> A hard drive activity light for the Windows notification area: a lamp that flickers with disk reads and writes, per drive if you like, checked ten times a… # HDD Activity Light for Windows A small red lamp next to the clock that lights whenever a disk is reading or writing, so you can see your PC working the way you could on an old desktop tower. One payment. No subscription. 14-day money-back guarantee. 3.6 10 times a second ### Keeps pace with the disk Short enough to catch a burst, with an afterglow you can set from 0 to 500 ms so a quick write still registers. Every byte · 64 KB/s · 256 KB/s · 1 MB/s · 4 MB/s ### Ignore the background hum Windows writes a little all the time. Pick a threshold and the lamp only lights for work worth noticing. Round · Drive · Bar ### Three kinds of lamp A classic round LED, a drive with a lamp on its front, or a bar that fills as the disk gets busier. ## See it in action ![Five lamp states side by side: idle, busy, reading in green, writing in red, and paused](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/hdd-light-activity-indicator/s3.jpg) Dark, red, or split green and red so you can tell reads from writes. ![The front panel with a live lamp, speed and one-minute trace for drives C, D and E, and lettered lamps in the taskbar](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/hdd-light-activity-indicator/s2.jpg) A lamp per drive, each marked with its letter, and a front panel that shows them all. ![The three lamp styles next to the settings for afterglow, sensitivity and the on-screen lamp](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/hdd-light-activity-indicator/s4.jpg) Pick the lamp, then tune how long it glows and how much activity it takes. ![The notification area menu with Pause, What the lamp shows, Drives and Start with Windows](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/hdd-light-activity-indicator/s5.jpg) Everything else is one right-click away in the notification area. ## What a drive light tells you Desktop cases used to have a small lamp that flickered whenever the hard drive was busy. It answered a question nothing else on screen does: is the computer actually doing something right now, or is it stuck? Most laptops and many modern cases dropped that lamp. When the PC goes sluggish, the fan spins up or a program stops responding, there is no quick way to tell whether Windows Update, an antivirus scan, indexing or a sync client is working the disk in the background. With the lamp in the notification area, the answer is always in the corner of your eye. A solid glow means something is hammering the drive; a dark lamp after a long copy means the writes have finished. ### How to get an HDD activity light on Windows HDD Light puts a drive activity lamp in the notification area next to the clock. It takes a few steps to set it up the way you want. - Start the app and the lamp appears in the notification area. - If Windows tucks it behind the ^ arrow, follow the window's pointer and use the Taskbar settings it opens to keep the lamp on the taskbar. - Choose what the lamp shows: reads and writes, reads only or writes only. - On the front panel, click a drive's lamp to choose whether that drive lights the one in the notification area. - Turn on Start with Windows so the lamp is waiting in the notification area every time. ### Telling disk reads from writes The hard drive activity light can be a single red lamp that glows for any work on the disk. Split the colors and reads glow green while writes glow red, so you can see which way the data is moving. You can also narrow the lamp to reads only or writes only. Watching writes alone, for example, shows you when a long copy to a backup drive has actually finished. ### Tuning the lamp so it lights for real work Windows writes a small trickle to the disk all the time, which would keep a sensitive lamp lit constantly. Five sensitivity levels, from every byte up to 4 MB/s, let the lamp ignore that hum and light only for activity worth noticing. The disks are checked 10 times a second, so the lamp keeps up with the work as it happens. An afterglow of 0 to 500 ms holds the light for a moment after a short burst, so a quick write is still visible. ### A hard drive activity light for each drive One lamp can cover every drive, or you can turn on a lamp for each drive, each marked with its letter. Hovering the lamp shows each drive's read and write speed. The window shows a front panel with a live lamp, transfer speed and 60-second trace for every drive. A USB stick or SD card shows up there as soon as you plug it in. ![](https://cdn.evlarsoft.com/related/v1/icons/hdd-light-activity-indicator.png)**HDD Light**Utilities & tools One payment. No subscription. 14-day money-back guarantee. - **3.6_★_**Rating - **2.8 MB**Download size - **2.0.5**Updated Oct 2026 - **2022**First released - **Win 10 & 11**Works on - **English**Language - **No account, no ads, works offline**Privacy ## Get every app with BundlApps HDD Light and 304 more EvlarSoft apps in one subscription. [Join the waitlist](https://bundlapps.com/?ref=evlarsoft-app) ## HDD Light features - **Lamp by the clock**Flickers in the notification area with disk activity. - **Checked 10 times a second**The lamp keeps pace with the disk. - **Adjustable afterglow**0 to 500 ms so short bursts still show. - **Five sensitivity levels**From every byte up to 4 MB/s. - **Reads, writes or both**With an option for green reads and red writes. - **Three lamp styles**A round lamp, a drive with a lamp, or a busy bar. - **A lamp per drive**Each one marked with its drive letter. - **Front panel**Live lamp, speed and 60-second trace for every drive. - **USB sticks and SD cards**Picked up as soon as they are plugged in. - **On-screen lamp**A corner lamp for full-screen apps that lets clicks through. ## What people use it for ### Explaining a slow PC Seeing at a glance that the disk is busy, rather than guessing at a frozen program. ### Watching a backup or copy Following an external drive or USB stick through a long write, and knowing when it has gone quiet. ### Gaming and full-screen video A small lamp in a screen corner that stays on top and lets every click through, for when the taskbar is hidden. ## What's new in 2.0 - A front panel with a live lamp, transfer speed and 60-second trace for every drive - Reads green and writes red, as an option - A separate lamp for each drive, marked with its letter - Three lamp styles, an adjustable afterglow and five sensitivity levels - An on-screen lamp for full-screen apps, in the corner of your choice - USB sticks and SD cards picked up as soon as they are plugged in ## Questions Anything else? [Ask us](https://evlarsoft.com/contact?topic=support&app=HDD%20Light) ### Can I see which drive is busy? Yes. Switch to a lamp for each drive and every one carries its letter. Hovering the lamp also shows each drive's read and write speed. ### The lamp disappeared behind the ^ arrow. How do I keep it visible? Windows hides new notification area icons by default. The app shows you where the lamp went and opens the taskbar settings so you can pin it. ### Does it work with USB drives and SD cards? Yes. They appear as soon as they are plugged in, and you can choose whether they light the lamp. ### Can it start with Windows? Yes. It starts straight into the notification area, with no window to close. ### Does it need the internet or an account? No. It only watches the disks on this PC. ### Which versions of Windows does it run on? Windows 10 (version 1809 or later) and Windows 11. ### Is it a subscription? No. HDD Light is a one-time purchase of $2.49, and updates are included. ### How do I get it? Buy it on this page and your license key arrives by email. If the button says Notify me, HDD Light is not on sale here yet; leave your email and we will tell you when it is. **Prefer widgets?** The [Disk Activity widget](https://widgetspark.com/widgets/diskactivity) on WidgetSpark does a similar job, alongside over 100 other desktop widgets in one app. ## More system tools from EvlarSoft [ ![](https://evlarsoft.com/apps/quick-cpu-stress-tester/s2-640.jpg) ![](https://cdn.evlarsoft.com/related/v1/icons/quick-cpu-stress-tester.png) ### Quick CPU Stress Tester System and battery Stress your processor on purpose and watch how it holds up. 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Quick Resolution Switcher puts every mode your display reports one click away in the notification area. It changes any display, not just the primary one, lists them by the name Windows knows them by, and lets you pick the refresh rate as well. 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