Would more RAM help with this problem?

[Wedge]

I'm running a 1.3GHz P4 (frontside bus 400MHz). I have 386MB RD RAM installed.

Sometimes I issues commands that seem to require that my second hard drive begin spin-up. I was thinking this has to do with the paging file. I don't like this spin-up process because it freezes up my screen for a few seconds. I was wondering if I added more RAM maybe the spin-up/freezing could be avoided, say maybe add enough to make the total 512MB.

Or does this not have anything to do with the paging file at all?

[dx]

Is the paging file on the 2nd hard drive Wedge? Otherwise I'm a little sceptical.

This momentary freeze is common once a hard drive spins down. If you activate anything in Explorer (or related), your drives will but of course spin up so you can access them.

Try setting your "Turn off hard disks" (Display properties >>> Screen Saver >>> Power) setting to "Never" and see if that solves the problem. If that solves the problem, try 1 hour or 2 hours before the drives shut down (I have mine set to 2 ). Don't worry about your drives getting too warm, just use a drive cooler or a drive cage Mod, like we talked about before.

Mind you I would never discourage anyone from getting more system RAM, but I'm not convinced that is your problem. Nevertheless 512mb in WinXP (you forgot to say, but I know you use it ) is an excellent choice. It certainly won't hurt you when playing memory hungry games like Undying.

[LTR12101B]

Unless in the habit of regularly leaving the PC on when not in use, I would NEVER spin down hard drives - the delay it causes, and the additional start/stop cycle, is barely worth the running time saved.

If it's only preallocating swapfile, rather than actually using it, setting a larger minimum size may eliminate the disk activity under those conditions.

And I assume the swap file must be on HD 2, otherwise something VERY strange is happening.

[Wedge]

Guys my swap file is on the C drive, which is NOT the second drive.

HD #1 is Master on primary IDE (40 GB IBM)
HD #2 is Slave on primary IDE (80 GB Western Dig, 8MB cache)

As a matter of fact, I don't know why my 2nd drive would need to spin up. My games and apps are both on HD #1 partitions. The 2nd HD is more or less a backup of files and images, although I am thinking of making it the primary master.

[LTR12101B]

If the swap is automatic, could it be migrating to the second drive if it has more room.

Only other guess, you're starting a program that has it's default directory on the second drive, maybe from saving or opening something there?

[dx]

Yep all true. But you still haven't told us what you have your HD power settings at Wedge.

[Wedge]

Sorry dx,

monitor goes off ---> 20 mins
hard drive stops spinning ----> 25 mins
standby ----> 30 mins

@dxkim, I don't have an extra bay for adding a drive cooler, so I would definitely have to mod the case. I'll need to consult with you again for details.
I haven't tried your suggestion of setting hard drive power setting to 1-2 hours specifically the reason of heating issues.


@LTR12101B, no programs installed on 2nd drive. Documents and such are saved on first drive. Then, as an extra measure, I back up my important documents to the 2nd drive (I'm not actively using the 2nd drive for saving any work, only extra security for documents already saved to HD #1). Yet, this drive spins up for some reason -- even does so in the middle of playing quake 3.
This 2nd drive definitely has more free space. I'm only using about 10-15% of it at the moment.

[dx]

Those setting are a little harsh IMHO. Are your drives really getting that hot after an hour of usage bud? Try setting your drives to 1 hour to see first if your hanging problem goes away and second to see if your drives get hot to the touch.

As far as the drive cooler, no problem I could help you in whatever method you want to. I just helped one of the guys at work build an inexpensive drive cage kludged from parts at CompUSA. His drives are cool as cucumbers now. Took us about an hour (half of it drinking beers and chewing the fat ) and only minor craftsman skills.

[Wedge]

I'm going to take your advice dxkim. I'm going to set the drives to stop spinning after 1 hour of being idle. I am concerned about heat, but it's my paranoia. Just want to keep my computer as healthy as possible, and have an extensive life, like we all do. However, you and many others here have more experience with hard drives. If you think an hour to two hours would cause no harm then it probably will not. I tend to think you are right in that this would cure the spinning-up/freezing-the-screen problem.

How does this sound?
monitor goes off ---> 20 mins
hard drive stops spinning ----> 1 hour
standby ----> 1 hour

I'll see how hot if feels to the touch after applying these settings and using my computer for a lengthy session. If I feel it needs more cooling then we'll get down to business.
If anything else comes to mind just let me know.

[dx]

Originally posted by Wedge
How does this sound?
monitor goes off ---> 20 mins
hard drive stops spinning ----> 1 hour
standby ----> 1 hour

Sounds fine bud. But why not just have the monitor go off at the same time? You are not saving yourself anything really by having it go off early. In fact, it often takes a while (about a minute) for it be up to full color and brightness. Since you are setting the system to go into standby at one hour anyways, why not the monitor and drives too?!

As far as drive heat, yes it is a concern. Many modern HDs (7200rpm, ATA100, ATA133) do get a little too warm. But if you have good airflow, or even better a drive cooling solution you will be fine. Like I said before, my drives are custom mounted in a drive cage at the bottom of my case and are behind 2x quiet 80mm intake fans. The airflow blows around and through the cage and into the main case. I have an IBM 120GXP (IBMs replacement after 3x RMA'd 75 GXPs ) and 2 other drives that are never warm with this solution. And that is a feat considering IBMs are notoriously warm drives! They are cool to the touch.

[Wedge]

I have had my drives set to stop spinning after 1 hour. Have not had a single spin-up/freeze all day long (and I have been sitting in front of it for most of the day).

I have had DTemp turned on all day to monitor my IBM Drive temperature since it is my primary (the 40GB drive). It has not exceeded 37 degrees, and it only got that high when I had my space heater turned on not too far away from it. For the most part it has stayed around 32-36 degrees (even after quaking for about 4 hours it only registered 33 degrees). What do you think?

[dx]

33F is not bad Wedge. As I remember 32F is IBMs spec temp for normal operation for GXPs. But as a comparison my IBM 120 GXP runs 25F in normal operations. Since the 60 & 75GXP IBMs are notorious for failures most likely due to high temp, I dont want to take the chance that it will happen again. So an 8F drop certainly helps the situation.

[Wedge]

dxkim, when you have time could you give me an outline of how I could effectively add another cooling mechanism, keeping in mind that I have no open optical drive bays. I have an open hard drive bay and an open floppy bay, but I don't know that either will be of use for this.

I know we spoke about this before but I don't remember the specifics. I am willing to go through the trouble of a modification if it may add life to my drives.

[dx]

Pm me and we can figure it all out. Unless others want to know how I assembled a drive cage cooling solution (mentioned earlier).