Replaced OCZ Vertex2 240GB with Intel 520 240GB - HDD light contstantly flashing

[idata]

Hello, I just replaced a faulty OCZ Vertex2 with Intel 520 and so far am very pleased with the Intel SSD. OCZ is being RMA'd. One thing I noticed is that my HDD is constantly flashing, CPU monitor shows a lot of activity (i7-2600K) however HDD monitor shows little activity. Is it normal? Ran optimization under Intel Toolbox (TRIM optimization), let the machine sit overnight in logged off mode to allow for the collection of garbage, but it still is flashing non-stop in a rapid fashion. Any ideas?

Thanks,

lisior

i7 2600K 3.4 GHz | Asus Maximus IV Extreme Rev 3.0 | Patriot Division 2 8172 MB 1600MHzRadeon HD 6990 | SyncMaster 2343 | Intel SSD 520 240 GB | WD 2 TB SATA 7200 rpmCorsair AX 1200W Gold | Antec Twelve Hundred Gamer

[idata]

To add some additional info, ran a standard AS SSD test - attached are the results plus two screens from Intel SSD Toolbox. The HDD light on the front of the case continues to flash rapidly non-stop, even after a few reboots. CPU monitoring gadget indicates some activity, however the HDD gadget doesn't show the activity level that I'd expect to see given the non-stop flashing HDD light.

[idata]

Windows never sits "idle" so there will always be disk activity. Your utilities just confirm activity which is normal. To see what's running, open Task Manager and click on the Processes tab. This will show you what's running along with I/O. To see the actual files being read or written, click on the Performance tab then click on Resource Monitor at the bottom. Expand the Disk section and you can see disk activity. Allow the screen to sit for about a minute or so and you'll see that there is always at least one file being updated about once per second. This is normal.

There are numerous processes running all the time. Perhaps you have additional software adding I/O. In any case, you should be able to identify what's running. Oh yeah, I might mention that even when logged off, Windows still performs I/O on the disk.

[idata]

Thanks CarWiz, appreciate your feedback. I recall I noticed the same thing when I got this system a year ago and after I got through the initial pain with Vertex2 I noticed the same non-stop disk activity. Although I think it eventually died down, whereas with Intel 520 it hasn't stopped yet. But as this is no cause for concern, I won't worry about it.

Just for fun I placed the image from the Vertex2 onto Intel 520 and everything worked just fine, however I prefer to have a clean install which is exactly what I did. Once I receive a new Vertex2 via the RMA, I'll have to figure out whether I can swap it as the drive for Asus K72F laptop and apply an image from the laptop's HDD onto the Vertex2. Time will tell. As it is an Intel Core i3 350M / 2.26 GHz machine with 4GB RAM and has a 500GB HDD (two partitions - OS and Data), it should see a performance improvement with Vertex2. But I digress.

So far I'm quite happy with Intel 520 - BIOS recognized it right away (the same cannot be said about Vertex2 - lots of crashes lately; even after Secure Erase wasn't recognized by BIOS), OS installation went well and the system is up and running. Was a little hesitant to replace an SSD with a SandForce controller with another one with the same controller, but I have some faith in Intel's testing procedures which allegedly resulted in fixed to the firmware. Keeping fingers crossed - so far, so good.

[idata]

Use resource monitor-->disk activity to narrow down what is using up your I/O.