[mclimbin]

I am having very choppy playback during editing, using PowerDirector 12. I will click the "movie" button and then the play button to see what I have edited. When it plays, the video will seize for a few seconds, the sound won't play, and then after that it will jump a few seconds and play at a random place in the timeline. If I pause and reset it and click play again, it will work ok, but the next time it will go choppy. It's getting frustrating trying to edit. 

 

I have what I think is a pretty powerful computer:
Core i7 3.4 GHz
8 gig RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560Ti
1 tb Hard Drive with about 200 gb free.

I'm thinking of doubling the RAM to 16. Do you think that will help, or is it more likely the video card?

Do you have any ideas what the problem could be or how I might improve this? Thanks for your attention.

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Welcome back mclimbin.

I do not use PD so this will be some general suggestions.   Your system is more than enough. possible settings are not correct, do you have OpelCL enabled in preferences.  HDD set up might be tweaked.   Can you use 2 or more drives.   Does PD use a scratch file? can you move it about.

 

You might want to seek advice from users.   example, > http://forum.cyberli...B027BDD0#173904  

[iammykyl]

Welcome back mclimbin.

I do not use PD so this will be some general suggestions.   Your system is more than enough. possible settings are not correct, do you have OpelCL enabled in preferences.  HDD set up might be tweaked.   Can you use 2 or more drives.   Does PD use a scratch file? can you move it about.

 

You might want to seek advice from users.   example, > http://forum.cyberli...B027BDD0#173904  

[mclimbin]

Thanks iammykyl. Nice to see you again.

I'll check into those. I just discovered that my GPU has a new driver, so that might help.

I also posted a message on the cyberlink forums, and the advice I got there was to turn down the quality settings on the preview (it doesn't affect the quality of the final product), but that was a little unsatisfying, so I came to ask you guys.

Thanks again. I'll report back soon.

[iammykyl]

[iammykyl]

Gday.

Your HDD is pretty full.   Once you get over 75% full, you are using the slower part of the discs (platters).   The system also needs space to work in, using the cache, temp folders etc.   Badly fragmented drive will also slow things down.   can you, delete programs you no longer use, delete older files or store them on other media, do a clean up of the drive and then defrag.

 

Stop unnecessary programs from starting with windows.   inspect for pogroms/processors running in the background.   Disconnect from the internet while working on a project.

[mclimbin]

Hello again.
Can you recommend a website that describes how to move the data portions of a hard drive (say, the "Libraries" folders) to a new hard drive? I think it is more complicated in Windows 7, right? In XP I could just move them if I remember correctly, but in W7 I think I have to to something more complicated.

[iammykyl]

Moving your user folders is actually quite simple, (Microsoft supported method), often made very complicated and causes heaps of problems later.

Please read this article, contains a link for what you want, (See Windows 7 and SSDs: Cutting your system drive down to size.) > http://www.zdnet.com...ive-7000022142/

I don't move Contacts, Desktop, Favourites, Links, Tracing.   After you have moved the Downloads Folder, In your browser setting, enable, "Ask me where to save"

 

Re. Lieries Folder.   Don't try to move to another drive, they are just glorified shortcuts, > http://www.howtogeek...e-in-windows-7/

[mclimbin]

Thank you for the links. I have some dumb questions. I think the answer to them are all yes, but I want to make sure.

First, they say to create folders on the new drive and then move the files over. I don't have to re-create every folder in the library, right? Just the major ones (Documents, Music, Pictures, Video). Is that right?

Second, should I follow the advice on the 3rd page of that article, and move the paging file, the index and all?

 

Thanks for the lesson on how the Libraries work. I could tell they were different from the way they worked in XP, but I never figured out how.

 

Thanks also for your help so far. I'm considering getting an SSD (just for fun), so this seems like good prep work for that.

 

mc

[iammykyl]

Thank you for the links. I have some dumb questions. I think the answer to them are all yes, but I want to make sure.

First, they say to create folders on the new drive and then move the files over. I don't have to re-create every folder in the library, right? Just the major ones (Documents, Music, Pictures, Video). Is that right?

Yes.   Just the main folders.

Second, should I follow the advice on the 3rd page of that article, and move the paging file, the index and all?

No.   Not necessary for a large mechanical drive.   Really meant for saving space on a small SSD.

 

Thanks for the lesson on how the Libraries work. I could tell they were different from the way they worked in XP, but I never figured out how.

Thanks also for your help so far. I'm considering getting an SSD (just for fun), so this seems like good prep work for that.

mc

YOUR WELCOME   

 

 

If you are going to install the OS to a SSD, ensure you backup your Data, disconnect all other HDDs.   After you have the system drive running, connect the HDD, Format, set up as your Data drive.   It should be possible to have PD Project folder on there as well.

[mclimbin]

Hi again iammykyl,

I installed the ssd and holy cannoli, wow is it fast. PD is working like a charm now, although I had a little scare when I opened a project and the program could not find the project files. They were stored as some kind of shadow files that did not show up in the (migrated) folder, but did show up when I searched for them. I was able to re-connect the link between the files and the program and everything seems to be working well. 

 

Thanks! I'm very excited by the speed of my system now (iamageek).

 

I have more questions, of course. I moved about 165 gbs of system and program files onto the ssd, which has about 240gb available total.  I deleted all my Steam games to make the system drive as small as possible, but at some point I would like to install at least one good game, and would really like to run it off of the ssd to enjoy the faster processing. Do I need to keep 20% of the ssd free as I would if it were a standard drive? I might have to move some other programs off the ssd if that is the case.

 

I'm thinking Office would be a good candidate for this, as I don't need Word and Excel to work super fast...

[mclimbin]

I'm sorry to pepper you with questions. Do you think we should move this conversation to another forum?

 

I noticed that my ssd available space is kind of small: 203 gb. I checked the disk management page and saw that 34 gb have been reserved. Does that seem high? Is there a way to change this? I assume to change it will mean a re-install of the cloned drive (or clone the new one and then put it back). Do you have any suggestions?

 

Thanks again iammykyl.

[mclimbin]

I'll just leave this here in case it is helpful...

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[iammykyl]

Gday.

No problem with question.

I had not realized a SSD was iminent or I would have given some more info.

 

 

 noticed that my ssd available space is kind of small: 203 gb. I checked the disk management page and saw that 34 gb have been reserved. Does that seem high? Is there a way to change this? I assume to change it will mean a re-install of the cloned drive (or clone the new one and then put it back). Do you have any suggestions?

That partition is installed by windows, can be removed, with difficulty, but should not as can cause major problems, here is as explanation. > hhttp://4sysops.com/a...rved-partition/

Some space is used/reserved by the SSD for management/garbage collection/trim/over provisioning etc.

Cloning is not best practice, I would only use it as a last resort.   you will have transferred all the rubbish, Temp files from the system and all programs, all old log files, the list goes on.

 

 

at some point I would like to install at least one good game, and would really like to run it off of the ssd to enjoy the faster processing. Do I need to keep 20% of the ssd free as I would if it were a standard drive? I might have to move some other programs off the ssd if that is the case.

I'm thinking Office would be a good candidate for this, as I don't need Word and Excel to work super fast.

Please search the Steam Forum for help using "Steam Mover".   From what I gather, Stem goes on your HDD and you use Steam Mover to place a game you want to play onto the SSD,When you want another game, move one off the SSD, then the next one on.

 

I think moving alrready installed programs to the HDD, may cause issues as some folders may not be moved.   Looking at Office, I would backup Data, uninstall from the SSD, install to the HDD, restore the Data.

 

From post #9.

 

Second, should I follow the advice on the 3rd page of that article, and move the paging file, the index and all?

No.   Not necessary for a large mechanical drive.   Really meant for saving space on a small SSD.

If using a SSD the answer would be Yes.

 

If it was my computer, I would start again, backup the Data and do a clean install of the OS, then configure the rest.

 

Let us know how you want to proceed. 

 

EDIT.

Just seen you last post.

So Disc 1 is your old HDD, contain the original Window 7 installation? and Disc 2 is a new HDD. empty?

[mclimbin]

Thanks again.

I guess I was being lazy with the cloning, just because I don't want to re-install all my programs. It took 2-3 days to get everything working again last time I did it. *sigh*

 

It sounds like it is something that I should do, though. If I do that, will there be more drive available, or will the reserved partition still be that size?  Is ~15% of the drive the standard size for a reserved partition for an ssd? Or is it maybe because I cloned from a larger drive?

 

What is the downside and/or worst case scenario if I don't re-install?

[iammykyl]

There is something amiss.

Windows 7 system reserve partition, (SRP) should be 100MB, Default, as showing on your old OS Disc 1 and has used space of 70MB., 

Disc 0, the SRP on your new SSD should be the same, 100MB, but is showing 34GB, and 100% free space, so no data on it.

Guessing, If disc 1 is formatted or disconnected , the SSD may not Boot, or if it does, you may not be able to use System Restore or the Recovery Environment. 

If you would like to post on the windows 7 forum for more specific help, please give me a link to follow.   This topic will not be closed so you can come back and we carry on.