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    Anyone else aggravated the XPS L702 does not have Hard Drive Activity light in plain sight?

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by fslove, Apr 13, 2011.

  1. fslove

    fslove Newbie

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    I am curious of others are aggravated that the hard drive activity light is hidden behind the screen instead of in plain sight as it should be. It seems a small thing at first but it does drive me nuts I have to get up and look over the screen to see if there is any hard drive activity.
     
    fslove, Apr 13, 2011
    #1
  2. thumper300zx

    thumper300zx Notebook Geek

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    thumper300zx, Apr 13, 2011
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  3. JETninja

    JETninja Notebook Guru

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    I find it funny so many ing about this, I never look at one unless my system is not running, and that like never ever happens. My gaming desktop I built lives inside a cabinet with a door, cant see a thing. Could care less.
     
    JETninja, Apr 13, 2011
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  4. beertha

    beertha Notebook Geek

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    Hey Thumper300zx +1 for that hdd app. It is very cool.
     
    beertha, Apr 13, 2011
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  5. Scott_RC-TEK

    Scott_RC-TEK Notebook Deity

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    Yes, it is an odd place for the indicator lights. Since they are made up of just two light pipes to the board mounted LED's, I do not understand why they just didn't route them to the front side of the LCD. Oh well... such is life. :rolleyes:

    Scott-
     
    Scott_RC-TEK, Apr 13, 2011
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  6. craigallen

    craigallen Notebook Enthusiast

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    It's a very dumb place for it, but it's not like I need it for anything.
     
    craigallen, Apr 13, 2011
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  7. mavericke

    mavericke Notebook Consultant

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    I think from a personal point of view, I am quite used to not having any hard drive activity indicator- the dell studio 15 which I am using as a backup does not come with one! I guess it is not a big problem when the HDD light is behind the lid when it is open.
     
    mavericke, Apr 13, 2011
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  8. Neubeehunhun

    Neubeehunhun Notebook Evangelist

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    Why do you want to look at it anyways? Just curious.
     
    Neubeehunhun, Apr 13, 2011
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  9. johnnyB120

    johnnyB120 Newbie

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    Yes I also disliked the positioning, its handy to be able to see it for example if your waiting for something to load and its taking longer than normal , whether your swap filing or you need to do a reset and check its not using the hard drive.
     
    johnnyB120, Apr 13, 2011
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  10. DakkonA

    DakkonA Notebook Evangelist

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    Just want to throw in a personal pet peeve: you mean irritated (=annoyed), not aggravated (=made worse) :) Everyone does it, I know.

    I don't really miss the indicator myself, but in another thread someone running a database liked to know when it was being hit.
     
    DakkonA, Apr 13, 2011
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  11. Falco152

    Falco152 Notebook Demon

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    I stop caring about the hdd light indicator, it doesn't tell me anything much but for activity at all.

    I moved over to other tool that provides information on who using the hdd, how much, how long, where and why? + whole bunch more.
     
    Falco152, Apr 13, 2011
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  12. sheeeeple

    sheeeeple Notebook Enthusiast

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    I might install a sweet angled mirror on the top of my screen to see it.
     
    sheeeeple, Apr 13, 2011
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  13. wicked20

    wicked20 Notebook Consultant

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    Hi,
    Have you consider using Windows' Task Manager w/ Resource Monitor for Disk / Network very useful to track all processes, can set multi-cpu per process. Say you can assign game w/ 2 CPUs, and use the other CPUs/Cores for 1080p movies / HD TV Tuner / Mosaic Web Tickers on at least 3 1080p screens at the same time.

    Thanks.
     
    wicked20, Apr 13, 2011
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  14. loaded12

    loaded12 Notebook Enthusiast

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    The best program for quick system monitoring on Windows 7 HAS to be Taskbar Meters. I can't live without it now. It puts CPU%, RAM%, and Hard drive usage on the taskbar.

    Taskbar Meters

    You won't regret it :p
     
    loaded12, Apr 13, 2011
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  15. Jukkie

    Jukkie Notebook Enthusiast

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    To be honest, I'm glad I can't see it. I don't like having a little flashing LED in the corner of my eye while I'm trying to watch a movie in the dark.
     
    Jukkie, Apr 13, 2011
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  16. thumper300zx

    thumper300zx Notebook Geek

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    Good point :)

    Too bad we don't have a light on the scroll lock key -- if we did, you can set this utility to use it for hdd activity :)

    Maybe we can find a way to use another key if anyone wants it -- but I agree, I'm glad it's not constantly flashing -- I always wanted it working on my desktops, but now that I think about it -- WHY !?!?!?
     
    thumper300zx, Apr 13, 2011
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  17. palap

    palap Notebook Enthusiast

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    What about this thought, guys. When you watch movie in dark room on entertaining laptop it may be irritating to have blinking light in peripheral field of view. :D
     
    palap, Apr 13, 2011
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  18. thumper300zx

    thumper300zx Notebook Geek

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    A very original thought for the thread, to be sure.
     
    thumper300zx, Apr 14, 2011
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  19. essjay555

    essjay555 Newbie

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    Spot on, mate! It is the most annoying aspect of the XPS for me till now! The hdd led may not be of particular use for the general user, but it is EXTREMELY useful in programming work, and any other tasks where you might wanna keep a check on whether the disk is being accessed/CPU is done processing at any particular moment of time.
     
    essjay555, Apr 14, 2011
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  20. Falco152

    Falco152 Notebook Demon

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    The hdd light is pretty useless and meaningless, nowadays.

    Like I said before there are tools that are much more informative than a simple light that shows up for any hdd activity.

    Relying on a simple light indicator for a test bench or debugging is not a very good idea at all.
     
    Falco152, Apr 14, 2011
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  21. essjay555

    essjay555 Newbie

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    In some cases, the software solution is an overkill! the hdd light is a simple indicator you can just glance on whenever you need to see if there is some hdd activity going on
     
    essjay555, Apr 14, 2011
    #21