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Background Processes
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lauzzie
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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27. January 2006 @ 22:11 |
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I have read that I should shut down as much as I can while I am burning. Is it the applications running in the background or the processes running that I am supposed to shut down. I dont have many applications running in the background but there seems to be a large amount of processes. Any clarification would be appreciated.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. January 2006 @ 04:51 |
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Background programs can be an issue,mainly on pcs with low specs.
Some dvd programs like DVD Shrink can max out your processor. Anything that cuts on during the ripping/encoding phase and you may run into trouble like errors in those files/shutdowns/black-blue screens and probably a number of other things.It can also slow you down. Because of the processor being maxed out,it's best to turn everything off as possible during the dvd backup process. You don't need any internet to backup dvds. Therefore,no need for antivirus if you are disconnected.
There's a whole slew of things that can go wrong when backing up dvds.This is just something that maybe you can prevent some of those issues from happening. I have a couple things running while I backup dvds with my main pc in my sig.I also have a free program called system metrix that tells me my ram usage and how much processor I am using.
On my third pc,598 mhz celeron-256 mbs rimm,no way would I even multi-task on that pc. That machine is lean and mean! It's the best performing pc of all of them,except for backup process time.No internet/no antivirus-firewall on that pc.
HP a1118x-b/athlon 64-3300+/BenQ 1650 BCDC/LG 8163B/Modded Wii/Epson-R300 and Ty Watershields!!! |
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Moglex
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28. January 2006 @ 05:23 |
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If you are running Windows XP or NT on a reasonably speced machine, you should not need to worry about other tasks processing (background or foreground).
This is because NT uses preemptive scheduling which can accomodate processes that are effectively real-time, such as writing a DVD (shrinking will never fail because of other tasks running, and reading is extremely unlikely to fail.)
You might like to prove this to yourself once and for all by setting up a burn and then hammering your machine for all it's worth. This will save you from worrying about whether or not you have a problem with background processing should you have a burn fail because of a media fault.
The myth of modern systems needing to be kept free of other tasks during aburn came about because if you'd tried to burn using Windows 95, you would only have had to look at the machine for it to fail. This is because of the inferior sheduling system used by '95.
People quite reasonably left their machines well alone when burning with 95, and have never tried using NT/XP.
I habitually burn DVD's whilst perfoming tasks the load the machine very heavily, and only get about a 1% failure rate, which is pretty much as good as you can get.
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AfterDawn Addict
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28. January 2006 @ 06:35 |
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1% is still way too much for me. My burn failure rate is more like less than a half a percent! If it wasn't for 3 bad discs in a spindle of Office Depot Ricohjpn-r03,then I'd only have 3 or 4 burn coasters in the last 2500+ backups including on the fly-about 14 months and counting between all 3 of my benqs!
1 verbatim +16x- MCC-004-burned it too slow at 4x. Slow burning is bad when you have benq burners!
1 Verbatim -4x digital movie quality- Last dash format I have used in over a year now.
I ended up with 6 defective discs in a row in that OD +16x spindle. The other 3 I caught after carefully looking at the coasters and found a water spot inbetween the dye and acrylic layer in all of them.
Edit: Here's a satisfied member who is no longer mult-tasking:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/295476
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2006 @ 06:50
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Moglex
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28. January 2006 @ 08:21 |
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I am certain the 1% (or whatever it is) is not down to multitasking.
Believeing that DVDShrink is affected by multitasking is akin to believing it is affected by witchcraft. It simply cannot happen.
Actually making an NT/XP system cause an underrun is not that easy, and I'm not inclined to try it (you would probably have to set a processor hog to real time priority), but I strongly suspect that if it did happen it would cause the burn process to stop dead with an unambiguous message to the effect that the burn had been interuppted.
Thinking that odd little bits of processing are going to cause odd write errors is really nothing more than superstition.
I suggest anyone who has any lingering suspicion that NT/XP cannot handle a burn whilst processiong other tasks try one whilst hammering their machine for all it's worth. I do that on a regular basis (large project compilations and audio transcoding), and have never had a burn fail. I've had a few end of disk verification errors, but the burn always proceeded perfectly smoothly.
Trying the experiment will only cost you one DVD, and will allow you to get over the nagging doubt that some piece of rogue processing will scupper your burns.
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Moderator
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28. January 2006 @ 10:03 |
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i can safely say out of a few 1000 movies ripped using mostly just DVD Shrink, that multitasking (for me) during the ripping/encoding stage has never caused me one single issue. However when burning discs i've often hit problems, whether it be the Nero bufers going berzerk and wrecking the actual burn process/or buffers going mad and the disc complete the burn 100% but then upon checking it's got CRC errors. Once i even mistakenly kicked off a torrent download and that destroyed a burn. Needless to say i never mess with pc during the burn process anymore.
Whilst i've heard that extremely modern pc's can supposedly handle multitasking during the burn (my PC is quite modern, Athlon 2800XP) most ppl we see here at the forums have common or garden PC's in the main, and most certainly predominately use XP. I too don't tolerate a 1% failure rate, any disc (very rare indeed i might add) that either fails a burn, or more likely has skipping/freezing symptoms/CRC errors/whatever (as burn progs are not very intelligent ie a 100% successful burn does NOT equal a 100% watchable/usable disc), is investigated to find the root cause so it doesn't happen again, or at very least the root cause is pinpointed.
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules ***This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 28. January 2006 @ 10:06
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Moglex
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28. January 2006 @ 10:21 |
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I'm about to burn a disk, so I'm going to modify a prog so that it goes into a hard loop (i.e. uses all processor time it can get it's hands on), and once that's running, start to copy all my music (40GB) to my backup disk. This is on a the slowest machine I've got (2600 Athlon).
I'll report back tomorrow. If I make a coaster it will prove I'm wrong.
Unfortunately, if I don't, it won't prove I'm correct, but it may be persuasive evidence.
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Moglex
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29. January 2006 @ 00:53 |
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Well, it worked, and produced a DVD that played all the way through without problems.
Of course, that does not actually prove anything, but it may encourage you to try the experiment for yourself to see if your system can burn DVD's whilst active on other tasks.
If it's an NT/XP system with adequate memory, it should have no trouble.
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Member
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29. January 2006 @ 02:49 |
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I've multi tasked while burning on more than one occasion, only because I didn't know I wasn't supposed to. lol
I've been using P2P, reading and answering emails, and using MSN plus all my normal background programs are running also while burning CD's or DVD's.
The only problem I've found is because I have an older machine (AMD Athlon XP2000+ 1.26GHZ 1.00GB DDR) it bogs it down to a slow crawl, but apart from that I've never had a problem.
Perhaps I've been lucky, and I don't make a habit of doing it, but I know it's possible.
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