I have strange problem with hard disk: When I work in Windows (not playing games) - bunch of clicking and background file copying and windows are opening - sometimes hard disk start to 'doing' something. HD Light is glowing (not blinking) for about 30 sec. For that time windows is frozen. If music is playing, it start to repeat last small part (shorter then 1 sec). After 20-30 sec HD continue to work just fine. HD: WD 200GB SATA (no RAID field). I changed MB last year (not for that reason), same problem on old MB. Drivers up to date. P.S. Like before: Sorry for bad english... If I'm not back in 5 minutes... just wait longer...

a) Have you a good Internet Security programm? If so, and it is up to date, do a full system scan. Before doing so, run tools/internet options to delete temporary files. This will reduce the time for the scan. b) have you ever defragged the hdd? Good Luck -Keep us posted.

Hello Mike, a) Yes, I think Zone Alarm Security Suite is more that just good Internet Security programm and it's up to date. I did run full system scan and not just when I have some Win problemm. I do it from time to time just in case. And I clean all kind of temp files when I remember to. b) Yes. I defrag HD every month or two to keep it fresh. I mean, I'm not new in all this and allways trying to keep my Windows 'fresh' and clean and I work my problems by myself but this one is stil a mystery to me. I don't mean this i bad way Mike, yours responce is just what I will ask. I fear HD is the problem and I don't have money to buy another. Anyway, any idea Mike? If I'm not back in 5 minutes... just wait longer...

I don't see what an internet security program has to do with that problem at all. It sounds like a swap (paging) problem to me.

my computer did this kind of thing for months - then i upgraded from win98se to XP and its never had the problem since. Win XP was installed as 'upgrade' not complete reformat and I did that for other reasons, not to try to fix the hard drive stopping for 30 seconds. As the problem fixed itself I felt it was software not hardware problem.

Go to the Western Digital web site and download a free diagnostic utility, and test your hard drive. There are usually two non-destructive tests - a quick and a longer one - it should pass both. If it has problems only with the data organization on the drive and there is nothing else wrong, that's also a pass, but there are problems with your Windows installation. If it passes the diagnostics, you will then know the problem is caused by something in your Windows installation. If it doesn't pass both diagnostics, the warranty on your drive is at least three years. If it is still under warranty you don't have to pay the full price of a new drive. Even if you don't know where the original bill for it is, you can determine whether it is still under warranty on the Western Digital site. If it is still under warranty, you have two options: - the more expensive one is you can go online and get an RMA and have Western Digital ship another drive to you (it will be the identical model, refurbished if thats' possible, or the closest new equivalent) - you pay the shipping up front, and it's shipped a fast way that gets the drive to you quick but it costs more money. You ship the defective drive back to them at their cost in the same packaging they sent you, within a short time. You have to supply a credit card number - if your drive is truly defective, you end up paying for only for the intial shipping one way - if it is NOT found to be defective, you are charged the full price of the drive, plus the shipping both ways. The advantage of this method is if your hard drive is still somewhat usable you may be able to continue to use it until the new drive arrives, and you can transfer any data you want to preserve from the old drive to the new one if you want to before you ship the old drive back. - the other method is to go online and get an RMA, and ship your drive to a designated place, as slow and as cheap a way as you like. The disadvantage of this methid is you will be without a hard drive until the new one arrives, and if that is the only hard drive you have, without the use of that computer. If you need to preserve data on the drive, you have to copy it somewhere else before you send it. You will probably be required to supply credit card info for this method as well, but you will not be charged anything if your hard drive is defective. With either method, your warranty period will be the remainder of the original period, but chances are the drive should be relaible for at least three years after that.