choppy video

[ckp]

for future reference, i've tried VMR and overlay (same issues for both), and my cpu rarely gets above 6% with sagetv, even while recording...

[DFA]

A question: I am using W2K, SP4 with 64K clusters on approximately 100 GB NTFS partition. The built in defrag (Diskkeeper Lite) will not defrag anything over 4K cluster. Neither will the full blown retail Pro version of Diskkeeper. How DO you defrag these big cluster partitions / drives when the need arrives (other than deleting all files or reformatting)????

DFA

[robertmcox]

You should be able to defrag just fine with the larger block size. If you cannot, maybe there is something wrong with your disk drivers or your disk geometry.

-Bert

[DFA]

Don't think so. Diskeeper "lite" (the one that comes bundled with the OS) or retail Pro (which I bought thinking that it would overcome the 4 KB limitation) reports: "Diskeeper cannot defragment NTFS drvies with more than 4 KB per cluster on this operating system". Again, this is for W2K, SP4. Partition was created with "Partition Magic" and formatted to 64 KB with MS format utility. Someone have a work around?

EDIT: Structure of drive is:

"C" is primary FAT16, dual boot (W2K & DR-DOS) containing OS files ONLY.

Large extended partition containing "D", "E", "F" & "G" as follows:

"D" is FAT16 containing all apps (nothing in the venerable MS "Program Files" directory setup by MS in "C" drive; even MS apps & appletts and shared files relocated to "D").

"E" is FAT16 containing files generated by apps.

"F" is NTFS containing audio, ripped CD's and MP3's.

"G" is NTFS containing ripped DVD's and Sage files.

Perhaps I should restructure the drive and at least move "G" (the "video" drive) out of the extended partition. I would move "F" out as well but I think the max three primary partition rule still applies.

Next year I will be adding two 250 GB SATA drives in RAID for all streaming video stuff including of course Sage.

DFA

[DFA]

Defrag update:

Talked to Diskeeper tech support this morning. No defrag software can defrag NTFS partitions with cluster size bigger than 4 KB. This is an MS API issue and not a Diskeeper issue according to Executive SW. This goes for W2K and XP. So, don't plan on any automated defragging of 64KB NTFS partitions until MS updates the API.

DFA

[ToxMox]

I have XP and am running Diskeeper Pro 8 and have no problems defragging my 64k formatted drives.

From what I have read, Windows XP and 2003's defrag APIs fully support 64k clusters and it is only Windows 2000 and lower that don't. I have also read that Norton Speeddisk is the only Defragger that doesn't use the MS API and can therefore be used in Windows 2000 with large cluster sizes.

Check out this usenet article:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=de...FTNGP11&rnum=2

[DFA]

Hmmm....

Interesting. The guy at tech support was only half right then and not up-to-date on XP. Thanks for the tip on Norton's SD and the reference. I suppose the Diskeeper tech guy was not inclined to tell me about a competitors product. He said no one could do it; a mis-statement.

Hopefully, MS will offer an update patch for the W2K API's. If already developed for XP, should be a "nothing" to provide them for W2K. I'm suprised they did not take care of this with SP4. It's a stupid thing. Sillier still when you can format at 64K but can't defrag at anything above 4K.

Unfortunately, I just spent the money for Diskeeper Pro 8 and don't want to go back to the well and spend some more money for a different one.

DFA

[ErsatzTom]

What's their return policy? Tell them it didn't say on the packaging/web site that it couldn't defrag 64k clusters and you would not have purchased it if you had known.

t

[DFA]

True. It did not state the limitation on the packaging. Yet I kick myself for not investigating further. The "lite" version that comes with W2K said the same thing (can not defrag bigger than 4K) but I assumed it a limitation of the "lite" version. And you know what they say about "assume": "Makes an "ASS out of U and ME"; a favorite saying of our CEO.

I'm actually a little more irked with MS than Diskeeper. While not a bug per se, it seems like uncompleted work on the defrag API's. Like being short-changed on your purchase. I don't see this as just some lesser feature set but something fundametally missing that should be rectified by MS.

DFA

[ErsatzTom]

I can't say that I disagree with you.