Improving disk performance

[keith_leitch]

You recommended using an 80G drive for Windows. Woudl you do so even with the used drive I have described, from a school classroom? There's no way I'm getting a new one out there, and if I do, it will cost as much as 500G.

Also, if I do partition a large drive to house my system, does anyone have an opinion as to whether the 750G that's been doing my recordings for a year can handle it?

for protection and backups, win on separate partition, swap separate part., gbpvr on separate part..
gbpvr could go on win drive as well in it's own partition...

It would increase my workload immeasurably to put GBPVR (and other applications) anywhere but Drive C. Lots of batch files are referring to it as being on C:. How important do you feel it is to separate them to another partition? What about all the "helper" applications I am using for online TV (including IE, TVUPlayer, TVAnts, SopCast, Replay Media Catcher...) Surely all such applications should be installed to the same partition?

Also, a vague memory from my distant past involves putting applications on a separate drive. It seems to me that it made me a mess, because Windows was also creating system files for them on drive C. At the time, I felt it was better to keep them together.

for comskip you can set it to not do livetv...

I don't use comskip. It's only one button, guys.

basically think of your most taxing scenario, then arrange disks so that they all share the load...

Yes, that's the goal, although it is complicated with only four SATA connections available and one reserved for DVD. I suppose I could buy an expansion card...or, I could use an old IDE drive for the live tv buffer (would love to keep that on a separate drive). Hmm...how would I fit such a drive into the case?

AHCI is off the table. I'm just not prepared to put in the time to figure out why my system won't configure it.

[keith_leitch]

What about having the Windows Swap file and the Live TV buffer on separate partitions of the same drive? I guess one would want a fast drive for the swap file, though.

Also, what about spreading the swap space across several drives (obviously not the recordings drive, though).

[keith_leitch]

I vaguely remember someone mentioning that they use flash memory for their swap file. Is that person out there? I don't know what the relative speeds are, but the idea certainly has merit in terms of reducing disk thrashing. I can certainly see an argument for using permanently-installed flash memory--or even on a USB stick that one "leaves in"--as the live TV buffer.

[pBS]

swap file shouldn't even get used normally on pvr...so ok on same drive as buffer..
if it does get used any, it's gonna be for caching windows and gbpvr so it can use that memory for drive cache for heavy recording...
i've never gotten above 1.2gig useage even in tough spots..and i have 2 gigs..
not needed to spread swap either...makes things worse..

flash is a terrible idea for swap, small and slow..extremely slow...

the 80g drive should be fine for windows and buffer, win will be backed up, and buffer doesn't need to be..so if it fails no problem...restore to another one..
i wouldn't go any lower than 80g tho, smaller drives are older and even slower..

i really am glad i went thru the trouble of moving gbpvr to another partition, anywhere but win drive is ok...separates windows from gbpvr, so when something in windows messes up, i just restore windows drive and gbpvr is still exactly as i left it..
and i've had to do this several times...windows is constantly boinking itself...or to save me from my own config mistakes..[installing crap software that messes up windows, or trying out new codecs/players]
i actually keep 2 backups, one baseline good one, and one i update as i add new things to system.....that way if i backup after hosing something without realizing, i still have one i can start fresh with... [has also saved me once]

[keith_leitch]

flash is a terrible idea for swap, small and slow..extremely slow...

Agreed after some research. Still, Live TV buffer shouldn't require any speed...relegating it to a 16g flash drive would prevent it from moving even a single drive head, ever. (I know you said that you use 24g for your live TV buffer, but that strikes me as an awful lot of continuous television, even in hidef...GBPVR clears the buffer soon after every "new show" begins in the schedule).

the 80g drive should be fine for windows and buffer, win will be backed up...

Still nervous, though. They are well-used drives. I am thinking now that I will haggle a price on a 320g drive (smallest readily available) with an old IDE drive thrown in, and partition it as described below.

separates windows from gbpvr, so when something in windows messes up, i just restore windows...

I still don't really understand this. Surely if you restored a drive with windows AND gbpvr (and other apps) on it, all would still be exactly as you left it.

i actually keep 2 backups, one baseline good one, and one i update as i add new things to system...

This is also what I am thinking, now. So:

320g drive:

100 g "system" partition (windows and applications--overkill, but not huge)
100 g dual-bootable "testing" partition (with a ghost image that I can mess)
6 g "swapfile" partition
partition for tv buffer if needed, or "junk"
partition for "junk" (e.g. temporary downloads and such).


IDE drive (hopefully 100g or better)

100 g treble-bootable "rescue" partition (always containing a ghost image)
the "Image for Windows" software you told me about seems capable
remaining partition...not sure? is live TV better here than the system drive?

1TB new drive
single partition for GBPVR recordings

750g existing drive:

space for photos, music, downloaded video and other static files
space to experiment with NTFS links for recordings
Do I need to partition these separately? Could help with fragmentation, I guess.

16g flash drive:

live TV buffer


Other than keeping GBPVR separate, which I just don't want to do, does this look like a reasonable setup?

(The IDE drive is necessary because I am out of SATA connections. I really prefer a "rescue" image to be on a separate physical drive).

[pBS]

"Surely if you restored a drive with windows AND gbpvr (and other apps) on it, all would still be exactly as you left it."
so nope...gbpvr would be a snapshot from when you backed up...not current changes...
if it were on another partition you could restore windows without altering *any* gbpvr stuff..
if gbpvr is on that win backup, restore will be overwriting your current gbpvr with an old one!

however if it's on another drive letter that isn't Win's drive, you can restore windows without messing with gbpvr...and restore gbpvr without messing with windows..

windows frequently messes up, gbpvr doesn't...so makes sense to back them up separately..
[backup per partitions, not drives..much more flexible all around]

[stustunz]

Q why do you recommend "not" putting the live tv buffer on the same drive as the recordings?

[carpeVideo]

You recommended using an 80G drive for Windows. Woudl you do so even with the used drive I have described, from a


It would increase my workload immeasurably to put GBPVR (and other applications) anywhere but Drive C. Lots of batch files are referring to it as being on C:. How important do you feel it is to separate them to another partition? What about all the "helper" applications I am using for online TV (including IE, TVUPlayer, TVAnts, SopCast, Replay Media Catcher...) Surely all such applications should be installed to the same partition?

AHCI is off the table. I'm just not prepared to put in the time to figure out why my system won't configure it.

You could use ntfs junctions and not worry about the scripts - I believe with XP you need a utility - with Vista and higher the command is native.

I use it to move user data (documents and settings) to another drive without messing with the registry and it works great.

http://www.ghacks.net/2007/07/21/create-...lic-links/

[pBS]

i treat buffer just alike another data recording drive...don't want it interfering with recordings...
so while recording, watching timeshift won't interfere with recording drive..
plus! it fragments badly....will fragment your recordings partition if on same part.

tv buffer sounds good on ide drive...could also be used for a second ntfs link target also...

[keith_leitch]

You could use ntfs junctions and not worry about the scripts

The "scripts" I'm preserving serve an entirely different purpose...allowing me to watch and record online TV through TVUPlayer and similar (using GraphRecorder, by the way...thanks for that).