Identifying disk activity

[Eduardo Morras]

At 07:30 28/08/2011, Polytropon wrote:
>Since I have installed my new system (FreeBSD/i386 8.2-STABLE),
>I have found some kind of disk activity I've never had before
>on my home system. As this PC is a very cheap product, it doesn't
>have a HDD LED. Instead I have to listen to the disk.
>
>This is the strange sound: four groups of short "brrrrt" sounds
>within a second, with a short pause between them.
>
>         #####-----#####-----#####-----#####----- = 1 s
>
>This can be heared over several seconds, then silence. From
>time to time, a "brrrt" sound appears for 3 seconds in one
>long rush.

Your disk is thinking or trying to do something. In morse code -- is 
'm' so -- -- -- -- is mmmmmmm. When you hear the 'h' (four dots) or 
'ph' (.--.----) it's finishing thinking. A typical sesion will be:

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmhhh or mmmmmmmmppppphhhh.

Similar sounds are made by lot of people in the bathroom while 
poping, you may want to investigate perhaps beastie is poping there.

HTH

Couldn't resist ;D