Messed up settings - Virtual mem SSD, and KBPS

kraz wrote on 9/15/2011, 7:09 AM
Remember when your mom said - leave well enough alone -

yeah -well I didn't and not sure what I did to mess myself up.
(OK I know - but how do I get back - and even get my system running best)

Nice homebuilt system
i7
100 GB SSD
1tb Sata D drive
8GB (16GB)
windows 7 64 bit

I have windows on the OCZ SSD drive - but all the data my docs my pix etc) moved over to D Sata drive)

A few weeks ago I doubled my memory from 8gb to 16gb (Vegas alone was OK most of the time - though did want to get Boris and thought I could use more - also run VMs so need mem for that)

Everything was fine after the upgrade ...

In general I had 40 GB free on the SSD

When I did a major Render - I had the final file (mgp2 DVD NTSC template) go the the C drive - and when done moved it over ...

I ran into trouble when I finished a very large video -
it was so large that at the default template of NTSC DVD is was making a file of larger than 4.2 GB so I could not get it onto a single disk ...

At approx the same time I noticed that the free space on my SSD was gong down ..
(and when I rendered to the C even after removing the file my space left was still low)

Like a true idiot - I started changing multiple things ...

Ran some utility (that I thought was made by OCZ but maybe just recommended by them) on my SSD (SSD Tweaker) - not sure what it did - but it did stuff.

I avoided defrag on my SSD even though I know it is 10% fragged.

I decided - heck I have some much Ram why do I need to use so much virtual memory (on my C: drive) - and chaged it from Let Windows manage it (it used 24 GB)) To I will manage it minimum of 512mb up to max 24GB - but it never left 512mb (when I switch back to Auto it goes to 16GB)

I also then tried various template changes in Vegas that I hope I just reverse by using the "Standard" one - of lower KBPS to get the 1:30move to fit nicely on a DVD ...

Well - my videos were rendered looked really bad (and lets be honest using 4000 KBPS instead of 6000 should not do so bad with a video that is mainly old home movies and pictures ..

my machine now stutters both in Vegas and other things (when I try to sort a folder by date - it takes hours ... actually loops.

any idea how I can get back to Kansas -
and yes I know I am discussing different items that are not related ..

Also - how do I
Take care of my SSD to keep my system fast
Take care of Virtual Memory ....
etc.

Thanks
Allen

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 9/15/2011, 9:02 AM
Defragging a standard magneto-mechanical drive is somewhere between useless and dangerous, and should be avoided. Defragmenting an SSD drive is just plain absolutely pointless. A 100% fragmented SSD will perform exactly and precisely as fast as a 0% fragmented one. There's absolutely no need to even think about it.

Not sure why you're rendering to the SSD. Also pretty much pointless as you'll spend more time copying the finished file to the other drive than you saved by rendering it there. Also, SSD drives still can suffer badly from "stuck bit" syndrome. The more you write to it, the more bad bits build up and become unusable. The SSD should be reserved only for files that are read often and shouldn't be used for lots of writing & rewriting. This is also why it's not a good idea to have virtual memory on your SSD. It should be on your other drive.

Also, stupid Windows always uses some virtual memory no matter how much free RAM you have, so it's a good idea to set aside a pretty sizable chunk no matter what. 512MB is tiny. Windows probably spends more time managing such a tiny chunk than using it. Just leave it at the recommended 16GB and forget about it.

90 minutes of video on a DVD should still fit at about 6,200 Kbps, so there is no need to lower your bitrate for this project. If you're going by DVDA's size estimates and warnings, don't. Those are generally way wrong. I've had it tell me a project would use over 248% of a disc when it was only 4.1GB. Often it will tell me the project is too large when it's only going to use 85%.

The SSD should only be making your system faster for booting and starting programs. Since you probably don't do that very often compared to to other things, like editing and rendering, it's not really much of an issue in overall system speed.
rmack350 wrote on 9/15/2011, 9:20 AM
Do what Kelly says...and this may be obvious but if you deleted files on the C drive to create space remember to also empty the trash.

Rob
john_dennis wrote on 9/15/2011, 1:23 PM
My mom told me to eat my vegetables and always keep an image of a working system using GHOST or Acronis True image. She tried to explain to me how the essential minerals in vegetables build strong muscles and how much quicker and easier it is to boot from CD and restore a system that works than to try to fix one that is messed up.

At least I listened to part of what she said.

Chienworks wrote on 9/15/2011, 1:56 PM
"It's times like this, when i'm about to be thrown off a spaceship by angry Vogons that i wish i had listened to what my mother used to say to me." "Why? What did she say?" "I don't know. I didn't listen!" ~ Arthur Dent & Ford Prefect