Vista64 slows down when working with large files

[Ryland]

This is on the quad core system in my sig. When I have videoredo pulling commercials I have found that the system becomes extremely slow even though the processors are only running at 3-5% but the disk access seems to be pegged. Any ideas on how to fix this?

 

[ZappDogg]

Have you installed the performance and reliability patch yet?

 

[Ryland]

I am not actually sure. How could I tell?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Ryland
This is on the quad core system in my sig. When I have videoredo pulling commercials I have found that the system becomes extremely slow even though the processors are only running at 3-5% but the disk access seems to be pegged. Any ideas on how to fix this?

Isnt that a really I/O intensive operation though? Obviously itll slow your entire system down if thats the case.

 

[Ryland]

All videoredo is doing is copying large chunks of data and creating a few frames to merge them. Yes it is I/O intensive but shouldn't something be throttling it back so that it doesn't bring the entire system to a crawl?

 

[ZappDogg]

Originally posted by: Ryland
I am not actually sure. How could I tell?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=628

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Ryland
All videoredo is doing is copying large chunks of data and creating a few frames to merge them. Yes it is I/O intensive but shouldn't something be throttling it back so that it doesn't bring the entire system to a crawl?

From what youre describing, that is exactly the kind of behavior that will slow a system to a crawl. Its basically locking out the entire system from accessing the hard drive, and I can imagine its not too nice on memory either. So anything that even slightly uses the HD will be sluggish until it can access the data it needs. Most people dont seem to realize that I/O can drag a system down just as hard if not harder than a CPU intensive program.

As far as throttling well, yes and no. There is a low priority I/O function which would help a lot with something like this, which is new to Vista and non existent in XP. But it doesnt seem any non microsoft programs have implemented it, and theres no way to set a program to use low priority I/O in the task manager like you can set low process priority, unfortunately.

If it is just I/O locking, than it wouldnt be any better in XP, unless you can say for sure that it is....then its probably something else entirely.

 

[Ryland]

I was afraid of that. Would it be better if I worked all of this off of a separate disk that my OS isn't on?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: Ryland
I was afraid of that. Would it be better if I worked all of this off of a separate disk that my OS isn't on?

That will solve your problems if:

1) ALL of the I/O stemming from that program is confined to that disk - IE. the source and destination file are on it, and it doesnt use the C: for temporary files or anything.

2) Everything else you're doing is confined to the other disc. If you do all the videoredo on D:, and store all your games on D: - youre not gonna be playing games that well even if the C: is free and clear.

Its not the OS thats the problem here - its the HD itself.

There are very few applications that can lock a disc so badly it drags your system down, but video editing that consists of little more than file reading and writing will do the trick.

But are you POSITIVE that youre not just running out of memory and having to hit the hard disc? A program could be doing a lot of this work in memory and forcing you onto the swap file - which will also drag your system down just the same.

 

[Ryland]

I moved the source file and had the destination file rendered onto the same extra disk (Which doesn't have OS or games on it) and my computer was perfectly useful and Halflife 2 started up quickly and was playable so I guess it is disk I/O on that one disk causing me issues. I should probably swap my tuner card out (Hauppauge 150) because it is keeping me from being able to use my full 4gigs.

 

[Ryland]

Originally posted by: ZappDogg

Originally posted by: Ryland
I am not actually sure. How could I tell?

http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=628

Both updates say they don't apply to my system.

 

[Nothinman]

Yes it is I/O intensive but shouldn't something be throttling it back so that it doesn't bring the entire system to a crawl?

No, apps can optionally do low priority I/O but by default all I/O has equal priority.