SETI: What keeps running the hard drive?

[Moltres]

The hard drive lights keep blinking about once a second. I moved the SETI folder to a ramdisk but that didn't stop it. I tried moving the TEMP and TMP environment variables to the ramdisk but that didn't stop it. What can I do to stop the disk accesses?

This is a Dell Inspiron 5100 Laptop
P4 2.4
512MB
XP Pro SP1
30GB Toshiba 4200RPM HDD
Samsung CDRW/DVD
Radeon Mobility 7500C 32MB
Dell TrueMobile 1300 MiniPCI Wireless G Card
SigmaTel C-Major Integrated Audio
SB Extigy

Is it bad to use laptops for DC? I just bought it for reading PDF textbooks from school, so it mostly just sits there. However, I wonder if running it constantly is too hard on it.

 

[Smoke]

I don't know how you can stop SETI from writing to the hard drive. It was designed that way so very little work gets lost.

Someone else may be able to help with your question about moving Seti to the ramdrive?

I can share my experience with you concerning notebook computers. I use to run a PIII 800 MHz system 24/7. I used it from August, 2000 until I recently sold it with SETI running all of the time when it was hooked up to AC. The monitor connections started acting a little flaky which spurred me into upgrading to my new Power Notebook 1.7 GHz Centrino w/1G Memory.

During the period I ran the PIII, I found that about once a year I had to change out the CPU Cooler Fan. It was a tiny little thing and probably not as sturdy as the larger ones we have in our desktops. Changing out the little fan was a snap and only cost around $20.

The notebook was always super hot. So hot that I could hardly put it on my lap.

About a year or so ago I bought a notebook cooler. That has really made a difference. If you are going to run a laptop 24/7 or thereabouts whether it is SETI or just with your regular apps I highly recommend you use one.

This seems to be a good one but there are many out there so look around.

http://www.evercool.com.tw/index_eng.htm

Scan down the page to the NP 101

 

[TofBnT]

Bump for help!

 

[lobadobadingdong]

this is normal. seti saves it's data every second or so as not to lose any of the data you have crunched. I ran it on an old p133 laptop for over 4 years before the hard drive went out, heck seti probably increased the livelyhood of it, as most of the others I work with have had several hard drive replacements on thiers and they hardly used thier laptops.