j Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 my 200G segate internal ... its only a few month old and has hardly been used, except for sample storage. (been working mainly with soft synths etc) well, since i started doing a bit of audio sequencing theres been a god awful crunch noise. constant rythmn of crUNCH crUNCH crUNCH when playing back files in logic. (only a few tracks 5 or 6) s.m.a.r.t. says its ok, disk utility says its ok, apple hardware test says its ok. is it ok? it doesnt sound ok. mmm ... it cudnt be a 'bad block' or something? *wishful thinking* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mew Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 If I were you, I would back that drive up immediately if you haven't already. I've never had a drive that started to make noises that wasn't on the verge of crashing and burning. Crunching noises are definitely NOT GOOD! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockBottom Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 • No, it cannot be a bad block: those are skipped and do not make any noise. • It could be your files are highly fragmented, so the head have to go back and forth to different areas to read a single file: you can check this with a [small] number of maintenance utilities, like TechTool or iDefrag. • It could be your drive mecanism is about to give up, although the SMART status is okay — in principle, the SMART diagnostics could correlate reaction or access time with possible physical failures, but aren't sensitive to noise yet. Mew's advice is sensible: do not take the risk of losing everything just to save the money; disks are cheap: buy a new one, preferably a fast one [meaning 7200 rpm at least], possibly in a FireWire 400 [800] enclosure, and backup everything — everyday... I backup my drives every four hours. Which means I only have to copy a few megabytes onto the backup drive (it only takes a few seconds, at most). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LoFi Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 RockBottom, I'm curious, how do you backup? Do you use a special software? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 thanks everyone. ok .. on getting hold of another logic song with audio files in it (10 tracks) - it doesnt make any noise with this song this is indicating i have some fragmentation right? in some particular files? or maybe a problem with a certain area of the disk drive? i have idefrag, bit dont really feel sure i know what im doing with it anyone can offer any advice - if indeed it is a fragmentation problem? oh by the way, no worries, im backing up like a bitch at the moment. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 RockBottom, I'm curious, how do you backup? Do you use a special software? i can highly recommend superduper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html - its superb & it makes it VERY easy. theres loads out there, such as - carbon copy cloner, deja vu, erm erm yeah there are loads *feels slightly brain dead at the moment* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockBottom Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 RockBottom, I'm curious, how do you backup? Do you use a special software? I'm using SuperDuper, like every one else... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace of Dubs Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 disk warrior is your friend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockBottom Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 I'm also fond of an obscure French application called tri-backup, which can be scheduled to run periodically. Moreover, you can program it to exclude certain file types, or backup specific files to some other volume. http://www.tri-edre.com/ This way I only backup what has changed in my song project folder, or in my channel strip settings folder, or... you get the picture. Also: I use TechTool to periodically save directory information to other volumes in case I'd erase the wrong file and need to restore it quickly. But I do have 7 bootable backups of my startup disk, each with different releases of the system software, or different releases of SoundTrack or Logic. For practical reasons, all of my Exs files, samples and Apple loops are on another volume [also backed up] and can get along with any system version I would boot up in case of emergency. And I'm not in a hurry, but before I switch to Logic 7.2 and update to X.4.5 I'll backup the present configuration again so I can go back if something goes wrong... What do you call it, being overly cautious? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 disk warrior is your friend yes he is. but alas he cant solve this one. ive disk warriored and idefraged and ... its about half the volume now rockbottom thats sum paranoia u got there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockBottom Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 its about half the volume now What do you mean? Volume capacity? Noise level? Horse color? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j Posted March 6, 2006 Author Share Posted March 6, 2006 i see ur point noise level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mew Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 can highly recommend superduper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html - its superb & it makes it VERY easy. This is a great recommendation. If you don't back up regularly because you think it's a hassle, you've got to check out this program. I just downloaded it and tested it and immediately bought a liscense! I've been using Retrospect for years and I've never really liked it. It's got a very clumsy user interface and doesn't simplify the backup process. Super-Duper, at $27.95, is about the easiest program you could imagine for efficient and pain-free backups at about 1/4 the cost of Retrospect!. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockBottom Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 ~ J ~ > rockbottom thats sum paranoia u got there... Oh, no! That only proves I learned my lessons in the past. When you look at these forums, just count the number of people who wish they could backtrack... Besides, disks are cheap, and since I'm using SuperDuper, backing up my system disk is no hassle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockBottom Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 i see ur point — noise level. Okay: be aware that iDefrag doesn't do the full monty [defrag + compact] like TechTool would, since it's sole purpose is to condense data to make room for the next partition you'll create. If you look close enough, you'll see it left holes in between the files: it doesn't matter as long as your drive has enough space to accommodate new big files without segmenting them. Once it starts segmenting, it tends to fill the holes, and you're back to square one. That's why I store all immutable files on a separate volume: once compacted, they won't move... And no: restoring a copy isn't equivalent to compacting — it also leaves holes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 The noise described in the original post (constant, repeated) sounds to me like a mechanical problem more than file organization... I would backup the drive and get rid of it (replace it) right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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