Advantages to smaller source files?

yirm wrote on 11/26/2001, 7:23 PM
In the VF group, I had a bunch of questions regarding NTFS and defragmentation, etc. One of the recent features is Video Capture's ability to do file spanning. This was presumably added as a workaround to FAT32's 4GB limit for one file. No such limit exists on NTFS. But the option to do so is still there in Video Capture.

Assuming that this feature works flawlessly and as advertised, I'm thinking it is good practice to keep smaller source files down to a smaller size because:

1) If you have HUGE files in NTFS, you need a lot of empty space to do defragmentation (either that, Windows 2000/XP degragmenter is overreacting to the fragmentation of the drive.

2) If you need to do destructive edits to the audio in Sound Forge, it will take a *lot* less time to open up the files, build the peaks, do the edits and reesave the files than if you are dealing with one huge file.

So, anyone have any reactions? Any further advantages to having Video Capture chop up the source files? Disadvantages?

-Jeremy

Comments

yirm wrote on 11/30/2001, 8:36 PM
Nobody wants to tackle this one, huh?

-Jeremy
FadeToBlack wrote on 11/30/2001, 9:12 PM
jdozz wrote on 12/1/2001, 12:54 AM
GG, I respect your comments and all I know is after I degragged my hard drive, I was able to capture video without dropping any frames. I sure if I dedicated a resource to capturing video, many of my problems would go away but I don't wish to purchase anymore hardware at this time. Defragmenting my hard drive worked for me and I'm sure it will help others.
Chienworks wrote on 12/1/2001, 2:04 AM
From an editing point of view, i can't see that it really makes any
difference. After wracking my own personal brain for a few minutes,
here is a list of pros & cons for splitting vs. non-splitting:

Hard drives may only store a certain maximum number of files, even if
those files don't fill the disk. Score one point for non-splitting. But then,
i doubt anyone who stores files larger than 4GB is going to run out of
directory entries before drive space. Never mind.

If a file gets corrupted for whatever reason, you'll have to recapture it
again. If you have one huge file, you'll have to recapture it all. If you
have separate 4GB files, you can recapture just that 19 minute section.
Score one point for splitting. (Of course, it would be very difficult to
capture exactly the same 19 minute section again. For this reason, i
usually set my file size limit slightly smaller than the maximum. If i
have to recapture, i set the limit up and then start the recapture a few
seconds before the original starting point.)

Curiously and delightfully enough, 4GB fits nice and snug on a DVD-R
disc. If you want to archive your source files that way, then the 4GB
split is really handy. Score a second point for splitting.

If you want to copy your source files to another PC on your network,
having them split at 4GB makes sure you can copy them to FAT 32
drives. Before you dismiss this as being too irrelevant, consider this
scenario: you've capture your material, but now your drive is going
bonkers and you need to reformat. The camera was left at the office;
oops, can't recapture. The kids got a nice new HP from Wal*Mart with a
60GB drive and an ethernet card for the cable modem, but it's running
Windows 98SE. You can network them together, but 98SE uses FAT 32.
Score a third point for splitting.

Splitting: 3 points
Non-splitting: 1 revoked point.

The votes are in. I'll let you decide who wins.
FadeToBlack wrote on 12/1/2001, 2:23 AM
yirm wrote on 12/1/2001, 9:35 AM
What you are saying makes total sense. Furthermore, if you have a 30GB file on a 40GB NTFS drive, Good luk on getting Windows' defrag to do anything. It needs more free space. But like you said, other than the unmovable Windows system files that may end up in the middle of the file (causing it to be reported as fragmented), it *is* one contiguous file.

-Jeremy
yirm wrote on 12/1/2001, 9:43 AM
I have some more comments. First of all, I may have mentioned that if you want to destructively edit the audio portion in Sound Forge (XP), it will take a hell of a lot longer to open a 15GB file than a 4GB file, draw the peaks, process the edits and resave.

From a fragmentation point of view, Windows will be able to put these files around the immovable system files. (I think.)

Also, if you have your four clips in the media pool, if you select them as a unit, and drop them in the timeline, they will fall in as a contiguous unit, which is convenient.

To my mind, splitting is advantageous.

-Jeremy

-Jeremy