Adding Reply Archived Topic: It will not be bumped to the top of the forum. Topic Bad Harddrive? Membername   Not a member? Sign Up Free (takes 20 seconds) Password   Forgotten your password? Post Font: Verdana Arial Black Georgia Comic Sans Impact   Size: Tiny Normal Big Huge   Color: Default Dark Red Red Orange Brown Green Olive Cyan Blue Dark Blue Indigo Black [ Check Spelling ] [ Post Preview ] [ LiveTags ] FAQ Keyword Search: Post Options Favorites Manager Notify me of new replies to this topic by email Notify me of new replies to this topic by private message Original Post derailedjet Posted at 11:50 am on Feb. 9, 2007 I have a laptop with a 120 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, partitioned into a 30/90 GB split (NTFS/Mas OS Journaled). Sometimes, when I'm listening to music in iTunes, the song with pause for a second to re-buffer from the HDD (more specifically, when I listen to Apple Lossless format songs). I have plenty or RAM, and plenty free at the times of these incidents. I don't have many proccesses running, (just iTunes and Firefox), and I'm wondering if this could mean my hard drive is bad. Thanks.

Replies derailedjet Posted at 12:26 am on Feb. 26, 2007 Quote: from Cingular Wireless at 3:19 pm on Feb. 19, 2007 Is it an iBook? What processor is it G4 or Intel? You can not defrag a Mac because it's automatic. And if the processor can't handle it then it will have to pause for a second. Apple loseless takes alot of CPU Thanks, but most of what you said is wrong. Zw33K3RB0Y Posted at 7:21 pm on Feb. 21, 2007 Hmmm. If you're running Mac OS X86, then that's the problem more than likely, it's not a native OS, so expect bugs. If you're running regular Mac OS X 10.x, then make sure the song files aren't corrupt (by trying another MP), if they're fine, then you may need to free disk space, or update iTunes. Cingular Wireless Posted at 3:19 pm on Feb. 19, 2007 Is it an iBook? What processor is it G4 or Intel? You can not defrag a Mac because it's automatic. And if the processor can't handle it then it will have to pause for a second. Apple loseless takes alot of CPU derailedjet Posted at 8:06 pm on Feb. 18, 2007 First of all, 5400 is considered fast for a laptop (considering 4800 is the norm). Yes, it may not be a 7200 RPM drive like a desktop, but 5400 is adequate. And many of you need to read the original post. I said i DO NOT have many processes running. But anyways, I figured it out. It wasn't the media player or anything else. It was a matter of having little disk space (and possibly that causing fragmentation of the drive). obvious child Posted at 10:00 pm on Feb. 16, 2007 Quote: from Forever Angel at 2:20 pm on Feb. 16, 2007 Lol, it CAN happen with a hard drive of ANY speed if there are multiple processes attempting access at the same time. So why shouldn't it happen with a relatively slow drive? He needs to be running a shit load of programs for that to happen if he has a adequate amount of RAM. In my experience, it is more likely the media player that is the problem rather then the hardware. Besides, a failing harddrive would manifest itself in other more noticable ways. Forever Angel Posted at 4:20 pm on Feb. 16, 2007 Quote: from obvious child at 2:42 pm on Feb. 16, 2007 Quote: from Forever Angel at 10:26 am on Feb. 9, 2007 It's probably the speed of the hard drive and bad timing on the part of the processes running. If the song buffer needs access while another process is using the hard drive, it has to wait and at 5400 rpm, that can be a long time (computer wise). On top of that it loads chunks at a time which also means that it will wait til the buffer has been refreshed with the next load.   That shouldn't happen with a 5400 rpm. It could be itunes.   What he should try is another type of media player. If there's no problem, it's Itunes. Lol, it CAN happen with a hard drive of ANY speed if there are multiple processes attempting access at the same time. So why shouldn't it happen with a relatively slow drive? obvious child Posted at 12:42 pm on Feb. 16, 2007 Quote: from Forever Angel at 10:26 am on Feb. 9, 2007 It's probably the speed of the hard drive and bad timing on the part of the processes running. If the song buffer needs access while another process is using the hard drive, it has to wait and at 5400 rpm, that can be a long time (computer wise). On top of that it loads chunks at a time which also means that it will wait til the buffer has been refreshed with the next load. That shouldn't happen with a 5400 rpm. It could be itunes. What he should try is another type of media player. If there's no problem, it's Itunes. Fender Posted at 5:09 pm on Feb. 15, 2007 Quote: from firestorm613 at 6:52 am on Feb. 10, 2007 i dont think its the hard drive. i think it might be the songs, they might be corrupted.... If the songs were corrupted they wouldn't play at all. You do realise 5400RPM is incredibly slow. And what cpu does this machine have? Kraahkan Posted at 9:01 am on Feb. 11, 2007 If you're running low on disk space, odds are you probably need to defragment your hard drive.  To make as many things as possible fit onto your hard drive, your computer will split up large files and stick the parts into smaller spaces.  Great for capacity, but when you need access to a highly fragmented file, the hard drive needs to access every last place the file is stored in just to load it all - which often means that the read/write head needs to reset itself many, many times.  In many cases, this will cause an extreme slowdown of load times, resulting in cases like the one you have. I'm not sure how to defrag a drive on Mac - but on Windows, you open My Computer, right click on the drive you want to defragment, select Properties, click the Tools tab, hit Defragment Now..., and hit Defragment.  You'll need to leave it alone for anywhere between half an hour to multiple hours to clean it up all the way - so you might want to do it overnight, while you're at school, etc.  Also, be aware that Windows will require at least 15% of your drive space to be free for the tool to work, so if you're especially strapped for space, you may want to do a little cleanup/backup beforehand. Hope that helps. - Kraahkan - Forever Angel Posted at 12:26 pm on Feb. 9, 2007 It's probably the speed of the hard drive and bad timing on the part of the processes running. If the song buffer needs access while another process is using the hard drive, it has to wait and at 5400 rpm, that can be a long time (computer wise). On top of that it loads chunks at a time which also means that it will wait til the buffer has been refreshed with the next load. You may not have many programs running, but I'll bet there are a bunch of processes running. Even when you are running NO programs there are processes going just for house-keeping duties. firestorm613 Posted at 12:03 pm on Feb. 9, 2007 defragment ur computer derailedjet Posted at 12:01 pm on Feb. 9, 2007 It's not the songs. They're not corrupted. And, no, it's not the processor. The CPU usage is minimal. And the computer is fairly new. I'm guessing it may be because I'm running really low on disk space. firestorm613 Posted at 11:59 am on Feb. 9, 2007 go to the start up and see wat is happening there - i dont know how to do it on MAC OS but on PC, u go to run, and type in msconfig, and then the tab called startup is where u would wanna go and uncheck all the garbage that u dont want starting up every time u start ur computer. Atomic Malaise Posted at 11:59 am on Feb. 9, 2007 It could be iTunes. I never have that problem, and I don't use iTunes. Crims0n Tears Posted at 11:57 am on Feb. 9, 2007 I have to same issue with the old computer at work. It is not the hard drive, more than either the files got corrupted or you have a lot of hidden apps running the background taking up CPU time. Most recent 15 of 18 previous replies displayed.