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PRTG Manual: Windows Physical Disk I/O Sensor

The Windows Physical Disk I/O sensor monitors the input/output (I/O) parameters of a hard disk on a Windows system via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) or Windows performance counters, as configured in the Windows Compatibility Options of the parent device.

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: Windows Fysieke Schijf I/O
French: Windows disque physique E/S
German: Windows Physikalischer Datenträger E/A
Japanese: Windows 物理ディスク I/O
Portuguese: E/S de disco físico Windows
Russian: Ввод-вывод физического диска Windows
Simplified Chinese: Windows 物理磁盘 I/O
Spanish: E/S de disco físico Windows

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
Performance impact	This sensor has a high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 200 of this sensor on each probe.
Windows version	This sensor requires at least Windows Server 2008 R2 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	This sensor requires that the Remote Registry Windows service runs on the target system. 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 system and open the services manager (for example, via services.msc). In the list, find the respective service and set its Start Type to Automatic.
WoW64	This sensor requires WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) for target systems that run Windows Server 2016.
Credentials	This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems. We recommend that you 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 system. Otherwise, a connection via performance counters is not possible. However, WMI connections might still work.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Hosted probe	You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.

Hybrid Approach: Performance Counters and WMI

By default, this sensor uses WMI to request monitoring data. You can change the default behavior to a hybrid approach in the Windows Compatibility Options of the parent device's settings on which you create this sensor: if you choose this option, the sensor first tries to query data via Windows performance counters and uses WMI as a fallback if performance counters are not available. When running in fallback mode, the sensor tries to connect via performance counters again after 24 hours.

Sensors that use the WMI protocol have a high impact on the system performance. Try to stay below 200 WMI sensors per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.

For a general introduction to the technology behind WMI, see section Monitoring via WMI.

Basic Sensor Settings

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

wmiphysicaldisksensor

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

Windows Physical Disk Specific

Setting	Description
Disk	The physical disk that this sensor monitors.

Debug Options

Setting	Description
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result. Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response 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 (default) 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.

Setting

Description

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response 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 (default) 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.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
Primary Channel	Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels: 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 select Stack channels on top of each other above. Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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.

Setting

Description

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel 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 this sensor shows different channels:

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 select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit 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.

Inherited Settings

By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel	Description
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 I/O operations
Disk Read	The disk read speed
Disk Read IOs	The number of disk read I/O operations
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
Disk Write	The disk write speed
Disk Write IOs	The number of disk write I/O operations
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 (%)
Split IOs	The number of split I/O operations