Multiple part files created for a single recording

[LowBrow]

Ever since I installed my new Maxtor 120GB hard disk, using 64k clusters, I've noticed that some shows record into multiple files like:


Show-0.mpg
Show-1.mpg
Show-2.mpg


I don't know why this is happening. The recording seems to play fine, and SageTV even lists in the Show Properties window that it uses multiple files.

I just wonder what is causing this to happen. Anyone?

[LowBrow]

Well, the recordings aren't fine. They play partially, but then stop suddenly. If I try to play the files in PowerDVD they show much a shorter total show length.

Ugh. I hope it's not my new Drive.

[stanger89]

Is your new HDD running correctly? As in is it running in UDMA mode (not PIO)? Sounds like something went bad with your HDD install and it's performing poorly.

[chrysek]

for me it does usualy happen when:
a) sage crashes and then restarts it then does record to the same file name with changes last digit
b) when I reboot machine and the same thing as above happens....

I dont see a reason why sage would keep doing this behavior as you are describing unless you are having some issues with sage/hardware/os.

Chris

[LowBrow]

Thanks for your suggestions, hmmm. I did notice one example of this prior to installation of the new drive.

Is your new HDD running correctly? As in is it running in UDMA mode (not PIO)? Sounds like something went bad with your HDD install and it's performing poorly.

Could be. It's hard to tell because my motherboard (Abit IT7) has an integrated Highpoint 374 RAID/ATA133 controller, which I'm using for all drives. I'm unable to determine if DMA is set because these properties don't show under Device Manager for this controller. I'll check my System Event Log.

Is there another way to determine if a controller/drive is set to DMA?

[stanger89]

You could try HDTack, or some other benchmark to make sure you're getting a decent transfer rate.

[jptaz]

HD Tach is available here.

http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public...request=HdTach

I will have to try this at home to make sure I don't have a performance issue with one of my drives that causes my occasional 5 to 10 second pauses in playback.

[jptaz]

Ok... I downloaded HD Tach and tested my hard drive performance. For some reason 3 of my drives are running in DMA mode 2. So I am getting burst rate transfers of 16.5MB and Avg Reads of 16.5MB. My 4 drives on the integrated Promise controls are running at Burst transfers of 75MB and Averages of 40MB. For Now I have moved my page file to one of the 4 faster drives, but it appears that I need to update my VIA chipset Drivers to all the primary IDE controls to go faster than DMA Mode 2. This would explain why after a while of high paging I get pauses...16MB is just too slow...I starting tracking what drive files were on when it paused and it appears they were always on one of the slower drives.

Hopefully the Driver will force the Drives into the correct DMA modes so I will no Longer have this problem.

John

[jptaz]

Well after messing with drivers for a while I realized that for some reason my BIOS was actually runing my Drives in PIO mode. I could not find any setting s that directly impacted it, but I tried the "Load Optimized Defaults" in the BIOS and now my Drives are using DMA 6. My worst drive is now burst of 54MB and Average of 30, while my 120GB drive is Burst at 118MB and Average of 48MB.

I think all my Pausing should be gone now...I hope

Now I just wish I could figure out why I can't flash my BIOS to the latest level.

[LowBrow]

Well, I tried HD Tach. My burst rate on the Maxtor 120GB is 98.4 MB/s, which isn't too shabby, although I though ATA/133 meant max burst rate of 133MB/s! The average read is 45.7MB/s.

I looked around the web for comparisons, reviews, etc. and saw similar results, so I guess the drive is performing correctly. Before running HD Tach, I did move my cable to a different connector on my onboard HPT374 RAID controller, as suggested by someone on the web. Perhaps this is helping, I didn't have a single problem overnight.

I'd still love to know how to verify the DMA settings of this controller.