I have been using Amazon’s Jungle Disk as a backup application for awhile now and have been really satisfied by how it has worked to date. I first used Jungle Disk on Windows XP primarily but now I have it configured and working properly on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. I not only was using the backup portion of Jungle Disk but I also had the online drive configured as well on multiple computers but I found that I rarely used the drive so I have been investigating the configuration and resources that the application uses.
Amazon’s Jungle Disk Computer Resource Usage:
What I found was while it appears the resources used are minimal it seems as though sometimes tasks would stall while waiting on Jungle Disk. I verified this by starting a task, something which would seem unrelated such as web browsing, which would stall and while it was waiting I would exit the Jungle Disk application and it seemed as though the task would all of the sudden kick into gear. So while I am not 100% sure that Jungle Disk is the cause I do know that my computer seems to complete tasks faster when Jungle Disk is disabled. The end result is I have decided to continue using Jungle Disk but I am only going to schedule it to run once a week and I will start Jungle Disk manually when I need to back things up. Below I describe how to turn off Jungle Disk from starting automatically every time Windows 7 starts. The concept is the same for Windows XP and for Windows Vista but the steps may vary a bit depending on the Windows version.
Stop The Jungle Disk Service From Automatically Starting With Windows 7:
- Launch Windows 7 Services: Click on the Windows start icon in the lower left corner of your Windows 7 desktop and navigate to Administrative Tools as displayed in the below image.
Once you click on Service the below Windows 7 Services configuration window will display. This list of services should include the Jungle Disk service which is also highlighted in the below image.
- Jungle Disk Service Properties: Now launch the Jungle Disk service properties by double clicking on JungleDiskService in the Windows 7 services list. This will display the JungleDiskService properties window as displayed below. By default the JungleDiskService will be configured to start automatically which means each time Windows 7 restarts the JungleDiskService will also start.
- Stop Jungle Disk Service: First we will manually stop the JungleDiskService monitor process. To stop this service simply click on the Stop button which will open the Windows 7 service control window as displayed below.
After the service stops you should also stop the Jungle Disk application from running which is located in the Windows 7 taskbar and looks sort of like a little half moon shaped icon. To stop the application you can right click the icon and select Exit from the configuration menu that displays.
- Set JungleDiskService To Manual: Last but not least you will need to set JungleDiskService to Manual from Automatic so it does not start automatically next time that your Windows 7 computer starts. Change the Startup Type drop down from Automatic to Manual and then click the Apply button. The JungleDiskService Properties window should now look like the below image.
Click the OK button to exit the JungleDiskService Properties window and then close the Windows 7 Services window.
Jungle Disk will no longer start automatically when Windows 7 starts thus saving you the resources there. You will no longer be automatically backing up files though so you should make note to run manually at some set interval so you are still backing up files if you still want to use the Jungle Disk service.
