Monitor your PC’s hard drive activity from a distance

There was a time when most computer users placed their machine on the worktop. The monitor could then be sited on top of the “desktop” style case so little space was wasted. However, today’s tower cases tend to waste space and many people avoid this by putting the computer on the floor.

Apart from having to fumble under the desk to reach the floppy and CD-ROM drives, this method is usually convenient. Unfortunately, it leaves the problem of not being able to see the hard drive activity l.e.d. very easily. This light is very useful – after all, it has persisted in computer design for many years. It informs the user that the system is active – whether a long document has finished being opened or saved, for example.

It also serves to inform when the machine has stopped responding. When there is a lot of hard drive activity creating swap files, this fact may prompt the user to install more memory chips.

This Hard Drive Warbler project provides harddrive activity checking without being able to see the warning light. It does this by monitoring the operation of the existing l.e.d. and “warbling” in sympathy with its flashes. The unit does not require any modifications to the computer itself so there are no warranty implications. The new unit is simply attached over the existing l.e.d. using adhesive fixing pads or a similar method.