Browsing through Movies Causes lot of HDD Activity (1 Viewer)

[Gelöschtes Mitglied 96825]

Hi,

I noticed that when i use moving pictures and i first start browsing my movie collection there is a lot of HDD activity and noise when changing from one DVD to another, i presume its because its loading the cover and fanart etc. After ive been through the list and continue browsing there is no noise or HDD activity, presumably becuase the fan are and covers are in the cache.

Is there a way to permanently cache this data to make browsing through the movies collection queiter and smoother.

Its not a problem really, but i thought there may be an option somewhere, but cant seem to find it, or anyone else that has brought it up on th forums before.

Many Thanks

 

[Zinu]

Try this: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/moving-pictures-284/scrolling-77842/index4.html#post590093

 

[RoChess]

Is there a way to permanently cache this data to make browsing through the movies collection queiter and smoother.

It is cached in system memory, which then doesn't require any HDD interaction.

Solution: Browse through collection once, so it gets cached in memory, and then never turn computer off.

Or get a HDD that doesn't make as much noise as the one you currently have, or even better get a small SSD (like OCZ $65 special on their new 30GB model) and it will be totally silent as well. You can also disable fanarts.

 

[Gelöschtes Mitglied 96825]

Try this: https://forum.team-mediaportal.com/moving-pictures-284/scrolling-77842/index4.html#post590093

I gave that a go, didnt really notice any difference. I dont think its a speed thing, the system spec is decent enough to handle MePo very well, good memory, cpu, hdd & mobo.

Is there a way to permanently cache this data to make browsing through the movies collection queiter and smoother.

It is cached in system memory, which then doesn't require any HDD interaction.

Solution: Browse through collection once, so it gets cached in memory, and then never turn computer off.

Or get a HDD that doesn't make as much noise as the one you currently have, or even better get a small SSD (like OCZ $65 special on their new 30GB model) and it will be totally silent as well. You can also disable fanarts.

RoChess, any idea if its possible to get it to dump the data from MovPic straight into the RAM at startup of MePo? theres plenty of RAM, and i very rarely fire up the HTPC and not watch a movie or at least have a flick through. I have the HTPC set to fire up MePo on system startup as thats all the machine is used for and more than often i hit the on switch, make a brew, or pour a glass then have a sit down.


Thanks for the advice so far.

 

[RoChess]

RoChess, any idea if its possible to get it to dump the data from MovPic straight into the RAM at startup of MePo? theres plenty of RAM, and i very rarely fire up the HTPC and not watch a movie or at least have a flick through. I have the HTPC set to fire up MePo on system startup as thats all the machine is used for and more than often i hit the on switch, make a brew, or pour a glass then have a sit down.

A person with 2GB total memory and 10,000 movies in their collection would have a serious cache init process running in the background then and all sorts of other problems. It just loads as it goes, so you can launch MePo, goto MovPic, browse through a few movies and launch one or more. There really is hardly any HDD access being done then.

Pre-load caching could be done, but your scenario is extremly rare.

Your main problem is that you can't stand the noise a computer makes when it is doing a normal task of access content from the HDD. You can solve this with a better HDD, or SDD, or even soundproofing your computer (you can buy padding sheets). I've even helped people move the computer out of the way, into a closet or other room to make it silent that way.

If you have plenty of memory, you could create a RAMDisk, make a script to copy your MediaPortal programdata into it (or just thumbs), and then configure MePo/MovPic to use that folder. Then on exit of MePo copy the RAMDisk content back to HDD. This will make everything blazing fast and totally silent. But you need a minimum of 4GB system memory then to make that work and keep close eye on RAMDisk free space.

 

[flixxx]

RoChess, any idea if its possible to get it to dump the data from MovPic straight into the RAM at startup of MePo? theres plenty of RAM, and i very rarely fire up the HTPC and not watch a movie or at least have a flick through. I have the HTPC set to fire up MePo on system startup as thats all the machine is used for and more than often i hit the on switch, make a brew, or pour a glass then have a sit down.

A person with 2GB total memory and 10,000 movies in their collection would have a serious cache init process running in the background then and all sorts of other problems. It just loads as it goes, so you can launch MePo, goto MovPic, browse through a few movies and launch one or more. There really is hardly any HDD access being done then.

Pre-load caching could be done, but your scenario is extremly rare.

Your main problem is that you can't stand the noise a computer makes when it is doing a normal task of access content from the HDD. You can solve this with a better HDD, or SDD, or even soundproofing your computer (you can buy padding sheets). I've even helped people move the computer out of the way, into a closet or other room to make it silent that way.

If you have plenty of memory, you could create a RAMDisk, make a script to copy your MediaPortal programdata into it (or just thumbs), and then configure MePo/MovPic to use that folder. Then on exit of MePo copy the RAMDisk content back to HDD. This will make everything blazing fast and totally silent. But you need a minimum of 4GB system memory then to make that work and keep close eye on RAMDisk free space.

Ok this sounds very interesting, i found tutorials on how to create a ramdisk. I can just create a batch file to copy all of the files on bootup to it. What would i need to adjust in moving pictures though to point to the new DB? (I'm guessing it's something in advanced options, but i want to make sure i don't forget anything.)

P.S.: If I install a SSD, would I be accomplishing the same thing?

 

[RoChess]

P.S.: If I install a SSD, would I be accomplishing the same thing?

Yes, SSD is much easier, it will also make things a lot faster, due to much higher IOPs. I was especially vague on the RAMDisk method, because if you are not experienced in using them correctly in this scenario, it is best to avoid them.

Most HTPC don't need much room for the OS partition, I've setup a 32GiB partition myself for that purpose, so a cheap 40GB SSD would be enough. I actually had that planned and purchased a Kingston 40GB SSD last year, but got offered a deal to sell it that I couldn't refuse. End of this year 25nm SSDs will come out, which means twice as much storage for half the price, compared to the current 34nm models. But the cost of housing, controller chipset, etc is fixed, so I don't think SSDs will become cheaper then the $70 lowpoint you can get a good 40GB model for now, but we should see double the capacity.

If you do not want to reinstall your OS due to your current single partition setup, and are not handy in adjusting that on the fly via tools, then you could consider the HDDBoost from Silverstone. It's a special device you place between your SATA controller and your harddisk and connect the SSD to the same device. The SSD then acts as a superfast cache system, and it will get like 90% of the speed compared to using the SSD directly, but at least that way you don't have to mess around with small OS partitions.

SilverStone HDDBoost