I'm running Xubuntu 12.04 on a Dell 17R Insprion notebook and after the latest kernel upgrade to 3.2.0-59-generic I'm noticing constant disk activity. Some sample output of vmstat 1 is posted below, notice the "bo" column. Does anyone know what this is and/or what could be causing it? When I fall back to 3.2.0-58-generic the disk activity stops.
Code:
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----
 r  b   swpd   free   buff  cache   si   so    bi    bo   in   cs us sy id wa
 0  1      0 6481108 237132 901652    0    0     0  1684  387  804  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480592 237132 901632    0    0     0  1836  415  872  1  1 88 11
 0  1      0 6480784 237132 901628    0    0     0  1780  401  779  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480684 237132 901544    0    0     0  1688  408  754  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480752 237132 901632    0    0     0  1400  514 1009  2  0 87 11
 0  1      0 6480832 237132 901564    0    0     0  1680  368  791  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480912 237132 901644    0    0     0  1440  350  709  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480752 237132 901644    0    0     0   800  263  470  0  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480600 237132 901676    0    0     0  1720  386  813  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480680 237132 901560    0    0     0  1540  346  739  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480760 237132 901644    0    0     0   940  272  516  1  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480716 237132 901680    0    0     0  1688  385  806  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480556 237132 901620    0    0     0  1860  431  900  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480540 237132 901620    0    0     0  1960  404  884  1  1 88 11
 1  1      0 6480620 237132 901536    0    0     0  1680  368  787  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480684 237132 901536    0    0     0  1680  374  804  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480764 237132 901536    0    0     0  1932  423  885  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480628 237132 901620    0    0     0  1728  384  820  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480336 237132 901652    0    0     0  1540  359  739  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480540 237132 901620    0    0     0  1820  391  839  1  0 88 11
 1  1      0 6480628 237132 901620    0    0     0  1820  401  857  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480724 237132 901652    0    0     0  1960  401  888  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480664 237132 901652    0    0     0  1960  401  891  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480528 237132 901620    0    0     0  1968  409  910  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480344 237132 901620    0    0     0  1500  351  739  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480416 237132 901620    0    0     0  1400  336  690  1  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480496 237132 901652    0    0     0  1680  380  797  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480576 237132 901552    0    0     0  2108  426  937  1  1 88 11
 1  0      0 6480672 237132 901596    0    0     0   880  282  535  1  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480512 237132 901596    0    0     0  1788  373  797  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480376 237132 901512    0    0     0  1588  364  775  1  1 88 11
 0  1      0 6480548 237132 901568    0    0     0  1680  367  804  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480752 237132 901596    0    0     0  1500  357  731  1  0 88 11
 1  0      0 6480840 237132 901512    0    0     0  1580  362  770  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480912 237132 901564    0    0     0  1680  369  798  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480620 237132 901596    0    0     0  1080  310  596  0  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480468 237132 901596    0    0     0  1260  325  661  0  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480564 237132 901568    0    0     0  1724  378  820  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480652 237132 901616    0    0     0  1684  366  789  1  0 88 11
 1  1      0 6480724 237132 901500    0    0     0  1500  345  725  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480656 237132 901552    0    0     0  1968  416  892  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480504 237132 901584    0    0     0  1440  348  727  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480360 237132 901500    0    0     0  1680  374  796  1  0 88 11
 0  1      0 6480416 237132 901584    0    0     0  1220  306  620  0  0 88 12
 0  1      0 6480520 237132 901500    0    0     0  1400  336  697  0  1 87 12
procs -----------memory---------- ---swap-- -----io---- -system-- ----cpu----