Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

woflux · Joined: 11 Sep 2012 Posts: 22

Hello, I have noticed that when Slacko is on without any program running, the HD led blinks fast about every 5-6 seconds is it normal and what does it do?

Flash · Posted: Wed 19 Dec 2012, 19:38 Post subject:

I run Puppy from a multisession DVD without a hard disk drive in the computer, so I'm no expert, but for a full install on a hard disk I'm pretty sure it's normal for that led to show periodic activity even though nothing is going on.

Sylvander · Posted: Wed 19 Dec 2012, 20:26 Post subject:

Is your Slacko connected to the web?

When I'm connected to the web...
I believe my ISP is periodically, at frequent intervals, checking to see if I'm still here/connected.
That would cause some activity at my end I guess.
Where that activity takes place [RAM or internal HDD?] would depend on the kind of installation methinks.
My Slacko is set up to NOT periodically-auto-write-back-during-the-session [from RAM where things are running] to the slackosave on the internal HDD, so no HDD activity to be expected there.
If I clicked the "Save..." icon on the desktop, it would be reasonable to then see resulting activity on the HDD as the HDD was written to.
[I also have my Slacko set up to treat the slackosave on the internal HDD as though it's a slackosave on a Flash Drive, which is why there is a "Save.." icon on the desktop]

Is your Slacko installed to the internal HDD or what?

Jasper · Joined: 25 Apr 2010 Posts: 1350 Location: England

Hi,

I boot from a multisession CD into RAM and use a mounted
flash stick where I store any data I want to save as I work.

I also have folders on my flash stick which are linked back
to the CD/RAM (e.g. wine, .wine and .mozilla)

I have also wondered why my LED HD light blinks when I
don't have any HD partitions mounted (and I don't use Swap).

Strangely, at the moment it is blinking at about six second
intervals. I had never counted the intervals before now.

The blink rate is constant, with or without any browser
loaded and with no apps loaded.

My regards

Sylvander · Posted: Wed 19 Dec 2012, 23:12 Post subject:

Just now checked... Very Happy

When I click the "Save..." icon on my desktop...
The LED for the internal HDD glows red for about 1 second during the [session changes] copy back from RAM to HDD.

woflux · Joined: 11 Sep 2012 Posts: 22

I boot from CD then it loads the savefile from the hard disk, I'd like to know what causes the HD to be used every 5 seconds, maybe Slack updates some file in the savefile ?

2byte · Joined: 09 Oct 2006 Posts: 357

You can run top in a terminal and see what process coincides with the activity

woflux · Joined: 11 Sep 2012 Posts: 22

I already checked but the only processes that use some CPU are like X, busybox and i cant kill them Sad

Flash · Posted: Fri 21 Dec 2012, 08:48 Post subject:

It may be that the light flickers for more than just hard disk activity. What does the motherboard documentation say about it?

8-bit · Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 3425 Location: Oregon

If that action of the hard drive led was happening in Windows, I would assume that the defrag utility was running in the background.
But with Puppy, what background actions does it have that would cause that action?

Could it just be a matter of the pmount or simular background function periodically looking for new devices such as a CD/DVD disk or a USB device that was plugged in?
In other words, a periodic update check for attached devices like checking to see if a USB device had been plugged in.

If one is concerned about the possibility of a hacking attempt via the net to access the drive, just click on the internet icon on the task bar and select "Disconnect from network" and see if the hard drive led stops flashing.

The last thing a Puppy user wants to think is that some process is accessing his hard drive data/ personal information without his knowledge!

Q5sys · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 1126

couple bash programs may help you here.
iotop (its python based) will let you know what program accessing your drive.
iostat will let you know what dev is being accessed.
lsof will let you know what files are currently in use by the system.

IOtop is not included with puppy, so you'll have to get it online.
IOstat and lsof may be included... will depend on what puppy you are running.

8-bit · Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Posts: 3425 Location: Oregon

In Puppy Slacko 5.4.1, iostat is present. The other two utilities are not.
So I will have to do a web search for them.

But thank you for the suggestions.

Q5sys · Joined: 11 Dec 2008 Posts: 1126

Karl Godt · Joined: 20 Jun 2010 Posts: 4208 Location: Kiel,Germany

The partition where the Puppy files are located is mounted read-write all of the time. If there is a filesystem driver managing the partition loaded (mostly built into the vmlinuz kernel directly) , it will always do some operations on the partition, especially if it is a journal 'ed filesystem ie ntfs, ext3 .

Ted Dog · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 4013 Location: Heart of Texas

Just the government spying on your computer, nothing to worry about Shocked

remember the scene from the SUM of ALL FEARS. Twisted Evil

I noticed it as well on a DVD booted machine without a HD about every six seconds