defrag or not defrag that is the question
- Thread starter johnC
- Start date
dachay2tnr
One Hit Wonder
I record approximately once each week, and defrag before every session. Never had a problem. Don't know where you got your information.
Defragging should help your machine perform better, since the wave files would be contiguous and your hard drive won't have to work as hard. I would recommend defragging on a regular basis.
Defragging should help your machine perform better, since the wave files would be contiguous and your hard drive won't have to work as hard. I would recommend defragging on a regular basis.
tvaillan
New member
dachay2tnr is right. defrag regularily so that when you record, your wave files will be in a nice contiguous space (hopefully) on your drive, otherwize, chunks of your wave files may find themselves scattered all over the place. This would affect the loading time of your project.
Slackmaster2K
Gone
I never defrag, and never have any problems...even now that my large audio partition only has a measly 2 gigs left...not a single HD hiccup. I typically work on 18-24 track 24bit projects and record as many as 4 tracks at a time.
But then defragging isn't necessarily a bad idea, except that you lose any file interleving created by recording multiple tracks at once (e.g. part of track 1 is written, then part of track 2, etc...this can be good fragmentation). The only reason I don't like defragging is that it takes forever.
With creative partitioning you'd never have to worry about it. Consider creating a 2GB partition to hold your most current project only. When you're done, simply move the project to another paritition. Voila, no defragging of your current project partition will be necessary. Still, even this is a pain.
Why not do this: if you have what appear to be hard drive problems...excessive thrashing resulting in dropouts...then defrag and see if it helps. If it doesn't help, or you don't have problems, then don't bother.
Really defragging is a leftover of the old days when hard drives were only fast when compared to floppy disks
Slackmaster 2000
But then defragging isn't necessarily a bad idea, except that you lose any file interleving created by recording multiple tracks at once (e.g. part of track 1 is written, then part of track 2, etc...this can be good fragmentation). The only reason I don't like defragging is that it takes forever.
With creative partitioning you'd never have to worry about it. Consider creating a 2GB partition to hold your most current project only. When you're done, simply move the project to another paritition. Voila, no defragging of your current project partition will be necessary. Still, even this is a pain.
Why not do this: if you have what appear to be hard drive problems...excessive thrashing resulting in dropouts...then defrag and see if it helps. If it doesn't help, or you don't have problems, then don't bother.
Really defragging is a leftover of the old days when hard drives were only fast when compared to floppy disks
Slackmaster 2000
While I HATE to disagree with Slack, I have to on this point. Defragging IS a good thing to do periodically, not just for your data partition but the system also, since Windows loves to spew temporary files that it neglects to clean up. If you are using Win 98 or later it is a good idea to run the "Disk Cleanup" utility BEFORE you defrag, and remember to clean out the Recycle bin first also.
Since Slack is moving files between partitions, and Windows will copy each file as a contigous block (if destination space is available), this has a similar effect for him to defragging.
Another reason to periodically defrag, aside from performance, it that once a disk gets very badly defragged you will get an increased chance of disk cluster errors. I'm not sure why but I've seen it plenty of times.
Only thing else I'll add is that defragging is something I usually start at night, before going to bed. My 80 gig data drive takes a LONG time to defrag (especially if I've just deleted a bunch of files) so I try not to wait until just before I need to record.
Since Slack is moving files between partitions, and Windows will copy each file as a contigous block (if destination space is available), this has a similar effect for him to defragging.
Another reason to periodically defrag, aside from performance, it that once a disk gets very badly defragged you will get an increased chance of disk cluster errors. I'm not sure why but I've seen it plenty of times.
Only thing else I'll add is that defragging is something I usually start at night, before going to bed. My 80 gig data drive takes a LONG time to defrag (especially if I've just deleted a bunch of files) so I try not to wait until just before I need to record.
Slackmaster2K
Gone
I don't actually do any moving. I don't worry about it at all. I just recommended that as a simple and effective way to manage things for those who are worried.
I have only seen defragging solve performance issues in the extreme case, and always on older hardware (4800RPM and slower, smaller HD's). I have seen no evidence on any system that file fragmentation results in file corruption.
So, we'll just have to respectfully disagree. It happens from time to time
Slackmaster 2000
I have only seen defragging solve performance issues in the extreme case, and always on older hardware (4800RPM and slower, smaller HD's). I have seen no evidence on any system that file fragmentation results in file corruption.
So, we'll just have to respectfully disagree. It happens from time to time
Slackmaster 2000
TexRoadkill
Audio Bum
Defragging is much more important on Win98 then the newer OS's using NTFS.
One trick to make sure you defrag the entire drive is to disable virtual memory before you start. Then the part of your HD that is saved for VM will be defragged also.
One trick to make sure you defrag the entire drive is to disable virtual memory before you start. Then the part of your HD that is saved for VM will be defragged also.
ola
Newbie
To me, that's not even a question. I had terrible problems with HDD hiccups and wierd sound artifacts during playback. I thought some tracks sounded off beat and it turned out that they were a few seconds shorter per song during playback than they were when I recorded. Turned out that samples were lost (probably) due to lack of HDD throughput during playback. After I defragged, which I hadn't done in two weeks, all went smooth again. This was on a 10k rpm SCSI disc so the worst bottleneck was fragmentation.
hokypokynose
New member
I should go check my comp. in my studio. I started the defrag when I went out so hopefully it's done. Gotta check the streaming video...
hokypokynose
New member
WHY!!!!???
IT LOCKED UP 59% OF THE WAY THROUGH!!! I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS COMPUTER!!! CAN'T WAIT FOR MY ATHLON XP 1600+(or my money to pay for it).
THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN.
IT LOCKED UP 59% OF THE WAY THROUGH!!! I'VE HAD IT WITH THIS COMPUTER!!! CAN'T WAIT FOR MY ATHLON XP 1600+(or my money to pay for it).
THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN.
ola
Newbie
Try reinstalling Windows, keeping off the naughty sites
and not installing anything but what you will be using. I.e. no nifty little gadget SW and "I'll just try it and then remove it".
You'll be amazed at what your computer can do if you let it. I just made a fresh W2k installation for my DAW and it uses 39MB of RAM when it's just booted while my work 'n play installation of W2k on the same computer uses over 100MB with "nothing" running. Go figure.
and not installing anything but what you will be using. I.e. no nifty little gadget SW and "I'll just try it and then remove it".You'll be amazed at what your computer can do if you let it. I just made a fresh W2k installation for my DAW and it uses 39MB of RAM when it's just booted while my work 'n play installation of W2k on the same computer uses over 100MB with "nothing" running. Go figure.
I defrag once in six months, sometimes annually.
Unless the hardware is really old, I've not seen any major performance benefits from it.
As a matter of fact, win98 seems to slightly slow down immediately after a defrag, and speed up again in a few days.
But 98 does generate a lot of trash, so keeping the hard disk clean is important.
Defragging the system drive may not be such a great idea. But if you have a separate audio partition, (who doesn't?), defragging it once in a while may not be such a bad idea.
It's just that i've never felt the need to do it. Just keep the hard disk tidy and clean out the registry once a week or so, and the system runs like a dream...
Sang
Unless the hardware is really old, I've not seen any major performance benefits from it.
As a matter of fact, win98 seems to slightly slow down immediately after a defrag, and speed up again in a few days.
But 98 does generate a lot of trash, so keeping the hard disk clean is important.
Defragging the system drive may not be such a great idea. But if you have a separate audio partition, (who doesn't?), defragging it once in a while may not be such a bad idea.
It's just that i've never felt the need to do it. Just keep the hard disk tidy and clean out the registry once a week or so, and the system runs like a dream...
Sang
Craig Raymond
New member
I always defrag before starting any work, especially if (like me) there are other applications used on the computer. Am going to get a dedicated computer for musical works, and I would highly recommend anyone else doing the same.
i defrag about every 2 weeks...it still hasn't helped stop my puter from hiccuping occasionally when i record, realized defragging wasn't going to help. i am still learning how to treat my system now that i only use it for recording, mixing and mundane internet folly..i am thinking about getting the new 14,400 RPM Slimdrive 120Gig...i already have 1024RAM, that seems to be working well..