Dropping frames on capture...HD related.

[Golem]

One of my spill drives will not capture anymore without dropping frames. Sometimes more, sometimes fewer, but almost always enought that that portion of the capture is unusable. All my 7,200rpm capture drives are flawlessly maintained which includes data/surface checks along with defragging and yes, DMA is enabled.

It is true that the drive in question is a multi-use drive in that I also store completed files on it but this has never seemed to be a problem in the past, nor is it a problem on my current #2 spill drive. I have also always been able to capture to the full capacity of each of these drives. All capturing is done from cable tv at 720x480 Huffyuv 6-8mbs.

What I am wondering is if anyone has seen a HD that after a period of time has degraded or faulted to a point at which it is no longer capable of being used as a capture drive?

I have one dedicated capture drive along with two spill drives. They are as follows:
Drive Priority
#1 - 80GB capture data only
#2 - 120GB storage & capture data only
#3 - 40GB (2 partitions) 1st - OS, 2nd - storage & capture data


Regards,
Golem

[MikeV]

If you added anything new to the OS drive (virus scanner, etc) it could be running all the time causing the drive to work harder at trying to keep up with the capturing and dropping frames. Check and stop any other programs that are running and try capturing again to the drive.

[aurgathor]

Something might be interfering with data transfer. Make sure the capture drive is not sharing the IDE channel with something else, and no swap space on that drive either.

[Stas]

Yes, sometimes harddrives become unstable at work. This can be tested at maintanance service with professional tester. How can you know about this?
One of the sign when this happens is "HDD check before starting windows OS" without any reason (PC was shut down correctly!). After several months begins bad sectoring... etc.

It is not sure that this is the reason, but...

[SLK001]

Make sure when you clear your drive that you also delete the file from the recycle bin. If there are files in the bin, Windows will "jump around" them as needed. With about 9MBytes a second of sustained data transfer, it doesn't leave much time for file overhead.

Do you have a fast enough machine? Load your computer specs in your profile.

[Golem]

Much appreciate the replies!

@MikeV
Definitely have not added anything new to this particular machine that should cause this symptom. Even so, I have made sure to enter the task manager and shut down everything (which I have done numerous times before) not needed for capture but the problem persists.

@aurgathor
Yup, the problem drive is actually mastered on an IDE channel with the DVD-RW. The two other capture drives that work fine - one is on its own IDE add in card and the other is slaved to the Primary IDE and captures flawlessly! All swap files I have on this system are resident on the primary.

@Stas
Trying to verify that as a possible problem I have used a number of scan utilities, high quality defraggers and even Sandra to perform a complete system performance test. All the drives seem to have no anomalies whatsoever. All transfer rates, even on the questionable drive are at peak expected values!

@SLK001
I don't even use the recycle bin! Evereything I delete is thoroughly eradicated. This has even been verified by visually inspecting the defrag analyzers for free space and free space consolidation. I've also loaded my system specs. :-)
Forgot to mention, I can capture uncompressed and not drop frames on the two good drives. I figure system capability should not be an issue.



I have made note of onother item during a failed capture moment. If I leave the preview mode on while capturing I can visually spy the image freezing for a moment or two, this coincides with the advent of the dropped frames. Keep in mind I can capture for an hour straight on the other drives and not loose a frame. I use to be able to do the same with this drive also. I have also made no config changes to this system since prior to this frame drop problem starting. I remain stumped! I'll have to admit that I've been a little busy and unable to swap drive positions to see if that effects a change, will probably attempt that later this week.

Regards,
Golem