinel.com
Start with -r [reportfile] to save data to report, -h for help

Examining hard disk configuration ...

HDD Device  0: /dev/sda
HDD Model ID : ST380013AS
HDD Serial No: 3JV7JKL3
HDD Revision : 3.05
HDD Size     : 76319 MB
Interface    : S-ATA
Temperature  : 37 °C
Highest Temp.: 52 °C
Health       : 68 %
Performance  : 100 %
Power on time: 191 days, 6 hours
Est. lifetime: 755 days

HDD Device  1: /dev/sdb
HDD Model ID : ST3120025ACE
HDD Serial No: 5JT2KHED
HDD Revision : 4.39
HDD Size     : 114473 MB
Interface    : IDE/ATA
Temperature  : 30 °C
Highest Temp.: 62 °C
Health       : 100 %
Performance  : 100 %
Power on time: 1359 days, 11 hours
Est. lifetime: more than 465 days                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                              
HDD Device  2: /dev/sdc                                                                                                                                      
HDD Model ID : ST3160212ACE
HDD Serial No: 5LSHNK3B
HDD Revision : 3.ACB
HDD Size     : 152628 MB
Interface    : IDE/ATA
Temperature  : 34 °C
Highest Temp.: 52 °C
Health       : 100 %
Performance  : 100 %
Power on time: 633 days, 12 hours
Est. lifetime: more than 1000 days


Thanks again
Trev

[Tony]

Well Trev, seems the Sata Drive is on its way out, as I read the results, yes ?

HDD Device  0: /dev/sda
HDD Model ID : ST380013AS
HDD Serial No: 3JV7JKL3
HDD Revision : 3.05
HDD Size     : 76319 MB
Interface    : S-ATA
Temperature  : 37 °C
Highest Temp.: 52 °C
Health       : 68 %
Performance  : 100 %
Power on time: 191 days, 6 hours
Est. lifetime: 755 days

Obviously any Data you want to save off it, such as 'Home', should be backed up to one of the IDE Drives, or an External drive as now is the time to act before it dies.
Unfortunate situation, hopefully you've got some time up your sleeve !

I don't know what you want to do as far as configuring your System, with the Boot Drive dying ?
1.) Clean Install on a fresh Drive, or;
2.) there's an option to make mylivecd - a bootable copy of your existing System.
You could make a Remaster off of the Sata Drive, and install your System as is, to another dtive, and reconfigure your other drives.
Info here:http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,74418.0.html2010 Remastering [/url]

It's very easy to do, as long as you keep the size of / (root), and any other partition, "home" under 10 GB's, I've found around 8 GB's is a high chance of success, it's a brilliant option if you can squeeze the Data to 10GB's or <
Once it gets over 10 GB's there's a chance of failure.

1.) Basically get everything off the Sata Drive, except for 'root'.
As you go use 'df' command to see the size of your used space.
Just two commands:
umount -a

mylivecd 'name'.iso

I'm worried if the drive is up to making a Remaster however as it may take around an hour, a risk you may or may not wanna take.

All the best, any probs start a thread in LiveCD, MyliveCD, LiveUSB and Remastering
Once Remaster.iso is made, it's a snap to put it on a USB Drive, if your BIOS has the feature to boot from a USB. Otherwise a DVD. As you can see it is 'size dynamic', thus best option being a USB flash drive.
Do a Forum Search to help see how others have done.

Whatever you choose to do, we are here.  

[trevatxtal]

Many thanks Tony
 I will let you know how I get on when a new Drive is fitted, and if it cured the random / repeat disk access.
Trev