Dropouts & Defrags

[mark4man]

Need some help from some senior members. Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 is droppin' out like crazy. My sound card is the Audigy. I have done the audio optimization thing, but that's not correcting the problem. I would like to defrag, but (& please don't laugh here...), I have heard that it somehow changes the actual sound. Is there any merit to this? Can defragging change or corrupt the data as the drive rewrites? Any other thoughts on causes for dropouts (in Cake or with the card)? Thanks.

mark4man


BTW,

Here's my basic setup & OS settings:

Dell Dimension 700
512 MB SDRAM
2 Drives: 20GB (OS & Apps), 60GB (Audio only)
Win 98SE
Intel 440BX AGP Chipset
CWPA9.03
Audigy Platinum EX (all by it's lonesome self on IRQ3)


Virtual Memory (Swap File): Minimum = 32MB Maximum = 32MB

Read Cache [vcache]: MinFileCache=16384 MaxFileCache=16384

Write-Behind Cache: Disabled

Read-Ahead Optimization / PC Role: None / Network Server

Graphics Hardware Acceleration: 2nd Notch From Right

Wave Audio Device: Do Not Use Device

Double Buffering: Have not changed setting

IDE Disk Drive Mode (DMA): Cannot find setting

[bigBadWolf]

hmmmm, i am very keen to participate in this discussion also.

i have read a number of articles on the net about the possibility of errors in copying. i will try to dig them up again and post their links.

i have an opinion, but i will keep that to myself for the time-being.

[usul]

I don't thing defrag can modify the audio data.
If the audio file is already corrupted there is no way to repair it, you have to re-record the audio track.

[Nigun]

Defragging does not change the sound of audio files.

[dbarclay]

the only affect that defrag'ing will have on your audio is positive. defrag'ing reorganizes the files on your hd so as to try and store them as contiguous as possible. this is good good good. you should defrag and defrag often. i also noticed that considering the amount of ram you have your swap file might be a little small, at least based on the optimization docs i've read.

[mark4man]

Thanks everyone.