> It really sounds like there is some sort of background process is nailing your HD. > > I would suggest firing up procmon and procexp (from ms sysinternals). Then logging > it. You should see the blips. > > You should then be able to nail down at least what is causing it. Not that will help > you fix it but at least get you started.
Would it be anything like the "service" in Vista which kept thrashing hard drives when idle?