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[ADDiCT]

Hi!
I've bought MC12 some weeks ago, and like it so far.

BUT: synching my iPod 40GB seems to be getting slower and slower with each build! With 130, i'm getting only between 1,5 and 2 mb/s. This should be more like 4-5 mb/s, that's what i was getting with older MC12 builds (and with MC11).

Could it be that you've changed some iPod-related stuff because of the "track-ends-10-secs-too-soon"-errors some users are reporting?

[Matt]

We don't think we've made any changes that would affect the transfer speed.

Perhaps something changed on your system?  Maybe run defragment your iPod?

[Magic_Randy]

I download almost every version of MC 12 and do iPod syncs all the time.  I have not noticed any degradation in performance.  I never defrag my iPod, but I do defrag the music library all the time.  When I look at the defrag results, it looks like music files require attention as they are large and can easily become fragmented.  I think this is especially true if you frequently update your collection - which I do by ripping new content, updating tags, etc.

So you may want to make sure you are doing a defrag on the music as well as the iPod itself.

[lalittle]

Hi!
I've bought MC12 some weeks ago, and like it so far.

BUT: synching my iPod 40GB seems to be getting slower and slower with each build! With 130, i'm getting only between 1,5 and 2 mb/s. This should be more like 4-5 mb/s, that's what i was getting with older MC12 builds (and with MC11).

Could it be that you've changed some iPod-related stuff because of the "track-ends-10-secs-too-soon"-errors some users are reporting?

I'm seeing the same thing, right down to the specifics you mentioned.  You said; "i'm getting only between 1,5 and 2 mb/s. This should be more like 4-5 mb/s, that's what i was getting with older MC12 builds."  These are the exact same numbers I see/was seeing.

I may try a full re-initialize and re-sync to see if it alleviates this, but I was waiting until the gapless issue was resolved.

Thanks,

Larry

[Magic_Randy]

I just tried it again on my iPod with MC 12.0.130.  I'm getting 3.5 to 4.5 mb/sec.  This is with a sampling of 200 MP3 files.

[lalittle]

I just tried it again on my iPod with MC 12.0.130.  I'm getting 3.5 to 4.5 mb/sec.  This is with a sampling of 200 MP3 files.

What type of iPod?  I'm using a black 60Gig 5G iPod Video.

Thanks,

Larry

[Magic_Randy]

What type of iPod?  I'm using a black 60Gig 5G iPod Video.

Larry,

I have the same as you.  60gb 5G iPod Video.  I'm using the latest firmware v1.2.1.

I actually have 2 of them, one for me and one for my wife.  I tried the same test on her iPod and got different results.  It ranged from 1.5 to 4 mb/sec.  With this range, the most common was about 2 mb/sec.  I'm in the process of defragmenting her iPod.  After that is done, I will do another test. 

Note: both my iPods are very full. I have less then 1gb free space.

Randy

[lalittle]

I tried the same test on her iPod and got different results.  It ranged from 1.5 to 4 mb/sec.

That's interesting.  Is she using the same firmware?

Thanks for the followups.

Larry

[Magic_Randy]

That's interesting.  Is she using the same firmware?

Larry,

Same firmware.  The defraging on her iPod is still going on.  Her iPod was very fragmented.  I did not check mine, but I recently initialized it which I guess would give the same end result.

Randy

[Magic_Randy]

I just finished the test on the second iPod.  After defragging it came back to the same, higher transfer speed, that I was seeing with the first iPod.

Before defrag: 1.5 to 4.0 mb/sec
After Defrag: 3.5 to 4.5 mb/sec

This supports Matt's theory.

BTW: Defragging an iPod is a painful task.  It ran for 12 hours and I ended up stopping the process at only 50% complete.  By then most of the poor performance files were taken care of, so I think my test results are valid (e.g. I would not expect further performance improvements from further defragging).  It would have been faster to initialize the iPod and re-sync as opposed to defragging it.



Randy

[lalittle]

It ran for 12 hours and I ended up stopping the process at only 50% complete.

Wow -- no wonder this isn't more commonly advised.

It would have been faster to initialize the iPod and re-sync as opposed to defragging it.

At the rate it was going, it might have actually been faster to build a new hard drive from scratch.

Thanks again for the updates,

Larry

[Magic_Randy]

Wow -- no wonder this isn't more commonly advised.

And this is with a 3rd party package, Diskeeper, which is very fast at defragmenting drives.

[ADDiCT]

Thanks for the hints, guys! I'll try O&O, it's already installed on the machine i'm using. But: this is not a feasible solution for my problem, unfortunately. Having to defrag the iPod after every sync would be a PITA (not to mention the strain on the poor, small iPod HD). I'd also say that i never saw this kind of distinct performance degradation before, and i've been using iPods since 1st gen (starting with a HFS-formatted 5Gig) with various software packages (Ephpod and similar, MC10, MC11).

I currently have no "proof" for this, but i'd say there's something else slowing down the transfer. I'll check and report.

[lalittle]

Thanks for the hints, guys! I'll try O&O, it's already installed on the machine i'm using.

I would strongly that rather than defragging, you simply do another initialize and re-sync.  I don't see how defragging offers any advantages over re-initializing and re-synching, and given Randy's report on how long the defrag took, initializing and synching (as Randy pointed out) will be much, MUCH faster.

I'll report back after I try this as well.

Larry

[Magic_Randy]

I would strongly that rather than defragging, you simply do another initialize and re-sync.  I don't see how defragging offers any advantages over re-initializing and re-synching, and given Randy's report on how long the defrag took, initializing and synching (as Randy pointed out) will be much, MUCH faster.

I'll report back after I try this as well.

Larry

I agree.  I was testing defragging, but I can see no advantage to intialize & resync.  Next time I will not waste time on the defrag.

[lalittle]

I can see no advantage to intialize & resync.

Just to clarify, Randy means "no advantage [COMPARED] to intialize & resync," or no DISadvantage to intitalizing and resynching.

Thanks again for your test reports Randy.

Larry

[Magic_Randy]

Larry,

Sorry for the less then clear English - you have correctly interpreted the meaning of my comment.

Randy

[lalittle]

I figured out the problem in my particular case.  It turns out that it was due to having the Rockbox firmware "active" when doing the sync.  With Rockbox, you have the choice of having the iPod boot with the Rockbox firmware, or with the original Apple firmware.  If I plug the iPod it while the Rockbox firmware is loaded, the sync shows speeds in the 1's and 2's.  If, on the other hand, I boot the iPod to the original Apple firmware before plugging it in, the sync goes MUCH faster -- I saw upper 3's, 4's and even occasional low 5's when synching it this way.  In each case, I initialized first, so it was completely empty before each sync.

In other words, you can have the iPod set up to use Rockbox -- you just need to boot it to the original firmware before actually doing the sync.  After this, you can reboot it and let the Rockbox firmware load once again.

ADDiCT -- do you happen to be using Rockbox on your iPod?  If so, boot to the original Apple firmware by rebooting the unit (hold down "Menu" and the center button to do this) then holding down "Menu" while the unit boots.  If you held your finger steady, the unit will boot to the Apple firmware.  Plug the iPod in and try another sync at this point.

Larry