Re: Defrag? Constant HD accessing?

news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <news@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
: I'm using Fedora Core 3 on a PC. Formatted in ext3.
: I know defragging isn't necessary in an ext3 format. But, is there some
: other reason why the HD is having to read and write constatntly, and
: the system is so slow while the hard drive is chugging heavily away?
: It's a P-4 2.8MHz, 512MB RAM, and a 80GB 7200 HD. So, the hardware
: isn't bad. I don't see why it's having to read/write the HD constantly
: whenever, for example, the system is coming up from being on screen
: saver for an hour or so. It can take literally 10 minutes of constant
: HD access and extremely slow system usage.
: Anyway, just wondering if there are any tips and tricks that can help
: with this.
: Thanks!
: -Liam

How much free space is on the disk? No matter what the zealots say
if the disk is highly fragmented and nearly full it can get pretty nasty.

More likely though you have a process that is indexing the disk
or some such. Look to see what is running during this slow period.

Another possibility is if you run a large process that is going deep into
swap. Are you running any large processes?

and-- for completeness -- the last time I saw something like this
was on a Linux system that I later found had been hacked. The malware
was periodically searching the disk and attempting to email info
off to some site. You _might_ try disconnecting the LAN and
seeing if it makes any difference. Not likely but can't hurt
to check.

Stan

--
Stan Bischof ("stan" at the below domain)
www.worldbadminton.com
.

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