Help updating/backing up laptop BIOS on Acer 7560G due to "pausing" issues?

In short, how would I go about doing it. How do I back up the existing BIOS? I've never updated a BIOS before, but I think it's necessary on this PC as I've got an annoying "pausing" problem in Windows and some games/apps ever since I bought this laptop. I know where to download BIOS updates but am unsure if it's safe to just install them like that with all the red text saying it will void my warranty and whatnot. Could I backup my existing BIOS to a disc for instance and use it in case something goes wrong?

Basically when certain apps access the HDD, the whole laptop (including mouse movement) pauses for a split second (or up to 2). This only happens in some games and apps. For instance in Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Skyrim, whenever the game plays a new audio file it pauses for a split second. Sometimes it pauses when loading new models/scripts also, which makes it really annoying (e.g in Amnesia I can predict when something scary happens because it pauses almost every time it loads a new script). In Skyrim it mostly pauses whenever an NPC says something, as it has to load a new sound from the HDD then.

This pausing even occurs in Windows sometimes, by the way of my mouse freezing briefly and then resuming. It pauses almost always when copying or deleting files also. Another weird thing is that sometimes deleted files "persist" as ghosts on the HDD, and I have to refresh the resource manager to see them disappear into the recycle bin.

Other than that this laptop works really well and it's gaming performance is smooth save for the random pauses, which I don't think I should be getting. On the other hand some games have no pausing issues whatsoever, for instance Super Monday Night Combat or just about any other Unreal engine game. It's just usually HDD-load heavy games that seem to do it.

Another thing worth mentioning is that this laptop has two HDDs, one I use for Windows and another for games. Could that cause the pausing since drivers are installed on C: and the games on D:? Both drivers are 500 GB and 5200 rpm and defragmented regularily. I've set my performance settings to max performance too so it shouldn't be powering them down either (and both HDDs are set to never go to sleep).

Full system specs;

AMD A8 3500M 1.5 Ghz Quad Core CPU
AMD Radeon HD 6740G2 1 GB (6620G + 6650M Crossfired, Catalyst 12.1 drivers, CF or card used doesn't matter for pausing)
8 GB RAM DDR3 1333Mhz (2x4GB)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Realtek HD audio

Any help would be appreciated!

 

Bump after moving to Acer forum..

 

Nobody knows?

 

Is the HDD in question a Western Digital?

 

Yeah I think so, why? Both drives show up as "WDC WD5000BPVT-22HXT1 ATA Device" in device manager.

 

The drive is at fault- it parks heads way too often.
Use QuietHDD app, add it to start-up and check "disable APM" setting
That's a known WD issue.

 

Thanks, will give it a try since I've found nothing else that helps either.

 

I tried it and it does work nicely...for a little while. Tested in Skyrim and was able to play without any pausing for about 10 minutes, then it resumed as if I hadn't ran the app at all.

I'm currently running it from a desktop shortcut, so do I need to have it as a service to make it run constantly? And is "Disable HDD APM now" supposed to have a checkmark or something, since it just flashes the icon for a while but doesn't confirm it anyhow? I haven't tested "Disable System Suspend" but I'm gonna give that a try too if that helps.

Anyway really lame that Acer didn't take any kind of look at what kind of HDDs they put in their laptops. Seems ridiculous with the otherwise quite decent specs for the HDD to be a piece of . I mean I'd be fine with the 5200 rpm speed, but having it pause all the time on top of that...

 

Acer is not at fault here. WD produced some crappy driver calling them "green".
As you know there are only few HDD manufacturers these days with Toshiba and Hitachi being the small ones Acer couldn't afford to rely entirely on Seagate.

Many manufacturers use these "awesome" HDDs...

Check if "load/unload cycle count" SMART status changes a lot or not- if it doesn't QuietHDD is doing its job.

EDIT: Come to think of it- Hitachi might have sold its HDD division to WD. So it's wither Seagate or WD and Toshiba as a minor player.

 

Well, I couldn't get quietHDD to work (maybe since I have dual drives?), but I installed an app called hdparm instead that runs from a command box and it works fine. No pauses at all anymore, finally. Thanks a lot for the help, wouldn't have known what to do myself!