I am running version 4.6 and I am trying to copy data to my server while streaming another movie which was recently written to the server.  I say that because they are both the place I am trying to write and the place I am trying to read is the same drive.  Anyway these drives are Seagate 5900 RPM green drives.  This is the first time I have noticed this problem.  Any suggestions as to what to look at would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

What exactly is the problem?

Sorry about that! I am on some pain killers for a pulled muscle in my back so I am a bit loopy.

 

Anyway I am streaming to my SageTV extender and I can't seem to watch video while copying.  We are watching a movie and every time I attempt to copy the video freezes and becomes unwatchable....

Post the syslog. zip it if needed. Also get a SMART report for the subject drive.

Are the files being read and written on the same physical disk drive?  If so, it could just be that the drive is thrashing between the two and not keeping up very well.  This would be a good reason to install a cache drive to buffer writes separately from any concurrent read activity.

Syslog doesn't show any problems. Actually nothing written there for the past couple days (not sure if this is normal) I am looking at it in unmenu. 

 

Also I think the drive might not be able to keep up.  I don't know but I would assume better from these drives.  I am not using a cache drive.  I have a lot of data I need to copy and my current cache drive is way too small.  I was thinking of buying a WD Black drive and using it as a cache drive?

 

How do I get the Smart Report?

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

 

Any modern drive won't thrash with a single read concurrent with a single write. This is not normal performance.

I did expect better.  How do I find smart history or check this drive out?

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

 

Any modern drive won't thrash with a single read concurrent with a single write. This is not normal performance.

 

Depends on the file sizes and data rates.  If streaming a multi-gigabyte file while writing others, then a degree of thrashing is inevitable.

Streaming a 22 gig file (HD version of a movie) and trying to copy a recording which is like 13 gigs? So they are big big files.

See here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9880.0 Please port the entire syslog.

You can click on syslog in unmenu and then download the entire syslog.

 

 

In unMenu go to myMain. Select the SMART view and click on the sm link under the info column.

Streaming a 22 gig file (HD version of a movie) and trying to copy a recording which is like 13 gigs? So they are big big files.

 

Large files are even less likely to cause thrashing. Assuming that the write is to contiguous free space and the read is from a contiguous space then the drive switches between only two locations. This should not cause thrashing.

Don't forget the write must also be preceded by a read from the same location for parity generation.

I looked at the full syslog and there is nothing to indicate any problem.  It shows a few cron jobs I have running and some failed login attempts.  Nothing that indicated the drive is busted...

 

How do I run Smart tests against it?

Running Smart History now.  These forums are the best!

Again nothing that indicates errors with Smart History.

 

I can copy a series of smaller files to the array without incident.  I did copy 152 megs of smaller files and windows (where i am copying from) showed the copy completed but then the video started to freeze.  I wonder if that is part of the parity check since it was after the actual copy?

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

 

Not sure.  Parity is not touched for the files that you read from the array unless there's a problem - it's only accessed (and updated) when writing.

Right I am writing files that seem to affect my ability to read? Thats the issue.  It isn't streaming even after the copy is complete?!

That's weird, even if there is a bottleneck, the streaming should pick up when you've finished two way traffic.  Unless the client that you are streaming to doesn't like the interruptions and goes down a hole, so to speak, so that it can't then continue.  That wouldn't be unknown.  What is the client / player?

What MB are you running?