performance increase, via a defrag?

[pat_smith1969]

I know some people are looking for way to increase performance of their systems. This is one that is fairly cheap, and may provide great results.

I have been having some issues playing HD recordings lately. My server is up to spec, my client is the HDExtneder and should be able to handle playback of an HD recording. My source is a HDHR which practically EVERYONE uses on this board so that is a proven technology. That left only TWO sources for my poor playback, network congestion, or hard drive bottleneck.

I purchased the product "Disk Keeper" and installed it on my video server. The initial analyze of my recording drive (a single 500 gig drive, 33pct free space) showed it to be 98% fragmented (that is to say the WHOLE drive was chopped up into fragments). I attempted to defrag it but apparently it was so bad neither the NT defrag or the Diskeeper could put all those files back together. Even a reboot and defrag option wouldn't get any better.

Here is how I solved my defrag problem. First of all I stopped the SageTV service (I was running in service mode), then I stopped my Comskip monitor service. I copied all files in my "SageTVRecordings" directory (the subfolder I have designated as my recording directory) over to another server (300 gigs at the time). ONce it was done copying I removed the partition of that drive, recreated the partition and re-formatted the drive. I then copied back the "SageTVRecordings" directory back, restarted the services and was able to watch some TV...

I just finished and my drive is at 0pct fragmented, which HAS to help with performance. I will update this post after a few days and let everyone know if this stopped my HD skipping problem.

[mistergq]

I know there are posters who say defrag does not help if the drive is formatted correctly, but I have diskeeper automonitoring the hard drive. My drive does not get that fragmented anymore.

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by pat_smith1969

.. "Disk Keeper" ...

You could have just downloaded a free copy of JKDefrag. It works fine with very little free space on the drive.

[hemicuda]

That works well for me now that it's been running (couple of short-duration schedules per day) for about a week. I haven't seen any major artifacts or stuttering since defragging. It's defrag performance, expectedly, does drop the less free space is available. It was really hard (read impossible) for my setup to record a good HD show when watching another when both had fragment counts in the 1000's.

[wado1971]

FWIW - I went through the same exact experience. Only difference was I had skipping on SD shows. For me the skipping showed up after installing an additional tuner & upgrading my VidCard. The defrag solved my problems for about 2 wks but came back - another defrag again solved it.

Since then I've removed the 3rd tuner and downgraded the vidcard and haven't needed to defrag for about 5 wks. I think my system simply became unstable with the additional hardware and it effected the recording/playback performance. I'm in the process of rebuilding the machine (for the HD-pvr) which hopefully resolves this issue for good. I've read the defrag debates and often wonder if system stability effects whether some users need to defrag while others are fine without??

wado

[kevine]

Originally Posted by wado1971

FWIW - I went through the same exact experience. Only difference was I had skipping on SD shows. For me the skipping showed up after installing an additional tuner & upgrading my VidCard. The defrag solved my problems for about 2 wks but came back - another defrag again solved it.

Since then I've removed the 3rd tuner and downgraded the vidcard and haven't needed to defrag for about 5 wks.

If you have found this to be effective, why would you not scheule it to run automatically.

JKDefrag actually suggests daily.

[wado1971]

Originally Posted by kevine

If you have found this to be effective, why would you not scheule it to run automatically

I had that scheduled for a few wks but the whole situation still bugged me. I've run the same 2 drives (200+300GB) for almost 3 yrs without a glitch... add some hardware and the system starts to fall apart!! It nerved me enough to reinstall the OS & all aps. on this dedicated HTPC without any improvement. I started to consider the PSU as a culprit - does this make any sense?

I stopped trying to figure it out when the HD-PVR was announced which will reallocate this machine to a client, removing tuners & drives - my new server hardware comes this week going quad!!

[kevine]

Originally Posted by wado1971

I started to consider the PSU as a culprit - does this make any sense?

No. This does not make sense to me anyway. I would think that you would have hardware failures if it were a power supply problem.

[Humanzee]

I've been de-fragging on a schedule for years. Take note though that you don't want to schedule a defrag when you expect to make a recording. I use to defrag nightly but because of the above only do so now once a week in the wee early morning hours.

I am building a new server and dropping from 7 hard drive down to probably 3 bigger disks. I'm not sure what will be better for performance, multiple tuners trying to write to the same drive, or multiple drives trying to share the same system bus. Either way I'll end up with more storage and use less power in the new machine.

[blade]

Originally Posted by wado1971

I had that scheduled for a few wks but the whole situation still bugged me. I've run the same 2 drives (200+300GB) for almost 3 yrs without a glitch... add some hardware and the system starts to fall apart!! It nerved me enough to reinstall the OS & all aps. on this dedicated HTPC without any improvement. I started to consider the PSU as a culprit - does this make any sense?

I stopped trying to figure it out when the HD-PVR was announced which will reallocate this machine to a client, removing tuners & drives - my new server hardware comes this week going quad!!

Some people swear a regular defrag is necessary and others of us never defrag.

I ran Sage for over 2 years without any problems then the stuttering began. I tried defragging and it seemed to help. Eventually my system began to randomly reboot and I tracked the problem down to a dying cpu. It would run prime95 for hours on end, but was still bad. RMA'd it and haven't had any stuttering problems since and I haven't defragged in almost a year. So stuttering can be caused by all sorts of odd problems.

[rfutscher]

I suspect that a few people find performance gains when they defrag the video store. I also suspect that those people have other problems.

When a defrag helped me I looked a little deeper and found other problems. When I fixed the other problem defrag no longer helped. I had to updated old drivers, update Java and reformat using the largest block size. I suggest that when a defrag helps, you should look a little deeper.

Originally Posted by blade

Some people swear a regular defrag is necessary and others of us never defrag.

I ran Sage for over 2 years without any problems then the stuttering began. I tried defragging and it seemed to help. Eventually my system began to randomly reboot and I tracked the problem down to a dying cpu. It would run prime95 for hours on end, but was still bad. RMA'd it and haven't had any stuttering problems since and I haven't defragged in almost a year. So stuttering can be caused by all sorts of odd problems.

[erik]

Originally Posted by rfutscher

I had to updated old drivers, update Java and reformat using the largest block size. I suggest that when a defrag helps, you should look a little deeper.

Not all people will be able to reformat using larger block size. For them running defrag may be a good option

[kevine]

I got a question. We are all dealing with large file sizes and it is always said to format with 64K blocks. Would 128K be better/worse? Are there even larger options?

[rfutscher]

I believe that 64K blocks is the largest option when formatting with windows.

Originally Posted by kevine

I got a question. We are all dealing with large file sizes and it is always said to format with 64K blocks. Would 128K be better/worse? Are there even larger options?

[wado1971]

I see a lot of post about HDD performance/clusters/degrag and how to best handle video storage read/write. It would be great to find a nice write-up about how to best handle large file read/writes from multiple clients etc. I found this great 'Reference Guide' on storagereview.com but it's a bit outdated and for general use. A great read to understand all the HDD specs. http://www.storagereview.com/guide/index.html

Anyone know of a comprehensive HDD guide targeted specifically for htpc use??

[rfutscher]

Originally Posted by erik

Not all people will be able to reformat using larger block size. For them running defrag may be a good option

If you use smart recording Sage will keep your drive full. Files will become fragmented. If you depend on a defrag to make the files playable you will not be able to watch any live recordings. I would not call that a "good" option.

Below is a quote from another thread.

Originally Posted by Opus4

The small clusters should be OK for fixed-content if the files are not fragmented & you are not reading multiple media files simultaneously from the same drive. If there were 2 clients trying to read from the same drive, that would raise the chance of stuttering playback because the drive would have to keep seeking between the 2 files & seeking to read a small cluster, then seeking to the next small cluster at another location is what the drive can't keep up with at times.

- Andy