Many have long dreamed of doing something like that with their computer (paint, highlight, cut through the window :-)). Moreover, everyone wants everything to turn out beautifully, simply and, most importantly, safely - after all, it is fear that usually repels newcomers from the thought of modifying their camputer! In this article, I would like to offer you ALL IN ONE! The mod that I will describe is simple and almost completely safe to implement and, importantly, the beauty and functionality will simply amaze everyone around you and will undoubtedly increase your rating. And I want to talk about the loading indicator of the hard drive, or, to be more precise, about its modernization. So, looking at various MODs on thematic sites, I somehow came across a rather simple and effective homemade device for a PC - an HDD loading indicator.

100% of computers are equipped with a conventional hard drive indicator based on one LED. I propose to expand the possibilities and add spectacularity to a seemingly common indicator. The variant of the device, discussed below, will already consist of not one, but 10 LEDs! Interested? Then let's move on.

Principle of operation

As you know, from motherboard a lot of wires stretch towards the front panel of the PC (power indicator, hard drive loading, reset, on / off, etc.) To clarify information regarding the location and number of wires, as well as their polarity, I strongly recommend that you look at the manual for mom !!! In our case, we will be interested in two contacts on the board, signed by H.D.D. and LED (Fig. 1a) (depending on the motherboard model).

It is from them that our future indicator will receive data. V this moment these are connected to a simple LED on the front of your case. When the system accesses the hard drive, the power to the LED begins to pulsate. If the indicator just glows - the propeller is fully loaded, blinks - it is about half loaded, etc. Agree, somewhat inconvenient, especially for advanced users :-). We will significantly improve the proposed default indication system and instead of flickering, we use a row of LEDs up to 10 pcs. The point is that now the degree of access to the hard drive will be determined not by one, but by ten LEDs lined up (Fig. 2).

In principle, no one forbids placing them in any form convenient for you, and the form of the indicator is limited only by your imagination. The LEDs will light up in turn (you choose the direction yourself), creating the effect of a bouncing column. Our indicator will have two modes of operation: 1) the LEDs light up in turn, and when fully loaded, the entire row will light up; 2) the LEDs light up one by one, that is, instead of a column, a jumping point is obtained. The device will be powered from 5V, exquisite, naturally, in our PSU. Well, these are the pies :-), let's start assembling ...

Materials (edit)

For complete happiness, we need the following materials:

• microcircuit - LM3914 (a);
• four resistors - 3.3 KOhm, 10 KOhm, 470 Ohm, 330 Ohm (all at 0.25 W);
• capacitor - 220 μF at 25V (not necessarily 25V, but not less, but the capacitance will affect the speed of the indicator's reaction);
• optocoupler - 4N2x (4N25, 4N26, 4N28 or TIL111);
• ten LEDs (preferably super-bright and of different colors, experience has shown that it is better than two: 7–8 one and 3–2 another);
• two panels: for 18 and 6 legs (necessary to protect the microcircuit and optocoupler from possible overheating with a soldering iron);
• mini-switch, jumper (to select the indicator mode);
• molex MAMA (Fig. 1b) (we only need two contacts: red and black, it is better to cut off the rest);
• connector for connecting the indicator to the mother (Fig. 1a) (cut off from the old indicator);
• 10-wire ribbon cable with PAPA, MAMA connectors (Exclusively for the convenience of connection, so as not to fiddle with separate wires);
• frame;
• textolite, ferric chloride, flux, tin, rosin, nail polish :-), connecting wires about 50 cm. ( standard set a young lover of a soldering iron :-));
• Pryamyje Ruki - 2 pcs. (Without this, we do not start the assembly!).

All of the above is easily found on the local radio market, except for the last point.

The most expensive element is mikruha - about 6–8 hryvnia, the rest is 0.3–2 hryvnyas.

I think you can buy a killed flop there without any problems. As for the PCB and ferric chloride: there is an opportunity and desire - be sure to buy (about 10 UAH), otherwise you will have to suffer with cardboard and wires! Personally, I first assembled it on cardboard for testing, and only then bought a textolite. You, in principle, do not make sense to do this, fortunately it is checked - there are no viruses :-)!

Step 1... Drawing, drilling, etching and soldering is simply not possible to paint in this article, we will proceed from the fact that you already know all this, or you can ask someone. The diagram of our indicator is shown in Fig. 3 (from the side of the legs).

Step 2... First, carefully solder all the necessary components (fig. 4).

Step 3... After that, you need to decide where the main indicator board will be located, since the length of the wires to the motherboard, power supply and cable to the LEDs will depend on this! Personally, I used an old floppy drive (3.5 ″) (Fig. 5).

Step 4... Pulling out all the stuffing and removing the front panel, we get an excellent case for our device. The advantage of this solution is that such a case is very easy to fix inside the system unit, the minus is that it is completely metal, and this is fraught with interaction with a 5V power supply from a power supply unit! This is precisely why we need varnish - to cover the surface of the board and isolate it from metal case, for confidence, you can pack it in a small plastic or cellophane bag. Of course, in the absence of an old floppy drive, you can use something else (somehow fit into the system :-)), or at your own risk and peril fix the board without a case (one hundred percent isolation!) Since the whole circuit was located in the immediate vicinity of LEDs, the length of the loop was about 10 cm, the power wires were no more than 5 cm (two pairs of wires go from the molecule: 12V and 5V-red and black, we need the latter (Fig.1b)), to the motherboard - about 20 cm.

Step 5... Now we solder the pre-measured wires. The indicator is ready!

Step 6... To check, it is necessary to close contacts 1 and 2 of the optocoupler, if everything is assembled correctly, then the whole chain of LEDs will light up or only the last one (depending on the state of the jumper). If nothing works the first time when connected to a PC, try turning the HDD LED connector on the motherboard (it won't get any worse). I attached the board with LEDs to the floppy drive using hot melt glue. My indicator is located in the 3.5 ″ compartment, below the floppy drive, where I specially cut an oval window in the cap and covered it with transparent plastic from the CD box (Fig. 6).

That's basically it. With a small investment of time and money, we get a pretty good and, most importantly, an effective indicator.

Introduction

The loading indicators we are talking about are not only an improvement appearance, but also have purely practical benefits.

This article consists of two independent parts: the CPU and HDD load indicator.

Hard drive loading indicator

Before starting to create the indicator, I decided to look for the most optimal scheme. Scrolling through a number of sites, I found a relatively small variety of schemes. One of the most important criteria is to get a quality mod for relatively little money. Most circuits use LM3914 microcircuits, which are not that cheap. Therefore, I began to look for a level indicator microcircuit with an output for 5-8 LEDs. The choice fell on the AN6884 due to its low price and wide availability. This microcircuit has five LEDs at the output, and passes 7mA current through each.

To read the signal, two wires from the motherboard are used, to which the hard drive indication LED located on the front panel is connected. Instead of a LED, an optocoupler input is connected to them (see diagram). Even if the polarity is reversed, nothing will burn. The optocoupler in the diagram is necessary for electrical isolation of the motherboard and indicator circuits (this is primarily needed to protect the motherboard).

At zero load - the phototransistor inside the optocoupler is locked - while C6 is discharged through R11. When the load of the hard drive increases, the phototransistor is open, and C6 begins to charge through it. The voltage at C6 changes in proportion to the load level. Depending on the capacity of C6, the rate of change in the load level changes.

The voltage from C6 is removed through the divider R12, R14. Trimmer resistor R14 is used to change the sensitivity of the indicator.

You can install any LEDs at your discretion. For myself, I set green for three smaller levels, and red for two large ones.

Winchester indicator circuit

Setting up the indicator comes down to setting its sensitivity using R14.

Processor load indicator

When the hard drive indicator was already made, I began to think about the indicator for something else. The choice fell on the processor load indicator.

During the search, two options were found - through LPT and through COM.

I chose the COM port only because it was not used, unlike LPT. In the process of searching, I found an article by Clear66, in which he talked about connecting a car tachometer to a COM port. I liked this idea most of all because there is no need to do special schemes for converting digital values ​​into analog signal... For control, the PCTach program is used (the download link is at the end of the article).

But since at that moment there was not at least some tachometer at hand, I had to make a homemade version of the factory one. After assembly and configuration, the processor load indicator began to show more or less accurately.

But I did not like the increased speed of displaying the load level, which was expressed by excessive jerking of the indicator arrow when the processor load was uneven. But this was corrected by adding an additional capacitor in parallel with the microammeter.

The type of the dial indicator did not suit me much, and I decided to look for an alternative to it. Ultimately, the indicator became LED, and not a scale of LEDs, but two LEDs of different colors directed towards each other. The display of the load level value is made by smooth change brightness of LEDs.

To make the indicator, I used 4-5mm plexiglass and two LEDs: red and blue. A strip with dimensions of 150mm by 15mm is cut out of plexiglass. After that, along the edges of the strip, places are cut out for the LEDs. The ends and one side of the strip must be sanded with zero emery paper to an even matte state. This is necessary for uniform light diffusion. A strip of foil is glued to the reverse side (which is not processed with sandpaper) and on the sides of the strip to reflect the rays of the LEDs. When the strip is ready, the LEDs are glued.

Arrangement of LEDs in a plexiglass strip

When the LEDs are already glued, electrical tape or self-adhesive tape is glued to the ends of the strip. This is necessary so that the LEDs shine only in the desired part of the strip.

The blue above symbolizes cold, i.e. low load processor. Red at the bottom symbolizes heating, i.e. large load. The processor load is proportional to the transition of colors among themselves. The wires going to the board and the 68-100 Ohm resistor are fixed at one end of the strip with hot melt glue.

To smoothly change the brightness of the LEDs, a PWM signal generation circuit is used. With this control method, the brightness of the LEDs changes from the ratio of the lighting time and the time when it is not lit. This method is better for voltage control in that the brightness of the LEDs changes in proportion to the voltage.

The scheme consists of the following blocks:

voltage driver for DA1.1

sawtooth signal generator on DA2

voltage comparison unit for DA1.2 DA1.3

Resistor divider R4, R3 sets the voltage to 1.2 volts, which is approximately equal to the minimum voltage of DA2 sawtooth pulses. Pulses are removed from the third COM output computer port. When the input level is high, the capacitor C1 is charged through the resistor R1 and the diode D1. When the input level is low, capacitor C1 is discharged through R2. At C1, a voltage is generated that is proportional to the processor load level. Since the amplitude of this voltage is less than the amplitude of the sawtooth pulses of DA2, there is an amplifier on DA1.1 in the circuit. The maximum level of the meter is adjusted by changing the gain with R6. The R7, C3 chain finally smooths out the voltage ripple from the amplifier output. PWM is generated by comparing the measured voltage and sawtooth pulses.

DA1.2 forms a direct, and DA1.3 an inverted PWM signal. These two signals are then fed to the LEDs, pre-amplified with switches on the transistors T3, T4.

Processor indicator circuit

Execution

Since both indicators are located on the front panel, I made a common board for them. On one edge of the board there are two stripe tracks. Two M3 nuts are soldered to these strips. Two 3mm holes are drilled in the front of the case frame so that they correspond to the distance between the centers of the nuts on the board. Next, two M3 screws are screwed into these nuts on the board, which pass through the holes in the frame.

Processor load indicator with different load levels:

Hard drive loading indicator with different loading levels:

Disk Activity Indicator is a free, simple and portable computer program that is an indicator of hard disk activity.

Unfortunately modern personal computers and laptops are not equipped with simple, but at the same time convenient and familiar tools for monitoring the system and separate components"Hardware", one of which is to control the activity of the hard disk. Therefore, if you need to monitor disk activity, then you can use Disk program Activity Indicator.

As already noted, this program does not require installation on the system ( portable version) and after starting it places a small indicator in the tray (notification area), which shows the current disk activity. By clicking on the icon with the right mouse button, a window with settings will open. Here you can select the required disk (partition) for monitoring, specify the display interval, change the notification icons and set the program to start together with the start of the operating system. Additionally, detailed information about the disc itself is offered: size, manufacturer, label and other characteristics. Plus, the program has a Russian-language interface. That's all - simple, convenient and clear.

You may need to buy a hard disk for various reasons: the old disk is too small, the device is broken, you need an additional, portable disk, etc. Before buying, decide what kind of device you need and with what characteristics.

External drives (HDD)

A portable hard drive is usually used to store a large amount of information, backup. Such a screw is small and can be easily connected to a computer. When choosing, you need to focus on the amount of memory (1,2,3 or 4 TB (terabyte) - the more, the better, but the higher the price. The form factor is no less important. external hard disk for stationary computer, choose the 3.5 "model. For laptops, the 2.5" option is suitable. The performance of a portable hard drive is affected by data such as buffer memory and spindle speed. The higher these rates, the better.

SSD drives

These devices are much faster than conventional magnetic hard drives. It is also important to decide on the volume here - for a regular, non-gaming PC, a 128 GB model is suitable. Pay attention to the speed of reading information, as well as the type of memory - MLC (more popular) or TLC (economical option with a small resource).

The online store Indicator offers you a wide selection hard drives from leading manufacturers:

• SiliconPower
• Kingston (Kingston)
• Toshiba (Toshiba)
• Western Digital
• Seagate
• CRUCIAL
• Corsair
• HITACHI
• Plextor
• Patriot

You can buy a hard disk for solving any problems in all Indicator stores in Simferopol, Sevastopol, Evpatoria, Dzhankoy, Yalta, Krasnoperekopsk, Feodosia, Kerch and Saki. We provide fast delivery throughout the Crimea, as well as a guarantee for the goods from the manufacturer.

With whom you have not happened: if you leave the computer, you return in a few minutes - and the activity indicator hard disk flashes. What is he doing there? Looks, of course, very suspicious.

But in reality, most likely there is no need to worry. Computers with standard Windows settings do it all the time. Although, of course, the likelihood of infection cannot be ruled out, so it will not hurt to check the system with an antivirus for your own peace of mind.

The computer politely waits for its turn

In reality, the computer does not at all try to secretly do nasty things from the owner. On the contrary, he tries to be smart and polite. Windows requires a variety of service tasks to run in the background, and to start them, the system patiently waits for downtime (that is, the user leaves). This ensures that computer resources are not wasted on extraneous matters when the user needs to work. If the system is actively used, background service processes are suspended so as not to degrade performance.

So it's not a game of imagination: Windows really does wait for downtime to begin servicing. And when the user returns, the execution of service tasks usually stops, so it is usually not possible to find out why the hard disk activity indicator blinked when inactive. Windows Scheduler makes it possible to configure the launch of a task exclusively during idle time, and many tasks are performed in this way.

What is the computer doing when it is idle?

But what exactly is the computer doing in the background? The specific set of tasks depends on the system settings and installed programs, but you can list the most common options.

File indexing. All modern OS equipped with the function of indexing files. They check each file (including its contents) and create a database, which then instantly returns results when searched. For the search to work, the indexing service must regularly monitor file changes, and this may account for hard drive activity during downtime.

Disk Defragmenter. In Windows times 98 to successfully defragment the hard drive, you had to close all other programs. Modern versions Windows defragments automatically in the background, but only when idle.

Scheduled anti-virus scanning. Many antivirus software and other security features are set to automatically scan the system by default. Perhaps the activity of the hard disk is due to the fact that the antivirus is just checking the files stored on it.

Backup. If automatic backup(and it should have been turned on!), the activity of the hard disk can be caused by the process of archiving files.

Automatic update. Windows itself and many programs such as Google chrome or Mozilla Firefox equipped with the function automatic update... If the computer is busy with something while idle, it is quite possible that it is just downloading and installing updates.

Of course, this is by no means a complete list. The options can be endless, depending on the specific set of installed programs. For example, if the Steam client is open in the background and an update has just been released for one of the games, hard disk activity may be due to downloading and installing this update. Download programs such as BitTorrent clients can also cause disk activity.

How to find out what programs are using the disk when idle

In theory, everything is clear, but how to find out what the computer does in practice? First of all, if there is a suspicion of infection, it is worth scanning the system with a reliable antivirus, not relying solely on the built-in tools. But if you just want to track disk activity, this can also be done.

You can find out which processes are using the disk using the Task Manager and Resource Monitor built into Windows. This is especially true if the disk activity indicator is constantly blinking, and the computer's performance has dropped for some unknown reason.

To open Task Manager, right-click on the taskbar and select Task Manager, or press ++. In Windows 8, the disk load is displayed directly in the Task Manager - you can click on the Disk column to sort processes by this parameter and see which one is using the disk the most.

In Windows 7, this is not possible, so you need to open the Performance tab and click the Open Resource Monitor link. In the Resource Monitor window, go to the "Disk" tab - and you will see a list of processes that can be sorted by the degree of disk load. By the way, in Windows 8 / 8.1 the Resource Monitor also provides much more information than the Task Manager.

To track disk activity over time, you can use the Process Monitor program from SysInternals - the developer useful utilities who are so fond of advanced Windows users... You can start Process Monitor and leave it running while it is idle. Then, returning to the computer, you can see exactly which process used the hard drive in your absence.

Process Monitor logs any activity, but using the buttons on the panel, you can filter the list so that only events related to file system... For example, in the screenshot below, you can see that disk activity is caused by file indexing.

Process Monitor is good because it can show past activity. Even if the process stops using the disk or ends altogether, information about it remains in the log. But it is hardly worth using this utility all the time, because recording events also creates a load on the system and, as a result, reduces performance. It should also be understood that Process Monitor keeps an event log only while it is running: if you run it after a spike in hard disk activity, you will not be able to find out what exactly it was caused by.