CPU usage TOO LOW when ripping/burning

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elias49

New member
I'm using DVDDecrypter and DVDShrink to create custom video copies. Nero is my burning software. Somehow I changed a setting that is now causing incredibly slow burns. If I open the 'performance' tab under Task Manager, I see only 1 or 2% CPU usage. Previously, CPU usage fluctuated around 50-55%, and I could burn a 2 hour movie in an hour. At the rate I'm going tonight, I'll still be waiting for my burn tomorrow. Does anyone have any idea what's slowing me down.
DMA is active on all drives, extraneous apps are closed (no screen saver, AV software...) . For wahtever reason, my processor is not doing its work.
This is on a P4, 2.6GHz processor, 512MBRAM. I have 2 80GB harddrives, one with OS and programs, one as storage. Both drives have page files. C is auto-set at 756MB and the 'storage' drive, (G:) has a 500MB page file. I have an intuition that my slowdown began when I set a page file on G:.
Why can't I get my processor working on the job at hand.
Can anyone help??
 
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LTR12101B

1
Two Physical drives, and Partitions C,D,E,F,G ?
If G is the last partion on the drive, and the same drive is also busy on the first partition, then it could be thrashing with full-length seeks - on some drives, you can hear the difference, and that sort of treatment doesn't help performance, or even reliability for some drives (reports that the Maxtor 80Gb tends to die prematurely if thrashed excessively).

While it may SEEM attractive to tuck the pagefile away at the end of the drive, it is NOT good for performance, particularly if that drive is busy in the first partition.
 
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elias49

New member
slow burning

LTR...

What I meant to say was that I have 2 80GB hard drives - a primary master and primary slave. "My Computer" looks like this:

C: is an 80GB drive with WinXPPro including all sys files and apps
D: is a CDRW
E: is DVDRW
F: is a removable drive, and
G: is a second hard disc - also 80GB - for storage.

C: has a WinXP 'automatic' pagefile of 700,xxx MB
G:, my 'spare' hard drive also has a pagefile on it.

I think what's happening is that it's slow writing from C: to my DVDRW, (so-called E: drive). If I understand the process, my Nero app on drive C: is requesting dats from my DVD backups on drive G:, and then writing the data to my DVD drive, drive E:. I've tried to configure DMA on all drives, but can't figure out how to do that with my 'new' second hard drive (G:).
The Nero Info Tools states that my primary IDE channel slave (my G: drive) is set to DMA OFF.
My Primary master and both my Secondary IDE discs are set to DMA ON, Autorun On.
How do I turn DMA ON for drive G:??

AZImmortal: The setting that I fear I screwed up was setting a pagefile on my storage drive - drive G:
There are no system files on G: It's a Seagate 80GB drive, one large partition for storage. I may be wrong, but it seems to me that everything was going well on my DVD burning until I set a pagefile on that Seagate. Does this make sense?? And, so that I can test this hypothosis, I'd like to remove the pagefile, but don't seem to be able to.

This gets into making two changes at the same time. This is how I always get into trouble. Should I try to enable DMA on my Seagate hard drive first and worry about my pagefile question till later? If so, HOW???
Thanks in advance, for any help!
 
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AZImmortal

1
there's nothing wrong with putting a paging file on another drive. in fact, you should split your paging file among all drives that windows isn't install on, with one paging file per drive, and avoid putting the paging file on the windows drive if you have multiple hard drives. never split a paging file over multiple partitions on the same drive, as this will have a detrimental effect. in your case, your entire paging file should be placed on your G drive for maximum performance so that your C drive is free to do whatever it wants.

as far as enabling dma goes, uninstall the ide controller that the G drive is installed on through device manager and reboot, which should then enable dma for the drive.

i'm still not sure i completely understand your situation. are you saying that the actual burning process is taking a long time? if so, are you having buffer underruns?

Previously, CPU usage fluctuated around 50-55%, and I could burn a 2 hour movie in an hour.
Click to expand...
since it takes at most one hour to actually burn a dvd, i'm not sure whether you're referring to the actual burning process (in which case you were already having problems before), or if you're also including transcoding time.
 
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fajst_k

New member
I have the same problem. In my case I changed nothing, just turned off and on PC, the same DVD move on the same RW disc once was written with speed 4, next time with very low speed like 8 hours per disc. CPU usage is like you describing, very low. DVD writer is LITEONIT 411S USB 2 externa,l Win XP SP1a with latest MS USB2 driver installed.

I'm running latest trial version of NERO 6.1.x maybe this is a problem.

I will try today NERO cleaning tools maybe it will help. It is not problem with
DVD writer as with another program from SONIC i can record with higher speed.

Are you running NERO 6 trial ???
 
ging

ging

New member
Does this make sense?? And, so that I can test this hypothosis, I'd like to remove the pagefile, but don't seem to be able to.
Click to expand...
i guess that if you set the pagefile on G that you know how to access it. just in case:
right click my computer
left click properties/advanced/performance-settings/adavanced/change

highlight the pagefile you want to change and put a check in the 'No paging file' box. click set/ok/ok/ok/ok and yes to restart.

saying all that, the advice azimmortal has given about putting your pagefile on your G drive is bang on. i would certainly run that config in your shoes.

good luck

ging :)
 
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