Speeding Up SD Load - Page 2

Caelric · 06-11-2008, 10:30 AM

Here you go 128 gB for $3539, possibly the fastest >100gB SSD there is right now

danielkh · 06-11-2008, 10:47 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Caelric

Here you go 128 gB for $3539, possibly the fastest >100gB SSD there is right now

Let's buy 2!

I guess I can't be too critical. Just spent almost $300 on a motherboard thats 2 years old.....and couldn't be happier.

parksgm · 06-11-2008, 12:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

Ok, that's just obscene. lol

Perfect meaning no moving parts and completely safe in a moving mobile environment.

Here's to restarting an old arguement - I think that regular hard drives work well within their operating tolerances in a car and that they are 99% as reliable as a solid state drive. I've never had one fail.

So, I think that the speed, and possibly size, and power consumption, are the only reasons to buy a SSD...if reliability is that big a concern, then just buy a warranted drive and ghost the final install. Even if the drive fails, you're not out financially, and only out a bit for the time to reimage the drive.

That debate aside, I just "removed" the T3control.dll from my system, and saw a 100% or better SD load speed increase, from 20+ seconds to around 10 seconds. Fantastic. Hibernate and resume times also seemed to be faster as well, and the program felt a bit more snappy in response...I don't know if that might be related to less system overhead and memory used (because I really don't know what the T3control.dll is loading), but those who are running non-Infill systems should definitely do this!

danielkh · 06-11-2008, 12:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by parksgm

That debate aside......

Before i got into the carputer scene, I used a laptop on a solid mount that was screwed to the floorboard of my car. The vibration was pretty bad. I lost 2 harddrives over bumpy roads. The newer drives are better, but still, non-moving is better than moving in a mobile environment. It may not be cost effective though. That's why i like the hybrid drive.

parksgm · 06-11-2008, 03:39 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

Before i got into the carputer scene, I used a laptop on a solid mount that was screwed to the floorboard of my car. The vibration was pretty bad. I lost 2 harddrives over bumpy roads. The newer drives are better, but still, non-moving is better than moving in a mobile environment. It may not be cost effective though. That's why i like the hybrid drive.

Yeah...I really think the "secret", if there is one, is to mount the drive vertically, as the vertical motion of the suspension (the most severe forces experienced in a car) will not affect the clearance between the drive head and the platter in that orientation. Lateral G forces are probably an order of magnitude less severe.

Of course, there may be other forces at work, such as asymmetric bearing loading, temperature, etc...

Hybrid drive seems like a good idea...I'm sure that if that technology becomes more mainstream, prices will fall.

Autockr989 · 06-11-2008, 05:43 PM

I can't locate the file. Did a search on the computer and it is non-existant. Earliest version of SD I have on the computer is 1.1.0.8 about 1000 songs in playlist and takes about 10-15 seconds to load. I know I'm missing something. Anyone wanna direct me in the right direction to where this file is located.

parksgm · 06-11-2008, 05:58 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

I can't locate the file. Did a search on the computer and it is non-existant. Earliest version of SD I have on the computer is 1.1.0.8 about 1000 songs in playlist and takes about 10-15 seconds to load. I know I'm missing something. Anyone wanna direct me in the right direction to where this file is located.

C:\program files\streetdeck\T3devcontrol.dll

95% sure. Should be right there. If not, perhaps it wasn't installed...GoC mentions that there is an option not to install it in a previous thread...never seen that option personally though.

danielkh · 06-11-2008, 11:51 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Autockr989

I can't locate the file. Did a search on the computer and it is non-existant. Earliest version of SD I have on the computer is 1.1.0.8 about 1000 songs in playlist and takes about 10-15 seconds to load. I know I'm missing something. Anyone wanna direct me in the right direction to where this file is located.

That file is probably not there. It's not on my computer, but I didn't load SD normally.

Try this.....
Rename your SD folder streetdecka in both program files and document folder (close the sd tray first). Then download and install the demo. Keep in mind you have MPoint and voice stuff already loaded. Now download the 1.1.1.6 update and go directly to that from the demo.

See how fast it starts then.

If it is a lot faster, then move your virtual earth folder, voicereco.xml, and options.sdo from the documents/streetdecka folder to the streetdeck folder. Then make a backup of both of them before loading anything else.

customaudioman · 06-12-2008, 12:32 AM

I dont have that file either, and my start up still takes 45sec- minute to load SD

2k1Toaster · 06-12-2008, 12:44 AM

Should the t3 file be there, but empty? If it is not there it is probably searching for it.

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 12:49 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Should the t3 file be there, but empty? If it is not there it is probably searching for it.

I don't have the file on any computer I run SD on (or development env.) and they all start 3-5 seconds. I personally don't think that file is the only issue. Like I listed above, I load everything manually off the SD disk EXCEPT Streetdeck. That I load the demo and update straight to 1.1.1.6 and I haven't had any problems. I did find that after loading mappoint, sometimes it wants to throw some strange "locator" files into the C:\ directory. Found it is best to delete the locator folder immediately after loading mappoint.

More specific.... C:\Program Files\Microsoft Location Finder

The files that wind up in C:\ are MSVCxx.dll files. I felt these were causing some issues.

NOTE: When the location finder folder is removed, the program will not run stand alone (mappoint), but runs fine in streetdeck. Try just renaming the folder if you plan on using mappoint standalone.

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 12:54 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by customaudioman

I dont have that file either, and my start up still takes 45sec- minute to load SD

With your system, you should be starting at 2-3 seconds. 5 would be sloooooow. Try loading method I listed above. Also, check for the mappoint locator files I mentioned in the last post and get rid of them. If I remember right, they don't go away quietly.

parksgm · 06-12-2008, 01:35 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by danielkh

More specific.... C:\Program Files\Microsoft Location Finder

The files that wind up in C:\ are MSVCxx.dll files. I felt these were causing some issues.

NOTE: When the location finder folder is removed, the program will not run stand alone (mappoint), but runs fine in streetdeck. Try just renaming the folder if you plan on using mappoint standalone.

A quick google search on "Microsoft Location Finder" returned the following result from microsoft.com:

Quote:

Microsoft Location Finder is a client-side application that turns a regular WiFi enabled laptop, Tablet or PC into a location determining device without the addition of any separate hardware. When launched by a user, Microsoft Location Finder uses WiFi access points - or reverse IP lookup when WiFi is not available - to center and display the person's location on an Windows Live Local, enabling the user to quickly and easily search in their present location.

There is an option withing Mappoint that, when enabled, allows the program to attempt to determine location via WiFi points...I bet this is the software that does it.

If Mappoint will work within SD without those files, then I think it could be beneficial to lose them, especially if one also has a Wifi card hooked up to their carpc...would just create conflicts, in my opinon. But, why do you say you "find it best" to delete those files immediately? What evidence of improved performance are you basing that claim on?

Anyone care to see if the MLF (Microsoft Location Finder) runs as a separate process when SD and Mappoint are loaded?

danielkh · 06-12-2008, 08:07 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by parksgm

Anyone care to see if the MLF (Microsoft Location Finder) runs as a separate process when SD and Mappoint are loaded?

Ok, time to admit my "discovery" process.

When I got my hybrid drive in, I wanted to test it against the non-hybrid drive. So loaded "supposedly" the same software on both and went through loads. The hybrid drive was 2-3 seconds every time, while the non-hybrid was 17-20 seconds every time. So, here I thought the hybrid was pure gold! So went through and did something on the hybrid drive and all of the sudden, it was 17-20 seconds! AH......Houston, we have a problem.

Started renaming, restoring, and doing everything I could to get back to the 2-3 second load time. Once I did, I compared the 2-3 second drive to the 17-20 second drive. That's when I noticed the locator files being placed in C:\. I don't like programs that arbitrarily create files in the main directory. Through trial and error, that's how I came up with the loading process listed above. And it is very repeatable!

I'm just glad I didn't "publish" the findings on the hybrid drive before noticing the issue. I never did anything with the T3 file as I didn't know it existed. I did find the "infill" loading error by starting up in debug mode.

Quote: Originally Posted by parksgm

But, why do you say you "find it best" to delete those files immediately? What evidence of improved performance are you basing that claim on?

2 reasons.

1. Like I said, I don't like programs messing with directories that don't belong to it. When I saw the files showing up in C:\, I was going to go through hell and high water to find out why and stop it.
2. Once I find a method that works and is repeatable, I don't look for reasoning. It may have nothing to do with anything, but if it works every time? I'll take the extra few minutes to change it.

Note edit: The reason I go with the demo version and straight to 1.1.1.6......

I went with the disk version, and then updated one at a time. Somewhere between 1.0.9.8 and 1.1.1.0, something happened. I know a few people saw it. SD would crash. If you tried to go back to 1.0.9.8, when SD started, it would reload 1.1.1.6 on it's on, start up and crash. Demo version (I think it's 1.0.9.8) then straight to latest rev......no issues at all.

Autockr989 · 06-12-2008, 08:48 AM

I'm not running mappoint. SD Lite. Prob. why I dont' have the files mentioned. still need a workaround for faster load time.