Speeding Up Rockbox

[pmmagic]

2 suggestions for speeding up rockbox.

1st Suggestion.
general settings>system>disk >directory cache>on
it stores your directory information so that there won't be any lag time when you try to go into a folder.
it also makes the disk spin up less.
You need to reboot for it to start working when you first turn it on. it will make your boot time longer

2nd Suggestion
When you update/Replace you current version of rockbox with a later version.

PLEASE NOTE What I am suggestion you will loose most of your current settings.

1. Connect up your Player to your PC and power up your player which will go into USB mode.

2. Connect you Player to the power supply -
you dont want you player to run out of batteries in the middle of this.

3. Check to see if your players drive is fragmented.
Usually your disk fragmentation program can give you an idea of how badly fragmented your players hard disk is. I know on Windows 2000 it has an analyze button that allows you to check and see if your drive is fragmented.

4. If it is fragmented then continue on,
otherwise dont bother.

5. Delete your current .ROCKBOX directory folder
using my computer program.

6. Empty your deleted items
so the deleted items are removed.

7. Defragment your player.
on MY PC it is Z: drive,
on yours it will be something else.

Use the scandisk program or NOrtons speeddisk , or what ever defragmentation program you use.

8. Download the latest copy of Rockbox and unzip it on to you player.

Why I am suggesting this is.
If your rockbox files are all over the player your harddisk may have to move to lots of placed on the harddisk just to load one file.

If you reinstall with out defregmenting the files will still be scattered all over the harddisk.

Fragmentation will become more of a problem the more you have files on your Player.

(Please note: I myself have been guilty of just reinstalling over the previous version and so my .ROCKBOX files were quite badly fragmented.

Pmmagic

[savagenator]

wow, thanks! i was too lazy to think of that myself!

[schwab002]

what if you can't defrag your HD because it's too full?
i only have 1.5gb out of 40gb available and it seems like defragging is impossible or just too incredibly slow to complete.

[STx]

and remember to backup your wps's,cfg files, custom eqs and such!, with defragging, i only do it once in a while, because it can take quite long, and i use PerfectDisk Pro 9.

[mozetti]

Originally Posted by schwab002

what if you can't defrag your HD because it's too full?

Move some files from your player to your computer, then follow pmmagic's instructions starting at #3 (assuming you did #1 & #2 before you moved files off the player). Just make sure you put your music back on last.

[snoop58]

Honestly, ppl, how many seconds have you gained after performing this time consuming operation?

i mean, i have a 60gb drive for half a year already, stuffed to the top, which was never degragmented, and the RB bootup time (dir cache is ON) is like 10 seconds, which is perfectly ok!

MAYBE it is due to some new mechanics which were introduced in MK6006GAH
(quieter and faster access AFAIR)

but its sometims so uncomfortable to move huge amouts of data back and forth to the player.

Is it really worth it?

[schwab002]

i get about a 10 sec boot up with dir caching off, with it on, i get almost 25 sec. thats almost as long as the bootup for the iriver firmware, 30 sec.

so maybe i do need a defrag or to change something else, because i would really like to have directory caching on with a short bootup.

i'll try it soon

[CyberFoxS2]

How do you turn on dir cache? and what is it?

Anyway.. I think defragginc is a great idea!

[schwab002]

general settings>system>disk >directory cache>on or off
it stores your directory information so that there won't be any lag time when you try to go into a folder. it also makes the disk spin up less. you need to reboot for it to start working when you first turn it on. it will make your boot time longer.

thats all i've heard about it, so if there's anything else to it, or i'm mistaken about dir caching please correct me.

[Ravenator]

could somone please explain to me what "Bootloader USB mode" is?

[schwab002]

it's connecting your player to your computer in the rockbox firmware via usb.
exactly the same as iriver usb mode, but with the rockbox firmware.
you know when you transfer songs to your player and whatnot...you're in usb mode.

[Dizbin]

Originally Posted by mozetti

Move some files from your player to your computer, then follow pmmagic's instructions starting at #3 (assuming you did #1 & #2 before you moved files off the player). Just make sure you put your music back on last.

I've found that it's quicker to just copy the whole lot off onto you hard drive, delete the contents of the iriver - empty the recycle bin - and then copy the whole lot back on, rather than trying to use a defragger. The copy takes about 40 mins each way for a full 20GB.

[Myth`n`Legend]

it's connecting your player to your computer in the rockbox firmware via usb.
exactly the same as iriver usb mode, but with the rockbox firmware.
you know when you transfer songs to your player and whatnot...you're in usb mode.

Which doesn't work for me and alot of other people for some reason...

[mozetti]

Originally Posted by snoop58

Honestly, ppl, how many seconds have you gained after performing this time consuming operation?

i mean, i have a 60gb drive for half a year already, stuffed to the top, which was never degragmented, and the RB bootup time (dir cache is ON) is like 10 seconds, which is perfectly ok!

Is it really worth it?

I don't recall anyone forcing you to do this. So, chill out and have some kool-aid.

Is it worth it - well, that answer is going to be different for every person.

[musichound]

I have my player for over 13 months now.
-Never reformatted it
-Never defragged it
-Update it every day with daily builds

Without directory cache enabled - 8 seconds
With directory cache enabled - Close to 10 seconds

[pmmagic]

Please note if your player's drive isnt fragmented,
you wont need to defragment it.

This is only meant for people who's player is having problems with fragmentation, like mine was.

Pmmagic

[Ravenator]

Originally Posted by schwab002

it's connecting your player to your computer in the rockbox firmware via usb.
exactly the same as iriver usb mode, but with the rockbox firmware.
you know when you transfer songs to your player and whatnot...you're in usb mode.

Nah, it's different isn't it?

When my player is off, and I plug in the USB cord, they player turns on, and goes to a plain screen with the words "Bootloader USB mode". It then doesn't seem to do anything. It's not recognised by the computer, nor does it change when I push any button.

If the player is already booted into the rockbox firmware when I plug the USB cable in, it connects fine, and has a picture and the computer recognises it.

Could somoene please explain to me what this "Bootloader USB mode" is, and what it does?

[mozetti]

Your computer should be recognizing it when you see "Bootloader USB Mode" - but, you're not the only one to report this problem. I'm not sure of the fix. When I plug my H340 into the USB from the off position I see the "Bootloader USB Mode" and my computer picks it up.

Maybe just boot into Rockbox before plugging it into USB until the next bootloader comes out and see if that fixes the issue?

[schwab002]

ah i never plug in my player when it's off because in the old iriver firmware when i tried this it wouldn't be recognized by computer for some reason.

just trying it out now with rockbox i can't tell a difference between this bootloader usb mode and when i plug the usb cable in when the player has already booted and the usb icon shows up.

[Ravenator]

oh ok, so it's a known bug. alright. hope it gets fixed soon, although it's not very high on my most wanted list. It's hardly much more effort to boot thep layer before connecting.

[baobab68]

Couple of points...

Programs like PerfectDisk offer an "offline optimisation" mode. This just moves all the directory entries into the centre of the disk, and is more than sufficient to make RockBox boot faster. Defragging the actual file contents is something you can do if you want to but since they're only read when actually about to be played or cached, it won't make much difference.

Unless you're forever adding and deleting files, you shouldn't see any benefit at all from full defragging. The only exception might be some Rockbox system files like 'playlist_control' which seem to get updated all the time, but it's a *really* small file, so it shouldn't fragment.

And a question: I've seen it mentioned before but is it possible to charge a Rockboxed machine without ever going into Iriver firmware mode? I'd really like to set the Rockbox clock, but iriver mode screws it up again.

[davidsol]

For recharging in RB, just turn the player on before connecting to the charger.

[Teknomancer]

I have never defragmented or formatted my HD yet. But then again I never delete any of the music that I've copied.

I only keep updating rockbox but I bet my HD is quite defragmented even with that... I really should defrag. sometime really, but since I never/hardly boot Windows the defrag will have to wait till my player becomes slower than my grandma'.

[vocrobot]

Originally Posted by schwab002

general settings>system>disk >directory cache>on or off
it stores your directory information so that there won't be any lag time when you try to go into a folder. it also makes the disk spin up less. you need to reboot for it to start working when you first turn it on. it will make your boot time longer.

thats all i've heard about it, so if there's anything else to it, or i'm mistaken about dir caching please correct me.

That's weird because I have just switched the cache on and did input the rele