LED indicator for hard drive read and write...calling Mac Pro engineer

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Level 1

5 points

LED indicator for hard drive read and write...calling Mac Pro engineer

Hello to all,
Is someone already thought of putting LED light indicator so that you would see if the hard drive is being read or written?
I asked this because I have no way to know if my video editing software(or other) is still rendering, processing or whatever if maybe freezing. Compared to every PC desktop that I have, I would know what my hard drive is doing. This LED light can be mounted on one of the hole at the front cover.
It's annoying to know why Mac Pro doesn't have one of this LED indicator.

Thanks,
Nathan

MacPro 2.66, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Jun 16, 2007 7:37 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Martin Pace

Level 5

5,115 points

Jun 16, 2007 8:09 AM in response to NathanS

I use Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder) to monitor my network connection in the Dock. It will also monitor the disk read/write activity. Just launch it, right click (ctrl-click) on the dock icon and select Dock Icon -> Show Disk Activity.

There use to be a number of freeware/shareware programs that would display a disl "LED" indicator in the menu bar but I'm not currently aware of any and couldn't find any with a quick search at Versiontracker.com.

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

61,031 points

Jun 16, 2007 8:09 AM in response to NathanS

Open Activity Monitor to disk Activity.

There may be a widget or utility that does what you want and perhaps puts it on the menu bar.

because of the way drives slide in and make direct contact to power and data ports it might be more difficult.

You can set the Dock icon for Activity Monitor to reflect cpu or disk activity. I think that should allay your fear that it isn't working.

There are external drive cases that will.

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Answer 3

megagram

Level 1

95 points

Jun 16, 2007 7:38 PM in response to NathanS

This is exactly what you want: http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/menumeters/

Well, not exactly as it sits in the menubar but I use it and feel naked without it. It's excellent for monitoring all aspects of the computer in a concise, easy-to-read and access manner.
Enjoy!

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Answer 4

Jun 16, 2007 9:27 AM in response to NathanS

Way back when, in the Power Mac days, I remember somebody creating a little icon that sat on the Menu Bar that showed hard disk activity. I would like to find that again, as I've been trained by Pavlof (PCs) to expect seeing it :>). I use a widget iStat Pro which has all the temp, network, fans, process and hard disk capacity all on one control panel. It doesn't give me the instant gratification that an activity light does, but I've grown used to excepting my plight :>).

Michael

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