Hard Disk activity tracker for Windows?

August 19, 2004 11:56 PM

The Windows task manager tells me the CPU and memory usage by each process. Is there a utility that can tell me which of the running processes are responsible for current HDD activity?
posted by Krrrlson to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

You can do that in the task manager as well. In the 'Processes' tab, select View / Select Columns and check off the 'I/O Write Bytes' column. That column shows you total byte writes as process info and updates as the others do.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 12:11 AM on August 20, 2004

Actually, you should check on the 'I/O Write Bytes' column. Meh.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 12:12 AM on August 20, 2004

Or, if you want even more detail than that: Sysinternals filemon has been a valuable part of my Windows diagnostic toolkit for years. And it's free.
posted by majick at 6:25 AM on August 20, 2004

Response by poster: Thanks!
posted by Krrrlson at 8:55 AM on August 20, 2004

Filemon is a great tool, but it might a little too detailed for what you're looking for. But another Sysinternals utility, Process Explorer, might be a closer fit. Turn on the column "I/O Delta" and sort by it and voila!

Also, I happen to use Desktop Sidebar, which has this built in. (Again, it's overkill for what you're asking for, but if the Sidebar is something you'd happen to find useful anyway, it's nice that it includes that feature.)
posted by llamateur at 9:03 AM on August 20, 2004