Does Symantec Endpoint make my HDD chirp all the time?

[ChriskK]

I recently upgraded Symantec Antivirus to Symantec Endpoint Protection. My HDD chirps all the time. In addition virus and spyware protection, Endpoint provides proactive protection and network threat protection.

Does Endpoint make my HDD chirping all the time?

 

[Mark56]

I can't imagine why the software upgrade would cause the hard drive to make noises. It is more than likely a coincidence and I would suggest you run the hard drive manufacturers diagnostics to check your drive. Back up all your important files just in case the drive is about to fail.

Identify the make of your hard drive and then use one of the links below to get the manufacturers diagnostic for ISO CD. Burn the image file to a CD, boot the PC with the disc in the drive and run the diagnostics. You first need to set the CD drive to 1st in the boot order in the Bios setup.

If you do not have an image burner use this free software to make the CD.

http://www.isoimageburner.com/



ExcelStor: http://www.excelstor.com/eng/support.php?sub_id=3

Hitachi/IBM: http://www.hitachigst.com/support/downloads/

Samsung: http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/utilities/Support_HUTIL.html

Toshiba: http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Path=ServicesSupport/FujitsuDrivesUSandCanada/SoftwareUtilities

Seagate, Maxtor & Quantum:http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads

Western Digital:http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?lang=en

 

[ChriskK]

The HDD is very quiet. It's just that the HDD activity level has gone up since I installed the software. I assume that it's because of Norton's proactive protection.

 

[Mark56]

I assumed when you said "chirping" that meant an audiable noise.

To see what is causing the hard drive activity look in Task Manager under Processes.

 

[omer aydin]

I'm having the same issue with Symantec Endpoint Protection Version 12.1.1101.401 on Windows XP SP3

I used a disk activity logger to detect the application doing the excess disk activity. The log says Endpoint was the application saturating the computer, accessing (writing to) a single TMP file repeatedly. This aggressive file access happens 3 times a day, takes about 10 minutes each, rendering the system responseless.
During this excess disk activity, the TMP file is accessed over 15000 times.
I contacted my corporate IT and I also posted this to Symantec forum , unfortunately no one has come up with a solution yet.

I uninstalled my Endpoint Client and switched to another antivirus for now, until I find a solution for this.
I want to switch back to SEP so any help to solve this issue would be appreciated.

This is the logging tool I used to capture HDD activity
http://sourceforge.net/projects/activityindicat/

 

[Mark56]

If a Temp file is the cause then remove it, I would suggest running TFC:

Download Temporary file cleaner and save it to the desktop.
Double click on the icon to run it (it appears as a dark grey dustbin). For Windows 7 and Vista right click the icon and select Run as Administrator.
When the window opens click on Start. It will close all running programs and clear the desktop icons.
When complete you will be asked to reboot, accept the request and your PC will reboot automatically.
You have not said what alternative AV you are using but I would suggest Microsoft Security Essentials which is much lighter on system resources, it is highly recommended and free.

 

[omer aydin]

Since it's a TMP file, Endpoint creates a new one every time, deleting the old one.

Here is the path to the files;
C:\Program Files\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\12.1.1101.401.105\LiveUpdate\

TMP files are named like this;
LUF{535CB6A4-441F-4e8a-A897-804CD859100E}1205230361205220207.TMP

I checked for this first when I thought it might be a defective disk area causing the issue but scandisk says disk is OK.
No other app on my system does this kind of agressive file access. I use Auslogic Defrag weekly and I've never seen it waitting on a cluster more than usual when moving files.

 

[Mark56]

That being the case and considering what you have already tried I would switch to MSE.

 

[omer aydin]

I use KIS 2012 at home so I installed a 30 day trial here at office. I hope to find a solution for SEP in his 30 day period, else I'll switch to another AV trial or a free one like MSE.

That being the case and considering what you have already tried I would switch to MSE.

 

[Mark56]

Sorry I can't offer any advice for SEP, my view is if the software is causing a problem and the manufacturer's site doesn't offer a solution it can be due to conflicts with other software and often the only solution is to change to something else. You can't go wrong with MSE, it is an excellent all round Anti Virus.