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#1 2020-07-31 03:24

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

HD is always working

Hello

My SATA disk is always working, the light indicator is always on. The disk doesn't appear to fill up, or it does very slowly.
I was to replace the HD with a SSD but I don't want to if someone is continuously using it.
How could I find which process is doing that?

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#2 2020-07-31 05:59

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

Lots of possible answers. First of all please run inxi -F and paste the output back here.

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#3 2020-07-31 09:59

q4osteam
Q4OS Team
Registered: 2015-12-06
Posts: 4,502
Website

Re: HD is always working

Yes, please run inxi -F as suggested by @bin above. Another go would be to run "htop" and check free RAM, swap space and CPU usage.

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#4 2020-08-01 20:50

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Output of inxi -F

System:
  Host: edugablinux Kernel: 4.19.0-9-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: Trinity R14.0.6 Distro: Q4OS 3.11.2-n1 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: LENOVO product: 10114 v: Lenovo C245 
  serial: <root required> 
  Mobo: LENOVO model: INVALID v: Win8 STD EM DPK IPG serial: <root required> 
  UEFI [Legacy]: LENOVO v: I3KT18AUS date: 11/02/2012 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: AMD E1-1200 APU with Radeon HD Graphics 
  bits: 64 type: MCP L2 cache: 512 KiB 
  Speed: 778 MHz min/max: 777/1400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 778 2: 779 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Wrestler [Radeon HD 7310] driver: radeon v: kernel 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: radeon FAILED: ati 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD PALM (DRM 2.50.0 / 4.19.0-9-amd64 LLVM 7.0.1) 
  v: 3.3 Mesa 18.3.6 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Wrestler HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
  Device-2: AMD FCH Azalia driver: snd_hda_intel 
  Device-3: Z-Star Micro type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-9-amd64 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  driver: r8169 
  IF: enp2s0f2 state: down mac: 20:89:84:21:89:fc 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter driver: rtl8192ce 
  IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: 20:16:d8:31:29:5e 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 402.01 GiB (86.3%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST500DM002-1BD142 size: 465.76 GiB 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 24.67 GiB used: 14.08 GiB (57.1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3 
  ID-2: swap-1 size: 1000.0 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda4 
Sensors:
  Missing: Required tool sensors not installed. Check --recommends 
Info:
  Processes: 175 Uptime: 4m Memory: 7.39 GiB used: 688.4 MiB (9.1%) 
  Shell: bash inxi: 3.0.32

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#5 2020-08-01 20:59

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

htop:

  1  [#*                                                          1.3%]   Tasks: 74, 67 thr; 1 running
  2  [#                                                           0.7%]   Load average: 0.04 0.37 0.44
  Mem[||||#******                                           367M/7.39G]   Uptime: 00:15:18
  Swp[                                                        0K/1000M]

  PID USER      PRI  NI  VIRT   RES   SHR S CPU% MEM%   TIME+  Command
  862 gabriel    20   0  551M 68064 49712 S  0.0  0.9  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-ui-gtk3
  863 gabriel    20   0  551M 68064 49712 S  0.0  0.9  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-ui-gtk3
  882 gabriel    20   0  551M 68064 49712 S  0.0  0.9  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-ui-gtk3
  884 gabriel    20   0  551M 68064 49712 S  0.0  0.9  0:00.25 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-ui-gtk3
  886 gabriel    20   0  551M 68064 49712 S  0.0  0.9  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-ui-gtk3
  827 gabriel    20   0  551M 68064 49712 S  0.0  0.9  0:02.05 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-ui-gtk3
  681 root       20   0  352M 54580 35484 S  0.0  0.7  0:04.76 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/sddm/{2c9811c8-484d-4054-82c1-89d43627
  690 root       20   0  352M 54580 35484 S  0.0  0.7  0:00.00 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/sddm/{2c9811c8-484d-4054-82c1-89d43627
  716 root       20   0  352M 54580 35484 S  0.7  0.7  0:03.53 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/sddm/{2c9811c8-484d-4054-82c1-89d43627
  626 root       20   0  352M 54580 35484 S  0.7  0.7  0:40.84 /usr/lib/xorg/Xorg -nolisten tcp -auth /var/run/sddm/{2c9811c8-484d-4054-82c1-89d43627
  852 gabriel    20   0  504M 51580 37696 S  0.0  0.7  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-extension-gtk3
  853 gabriel    20   0  504M 51580 37696 S  0.0  0.7  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-extension-gtk3
  880 gabriel    20   0  504M 51580 37696 S  0.0  0.7  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-extension-gtk3
  881 gabriel    20   0  504M 51580 37696 S  0.0  0.7  0:00.22 /usr/lib/ibus/ibus-extension-gtk3
  908 gabriel    20   0  504M 51580 37696 S  0.0  0.7  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
  828 gabriel    20   0  504M 51580 37696 S  0.0  0.7  0:04.41 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
 1004 gabriel    20   0  182M 49152 31080 S  0.7  0.6  0:07.56 /opt/trinity/bin/
 1001 gabriel    20   0  182M 49152 31080 S  0.0  0.6  0:10.98 /opt/trinity/bin/
  860 gabriel    20   0  427M 45480 36556 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
  861 gabriel    20   0  427M 45480 36556 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
  890 gabriel    20   0  427M 45480 36556 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
  892 gabriel    20   0  427M 45480 36556 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
  830 gabriel    20   0  427M 45480 36556 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.60 /usr/lib/ibus/ibu
 1010 gabriel    20   0  444M 44436 39940 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.25 /usr/lib/x86_64-l
 1011 gabriel    20   0  444M 44436 39940 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/x86_64-l
 1020 gabriel    20   0  444M 44436 39940 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/x86_64-l
 1021 gabriel    20   0  444M 44436 39940 S  0.0  0.6  0:00.00 /usr/lib/x86_64-l
  999 gabriel    20   0  444M 44436 39940 S  0.0  0.6  0:01.06 /usr/lib/x86_64-l
 1014 gabriel    20   0 97852 40148 28332 S  0.0  0.5  0:05.53 kicker [tdeinit]
 1083 gabriel    20   0  162M 30916 22828 S  0.0  0.4  0:00.49 kmix -caption KMi
 1115 gabriel    20   0 87904 30724 23004 S  0.0  0.4  0:04.73 konsole [tdeinit]
 1068 gabriel    20   0 95240 29220 23760 S  0.0  0.4  0:00.27 knotify [tdeinit]
 1109 gabriel    20   0 86956 28668 21036 S  0.0  0.4  0:04.66 tdenetworkmanager
  959 gabriel    20   0 82756 27840 21944 S  0.0  0.4  0:02.08 kded [tdeinit] --
 1005 gabriel    20   0 79328 27740 24436 S  0.0  0.4  0:00.14 /opt/trinity/bin/
  996 gabriel    20   0 85216 26772 20292 S  0.0  0.3  0:02.51 twin [tdeinit]
 1092 gabriel    20   0  453M 25956 20152 S  0.0  0.3  0:00.01 /usr/bin/pulseaud

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#6 2020-08-02 07:40

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

Nothing there that leaps out.

Please install ksnapshot-trinity 

sudo apt install ksnapshot-trinity

. This is a screenshot tool which will be needed

Please install gsmartcontrol. It is a tool for checking your HD's physical condition

sudo apt install gsmartcontrol

Run it from the menu, double click on your drive and it will bring up the report UI.

Please use the ksnapshot tool to take a grab of the Attributes page.

Go to the Self test page and run the Short Self Test - just click the Execute button. Likewise please provide a grab of the screen.

You can attach pictures by clicking Preview and then Browse to the files. Do not use Preview again otherwise it will remove the attached files.

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#7 2020-08-02 08:07

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Thanks for your reply. These are the screen captures:

Attachments:
png Screenshot_20200802_040051.png, Size: 107.58 KiB, Downloads: 444

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#8 2020-08-02 08:09

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Short self test

Attachments:
png Screenshot_20200802_040426.png, Size: 98.53 KiB, Downloads: 429

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#9 2020-08-02 10:41

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

Hmmm... OK

Install iotop then run 

sudo iotp -oa

I'd suggest you don't have anything else open at all while you're doing this.

What you will get is a real-time view of activity. I would not expect to see more then 4 or 5 lines at most on an idling system.

It may also be worth starting to look at the various system log files. My favourite tool is gnome-system-log.

Lets see what iotop gives first.

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#10 2020-08-07 16:53

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

iotop output:
Is it safe to assume that there is no real disk activity?
Perhaps a glitch in the device driver keeping the led indicator always on?

Attachments:
png Screenshot_20200807_124857.png, Size: 52.07 KiB, Downloads: 443

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#11 2020-08-08 05:55

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

I don't think that is likely. My guess is that it does at least flicker when you boot up???

Is there anything in the CD/DVD drive?

If you start the machine with the live media you used for installation does the hard drive light stay on?

I see that Lenovo do/did at least sell the C24x series with pre-installed Ubuntu which suggest a nod in the linux direction.

If all else fails I would suggest trying a different distro - http://mirror.ppa.trinitydesktop.org/tr … -amd64.iso is the Ubuntu equivalent version with TDE OK it is from April 19 so will need a few updates, but at least it would give a basis for comparison. Not as polished as Q4OS - just a standard install of TDE 14.06 on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

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#12 2020-08-08 08:47

q4osteam
Q4OS Team
Registered: 2015-12-06
Posts: 4,502
Website

Re: HD is always working

We would recommend you to try plain Debian with Trinity for comparison, as it is the closest to Q4OS system.

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#13 2020-08-08 09:28

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

q4osteam wrote:

We would recommend you to try plain Debian with Trinity for comparison, as it is the closest to Q4OS system.

Please forgive me for interjecting here, no offence meant. The reason I suggested using the Ubuntu version was because Lenovo do/did - at least in part - support Linux by supplying machines with Ubuntu pre-installed.

It may well be there is an architectural difference which would hopefully show up more readily than with another Debian based distro???

Just a thought.....?

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#14 2020-08-08 13:27

q4osteam
Q4OS Team
Registered: 2015-12-06
Posts: 4,502
Website

Re: HD is always working

@bin
No problem here, you are welcome to recommend any Linux distro you consider applicable or convenient. We consider the Ubuntu based TDE iso a right choice as well, but Debian is just closer to Q4OS. Anyway, thanks for helpful contributions on this forum.

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#15 2020-08-08 22:55

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Yes, the light flickers at boot time. And it works fine on Windows.
Light already stays on a while before Trinity desktop starts (but it could be actually working at that time).
There is no CD on the tray.
I'll try with the live pendrive I've used for installation and see what happens, that's the easiest move. Later I'll try either Debian or Ubuntu or both.

Last edited by gabrielg (2020-08-08 22:56)

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#16 2020-08-09 00:09

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Note that this problem happens with Plasma also.

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#17 2020-08-09 06:07

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

OK - thanks for the update - it's a puzzler that's for sure.

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#18 2020-08-11 03:45

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Tested with Q4OS live media -- same issue.
Tested with Debian Live 2.5.0+nonfree -- same issue
Should I submit a bug report upstream?

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#19 2020-08-11 06:13

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

gabrielg wrote:

Tested with Q4OS live media -- same issue.
Tested with Debian Live 2.5.0+nonfree -- same issue
Should I submit a bug report upstream?

I think I would try with an Ubuntu live - say XFCE 18.04

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/relea … -amd64.iso

I have had a few issues with 20.04 live, 18.04 has all the wrinkles well ironed out by now smile

If that also shows the same then I would find it hard to see it as a 'bug'

I see you used the non-free which would - hopefully - have covered a firmware thing.

This may or may not be relevant, but I am running Trinity off a normal hard drive connected via a USB3 port on the front of my old Acer desktop with a wee adapter cable. The blue activity light is on nearly all the time.

When connected via the system board SATA connection for installation it was not doing that.

For what it's worth I've attached a screenshot of my iotop -oa which shows not a lot over a period of 5 minutes. It does look like the most activity centres around system monitoring of various sorts.

I can hear the drive heads clonking a bit - but this is a very old spinner.

I don't think it is writing all the time, but I do think it is being actively monitored - possibly because of the USB system.

If you still have the Buster version installed on your machine it may just be worth installing the latest kernel via backports see https://www.q4os.org/dqa011.html#system.6

I'm running Debian 9 version right now so the latest kernel is the current version 10 - which is what you are using.

Attachments:
png snapshot1.png, Size: 92.86 KiB, Downloads: 411

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#20 2020-08-22 23:16

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Sorry the delay, I panicked when I got the GRUB rescue> prompt, I thought I had screwed it up, but the culprit was a Windows update hmm
After I got the box up and running, I tested Xubuntu 18.04 Live, and the result was the same as always: my disk indicator light stays on almost from the beginning of the boot process.

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#21 2020-08-23 05:25

bin
Member
From: U.K.
Registered: 2016-01-28
Posts: 1,333

Re: HD is always working

Sorry - but I'm fresh out of ideas with this. sad

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#22 2020-08-23 10:15

gabrielg
Member
From: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Registered: 2020-05-13
Posts: 17

Re: HD is always working

Thank you!
My only concern is what would happen if I were to replace the HD with a SSD. I don't like the idea of it being written continuously.
Other than that, I can live with this little light on, I don't care smile

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