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  1. #1

    Why is my HD accessed?

    Just returned to this game after an absence and a new computer. Installed it on a big SSD along with my OS. I have no other games installed and nothing has ever been installed on my internal HD. Computer has been blissfully whisper quiet UNTIL I installed this game. I had no idea how obnoxiously loud my HD and associated internal fans were until I loaded up this game. I suspect Win10 uses a partition on the HD, but nothing has been explicitly installed there and no other apps have caused this access.

    Why is it accessing my HD, and is there a way to stop this?

    Thanks for any insights or suggestions. Good to be back, game looks gorgeous on this new PC.
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  2. #2
    if it's on an ssd, there's no moving parts... Why or how would you be hearing your harddrive?
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  3. #3
    As darkness says, SSDs are sound-less. What you are probably hearing is your GPU fan.

    But, to answer the question, the game accesses your HD because that is where its binaries and data/resource files are that are required to run it.
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  4. #4
    That's exactly my point: Why would my HD be accessed if I installed the game on an SSD. That's my question, what is the game doing fiddling with my HD?
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  5. #5
    I know what an SSD is and that it has no moving parts. I must not have fully communicated because you are both missing my point. Since I installed the game on my SSD and NOT on an HD, and in fact I have installed nothing on this brand new, freshly wiped, clean Win10 system other than the OS and the game, both on my SSD, with nothing on the HD, what I want to know is why, when I run this game, why all the noise?

    I hadn't considered the GPU fan, that could be the source of some the noise. But I clearly hear the HD spindle turning, so something is being accessed on the HD. When you say "the game accesses your HD because that is where its binaries ad data/resource files are that are required to run it", is that true even if I installed solely on the SSD? I don't think that's what you mean to say, it sounds to me as though you believe I installed it on the HD. I didn't.

    Anyway, maybe the game looks for other independent data storage to deposit recovery files, kind of like Windows does? Maybe someone else will chime in with some ideas.

    Thanks
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  6. #6
    ceekay.sickart's Avatar Senior Member
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    Why would you think it's your game that's fiddling with the hard disk? It might as well be the operating system looking for dead horses there, who knows?!

    But, just as others have mentioned, it might as well be the fans of your PC working. Check for any programs that might access HDD.
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  7. #7
    I think by the binaries and libraries they are meaning the windows specific stuff. Because the game will need to know certain things about your OS, and PC specs which will be stored in your windows installation area. That's where the 'core' information is that programs and such need to access as a default, and they are independant from every other installation as they are windows core stuff too
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  8. #8
    Originally Posted by ceekay.sickart Go to original post
    Why would you think it's your game that's fiddling with the hard disk? It might as well be the operating system looking for dead horses there, who knows?!

    .
    Because it only happens when I fire up the game. I suppose it's possible that Windows could be looking for dead horses whenever I fire up the game, but the more likely reason seems to be the GPU fan as suggested. This is a new computer and I'm not used to its sounds, the loud noises just caught me off guard after a day of installing and upgrading the OS and not hearing boo. Game looks gorgeous and I see that it defaulted to Ultra graphics settings, so I'm not surprised that the fan is getting a workout.
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  9. #9
    Originally Posted by Boris-Badanov Go to original post
    I know what an SSD is and that it has no moving parts. I must not have fully communicated because you are both missing my point. Since I installed the game on my SSD and NOT on an HD, and in fact I have installed nothing on this brand new, freshly wiped, clean Win10 system other than the OS and the game, both on my SSD, with nothing on the HD, what I want to know is why, when I run this game, why all the noise?

    I hadn't considered the GPU fan, that could be the source of some the noise. But I clearly hear the HD spindle turning, so something is being accessed on the HD. When you say "the game accesses your HD because that is where its binaries ad data/resource files are that are required to run it", is that true even if I installed solely on the SSD? I don't think that's what you mean to say, it sounds to me as though you believe I installed it on the HD. I didn't.

    Anyway, maybe the game looks for other independent data storage to deposit recovery files, kind of like Windows does? Maybe someone else will chime in with some ideas.

    Thanks
    Go into power management and set your hard drive to shut down after a small amount of time. That might solve the issue but that particular function doesn't seem to work for everyone as Windows might just keep spinning it up even after you set it to shut down -- this happens on my system. If you can remount the HDD somewhere that is more noise baffled in the case you could try that too. I know HDD still have a place for bulk and long term storage but you might be better off just upping your SSD storage capacity instead as they are very cheap right now. You can still store to a HDD but it doesn't need to be connected.

    Also, having been building computers for almost 30 years now I can recognise the over-analysis of my new shiny system syndrome. You know, where you spend two weeks going over every little detail of Power/Noise/Performance etc. You notice more when you pay more attention and we tend to do that with new builds.

    If it's not smoking or sparking then it's not going to be that big a deal and you'll forget about it soon enough.
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  10. #10
    xX_RobinHood_Xx's Avatar Banned
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    I wish my ps4 pro could be quiet.. game is on an extern SSD but fan spine like an airplane ready to take off.
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