PRTG Manual: Windows Physical Disk I/O Sensor

Windows credentials

This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device. Preferably, use Windows domain credentials.

If you use local credentials, make sure that the same Windows user accounts (with the same user name and password) exist on both the probe system and the target computer. Otherwise, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.

Windows version

For this sensor to work with Windows performance counters, make sure that at least Windows Server 2008 R2 is installed on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe).

WoW64 must be installed on target systems that run Windows Server 2016. This allows 32-bit applications to be run on 64-bit systems. This is necessary because the PRTG probe service only runs with 32-bit support. Without it, WMI sensors do not work.

Remote Registry Windows service

For this sensor to work with Windows performance counters, make sure that the Remote Registry Windows service runs on the target computer. If this service does not run, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.

To enable the service, log in to the respective computer and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.

Disk

Select the physical disks that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each physical disk that you select.

Enable check boxes in front of the respective lines to select the items. Use the check box in the table header to select all items or to cancel the selection. In large tables, use the search function in the upper-right corner.

Sensor Name

Enter a name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, as well as in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets.

If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?

Parent Tags

Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.

This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.

Tags

Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.

It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).

For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

▪wmiphysicaldisksensor

Priority

Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().

Disk

Shows the physical disk that this sensor monitors.

PRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

▪Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.

▪Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

PRTG only stores the result of this sensor if you select WMI only (recommended) as Preferred Data Source in the Windows Compatibility Options of the parent device.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:

▪Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.

▪Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Avg. Bytes Per Read

The average number of bytes per read

Avg. Bytes Per Transfer

The average number of bytes per transfer

Avg. Bytes Per Write

The average number of bytes per write

Avg. Queue

The average number of items in the queue

Avg. Read Queue

The average number of items in the read queue

Avg. Read Time

The average read time

Avg. Transfer Time

The average transfer time

Avg. Write Queue

The average number of items in the write queue

Avg. Write Time

The average write time

Current Queue

The current number of items in the queue

Disk IOs

The number of disk input/output (I/O) operations per second

Disk Read

The disk read speed

Disk Read IOs

The number of disk read I/O operations per second

Disk Read Time %

The disk read time (%)

This channel is the primary channel by default.

Disk Time %

The disk time (%)

Disk Transfer

The disk transfer speed in bytes per second

Disk Write

The disk write speed in bytes per second

Disk Write IOs

The number of disk write I/O operations per second

Disk Write Time %

The disk write time (%)

Downtime

In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status

Idle Time %

The idle time in percent

Split IOs

The number of split I/O operations per second