Xfce Forum

Mellowbob

Member

Registered: 2011-10-16

Posts: 286

Blinking external HD LED

I just installed a new 6TB external HD for backup. Seems to be working fine, a bit slow but I don't really care. However, it's my understanding the a slowly blinking LED on the drive indicates that it is being accessed ... and I really don't think it is. I've checked using "lsof" and see no open files in /dev/sdd or on the designated mountpoint. If I umount the drive, the light turns solid; mount starts the blink. I could just turn it upside down, use some electrical tape ... or would it make sense to only have it mounted when my backup (backintime) is actually running?

For reference, the drive is: Seagate Expansion Desktop 6TB External Hard Drive HDD – USB 3.0 for PC Laptop (STEB6000403)

Mellowbob

Member

Registered: 2011-10-16

Posts: 286

Re: Blinking external HD LED

Now I feel silly. About an hour after posting the damn light stopped blinking! I didn't do anything to do this ... maybe it got tired of blinking? Or, more likely, an unknown process was doing something?

woistmeinauto

Member

Registered: 2020-03-29

Posts: 54

Re: Blinking external HD LED

Probably some sort of search indexing. Which distro are you using?

Mellowbob

Member

Registered: 2011-10-16

Posts: 286

Re: Blinking external HD LED

I'm using ubuntu 20.4. I think you are right that it was a search doing it's thing on a new drive with a lot of files. But, should there not be a way to see what process is accessing the drive?

BTW, the light has been nice and steady for over a week, so all is fine.