PDA

View Full Version : Defragmenting 722 hard drive

T-Rex
03-05-08, 01:47 PM
Does anyone know if the 722 hard drive(s) (either internal or external) routinely perform any maintenance such as defragmentation? I thought that periodic defragementation was necessary for most drives. I ask because (as I mentioned in another thread) I have to periodically reboot my 722 in order for it to "see" the stored contents of my external Seagate Freeagent Pro HD. I have found that temporarily unplugging the Seagate also works; but I wouldn't want to do this in the middle of any maintenance operations. Thanks for any comments/info.
ChuckA
03-05-08, 02:59 PM
I think you should feel free to unplug the EHD when you want. I never even turn mine on except when I want to use it and turn it off after use.
HobbyTalk
03-05-08, 03:54 PM
They use a "linux" style file system that doesn't, for the most part, need defragmenting.
Bill R
03-05-08, 04:27 PM
They use a "linux" style file system that doesn't, for the most part, need defragmenting.

Believe me, Linux (and its big brother UNIX) systems need defraging. However, because of the block size that video files use it is not necessary to defrag 622, 722, and 612 file systems.
HobbyTalk
03-05-08, 05:15 PM
the Linux System Administrator Guide states, "Modern Linux filesystem(s) keep fragmentation at a minimum by keeping all blocks in a file close together, even if they can't be stored in consecutive sectors. Some filesystems, like ext3, effectively allocate the free block that is nearest to other blocks in a file. Therefore it is not necessary to worry about fragmentation in a Linux system."

http://www.tldp.org/LDP/sag/html/filesystems.html
http://www.linux.com/feature/32002

Just going by the experts handbook. The VIP drives use ext3. As the 2nd link shows it would be large files that could cause the most problems. Next consider that the USB interface and the rate we transfer at is so much slower then disk access & read/write times that even a bit of fragmenting wouldn't make a difference.
William
03-07-08, 07:44 AM
Just a guess in the dark but maybe since the 722/622 record and delete only TV programs fragmentation would be minimal. Each program is just one file and there is no way to added or remove info from each individual file (like on a computer) so the files are much easier to keep organized.
Ron Barry
03-07-08, 08:30 AM
T-REX.. Most likely your issue with your Drive has to do about the drive going into sleep and the 622 not able to wake it up. What is the model of your drive? I know that this was a common problem with a number of EHD models when the feature was released. My understanding is that it was fixed for a few and looks like there is still some fixing to be done here.

People have worked around by turning off the sleep feature.
T-Rex
03-07-08, 11:19 AM
T-REX.. Most likely your issue with your Drive has to do about the drive going into sleep and the 622 not able to wake it up. What is the model of your drive? I know that this was a common problem with a number of EHD models when the feature was released. My understanding is that it was fixed for a few and looks like there is still some fixing to be done here.

People have worked around by turning off the sleep feature.

My EHD is a Seagate Freeagent Pro 750. Thanks for any info.
What is the purpose of the "sleep feature"? Do you mean the sleep mode on the HD to conserve power? Or is there a sleep feature on the 722?
HobbyTalk
03-07-08, 11:21 AM
It is built into the HD to conserve power and wear and tear.
TBoneit
03-07-08, 03:42 PM
I always plug my EHDs in when wanted and unplug when done. Sometimes I'll set some recordings to be sent to the EHD and go to bed. Unplug the EHD when I get and so far no problems. 2 Western Digital and several Generic ME320 cases with WD drives in them.
P Smith
03-07-08, 07:27 PM
Just a guess in the dark but maybe since the 722/622 record and delete only TV programs fragmentation would be minimal. Each program is just one file and there is no way to added or remove info from each individual file (like on a computer) so the files are much easier to keep organized.
Totally wrong suggestion - 622/722 have fragmentation, just little advantage of a size of one MAU (2 MB) prevent significant delays.
MAU is Minimal Allocating Unit.