AnimeSuki Forums

音楽は死んだ · 2004-11-28, 14:05

I used to have this screensaver that used my video files to play during the time the screensaver was on. Basicly it made my anime vids my screensaver. By the same tolken I am using a similar screensaver as my current one, whereby it uses all my wallpapers (a few thousand) in a slideshow.

I noticed when I was using the video one, that my hard drive would need to be defragmented quite a bit more often and I would have more crashes and such. I had roughly 200-300 videos that would randomly select and fully play as my screensaver. Lately with the image screensaver I have been getting some similar probs and it seems like my hd is geting fragemnted quicker, although not as quick as with the video one.

I'm just wondering if this is somthing that will happen regardless when it comes to using these type of screen savers that access lots of files. Or possibly is it because I am using files that are very large. Also if it is doing this to my HD is it possible that it will shorten its life?

***NightWish*** · 2004-11-28, 15:50

If the program is only reading the files from the disk it should not add to the fragmentation. Only if it is writing to the disk or causing other applications to write to the disk will it have any chance of adding to fragmentation. So I'm not sure why you are seeing this effect.

Playing videos / showing images while the screen saver is active will shorten the life of the hard disk because you are using it more, but it should not be significant when compared to the total lifetime of the disk. I don't think you have much to worry about, although personally I think the only useful screen saver is a blank screen.

xargon · 2004-11-28, 18:58

edit edit edit edit edit

音楽は死んだ · 2004-11-29, 10:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by xargon

Maybe you dont have enough ram and it ends up using the swap and the swap gets all fragged?

explain it

***NightWish*** · 2004-11-29, 11:47

I believe xargon is suggesting that the screen saver is using memory in a way that causes "paging" to occur more often than it might normally. Maybe because it uses a LOT of memory and you don't have much installed. That is to say it is making the Operating System (OS) need to move blocks of memory into and out of the "swap" space or "page file". "Swap file" or "Page file", as you might be aware, is the name given to one or more files on the hard disk that are used to extend the available system memory. When an application needs lots of memory, but not all at the same time, the OS can take "pages" of memory and copy them to the disk until the application needs them again, thus freeing up valuable real system memory for other applications. xargon is saying that, by making the OS do this more often, you fragment the page file, as it is being written to more frequently. Which makes sense in the short term, or at least between system reboots.

There are two problems with this however, assuming the file system isn't moving stuff around the disk randomly. Firstly, the page file is essentially "cleared" each time the system boots -- it isn't really, but the data in there is ignored and seen as garbage -- so any internal fragmentation will disappear each time the system restarts. Secondly, the page file doesn't move or change in size -- normally. This means that the external fragmentation (fragmentation at a file system level) remains constant throughout the life of the page file. The page file is normally created when the OS is installed and lots of contiguous disk space is available, allowing the OS to store it as a single fragment... one big block, not lots of smaller ones. It shouldn't get fragmented unless the system is running for a very long period of time with lots of paging activity or the OS makes changes to the size of the file (grows it or shrinks it) because it has run out of space or because you've made changes.

_Sin_ · 2004-11-29, 12:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightWish

It shouldn't get fragmented unless the system is running for a very long period of time with lots of paging activity or the OS makes changes to the size of the file (grows it or shrinks it) because it has run out of space or because you've made changes.

Depending on the settings the virtual memory is not constant in size and changes throughout the computer session. Maybe that's the case here?

Oh, and NightWish, you did an awesome job describing how the page file works - I wish I could express myself as poetical as that

音楽は死んだ · 2004-11-29, 20:19

humm, thanks for the info, but it appears that even with bittorrent going my ram usuage never goes above 15%-20% when either of the screensavers are on. I have had over 10gigs of space free for a long time now, and the screensaver isnt supose to make any change to the file. I dont know, I thought that making repeated reads of large numbers of files might of caued fragmentation.

2004-11-28, 14:05	Link #1
音楽は死んだ Boobies² = Fun Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Newfoundland & Labrador Age: 41	File Screensaves and HD Fragmentation I used to have this screensaver that used my video files to play during the time the screensaver was on. Basicly it made my anime vids my screensaver. By the same tolken I am using a similar screensaver as my current one, whereby it uses all my wallpapers (a few thousand) in a slideshow. I noticed when I was using the video one, that my hard drive would need to be defragmented quite a bit more often and I would have more crashes and such. I had roughly 200-300 videos that would randomly select and fully play as my screensaver. Lately with the image screensaver I have been getting some similar probs and it seems like my hd is geting fragemnted quicker, although not as quick as with the video one. I'm just wondering if this is somthing that will happen regardless when it comes to using these type of screen savers that access lots of files. Or possibly is it because I am using files that are very large. Also if it is doing this to my HD is it possible that it will shorten its life?

2004-11-28, 18:58	Link #3
xargon Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004	edit edit edit edit edit Last edited by xargon; 2011-09-25 at 21:04.

2004-11-28, 15:50	Link #2
*NightWish* …Nothing More Administrator Join Date: Mar 2003 Age: 44	If the program is only reading the files from the disk it should not add to the fragmentation. Only if it is writing to the disk or causing other applications to write to the disk will it have any chance of adding to fragmentation. So I'm not sure why you are seeing this effect. Playing videos / showing images while the screen saver is active will shorten the life of the hard disk because you are using it more, but it should not be significant when compared to the total lifetime of the disk. I don't think you have much to worry about, although personally I think the only useful screen saver is a blank screen.

2004-11-29, 11:47	Link #5
*NightWish* …Nothing More Administrator Join Date: Mar 2003 Age: 44	I believe xargon is suggesting that the screen saver is using memory in a way that causes "paging" to occur more often than it might normally. Maybe because it uses a LOT of memory and you don't have much installed. That is to say it is making the Operating System (OS) need to move blocks of memory into and out of the "swap" space or "page file". "Swap file" or "Page file", as you might be aware, is the name given to one or more files on the hard disk that are used to extend the available system memory. When an application needs lots of memory, but not all at the same time, the OS can take "pages" of memory and copy them to the disk until the application needs them again, thus freeing up valuable real system memory for other applications. xargon is saying that, by making the OS do this more often, you fragment the page file, as it is being written to more frequently. Which makes sense in the short term, or at least between system reboots. There are two problems with this however, assuming the file system isn't moving stuff around the disk randomly. Firstly, the page file is essentially "cleared" each time the system boots -- it isn't really, but the data in there is ignored and seen as garbage -- so any internal fragmentation will disappear each time the system restarts. Secondly, the page file doesn't move or change in size -- normally. This means that the external fragmentation (fragmentation at a file system level) remains constant throughout the life of the page file. The page file is normally created when the OS is installed and lots of contiguous disk space is available, allowing the OS to store it as a single fragment... one big block, not lots of smaller ones. It shouldn't get fragmented unless the system is running for a very long period of time with lots of paging activity or the OS makes changes to the size of the file (grows it or shrinks it) because it has run out of space or because you've made changes.

2004-11-29, 20:19	Link #7
音楽は死んだ Boobies² = Fun Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Newfoundland & Labrador Age: 41	humm, thanks for the info, but it appears that even with bittorrent going my ram usuage never goes above 15%-20% when either of the screensavers are on. I have had over 10gigs of space free for a long time now, and the screensaver isnt supose to make any change to the file. I dont know, I thought that making repeated reads of large numbers of files might of caued fragmentation.