iPod 5G 60GB - intense HD activity

[mpeskett]

Hello all.

I installed rockbox for the first time yesterday, really cool OS, I like it a lot, but one thing I noticed is that the HD is constantly very active, you can hear it clicking away and the iPod itself is vibrating a little bit. On the apple OS it doesn't do this, only when I'm running rockbox. My concern is that when I'm out and about and my iPod is in my pocket, it could get annoying having it vibrating all the time, but more concerning is will this intense HD activity lower the lifetime of the drive? I can't imagine it'll be doing it much good. If this increased activity is a normal occurance I'd be inclined to not bother using rockbox because it doesn't sound too healthy to me.

[AlexP]

This isn't normal, no.  What ipod do you have?  What version of Rockbox?

[mpeskett]

I have a 5th gen 60GB video ipod. The drive is a Toshiba MK6008GAH if that's any use. The version of rockbox is 3.1 r19569-081223

[soap]

Is the HDD running only for a while after boot?  Is it running only when navigating the file structure?  Or is it running even in the middle of playback, without stop?

[mpeskett]

It runs the whole time rockbox is running, even during playback. The playback isn't choppy though.

[froggyman]

I have noticed that my ipod video 5.5G(30GB) does close to the same thing(with only moving when navigating through songs and doing things involving disk activity, so i wasnt conserned). The hard drive makes clicking noises and will spin noticably faster than it does for apple, but then again they run it at 66 mhz clock speed and can be ran at 75 mhz, safely!

but the same thing sometimes happens when i make big file transfers through the computer before rockbox was put on it(like big wikipedia dumps, being that i didnt have my 16gb flash drive on me, which i got for $30)

[mpeskett]

but the same thing sometimes happens when i make big file transfers through the computer before rockbox was put on it(like big wikipedia dumps, being that i didnt have my 16gb flash drive on me, which i got for $30)

It's funny you should mention that because I had to reformat my iPod before I put rockbox on it and transfer all the music back on. I can't remember if I did this before or after I installed rockbox but I shouldn't think that matters anyway. I'm still managing all content through iTunes.

[soap]

Did you install the "current build" or the 3.1 release?  If not the 3.1 release please install it and see if the symptoms continue.  If the 3.1 release please install a "current build" and see if they continue.

[Chronon]

only moving when navigating through songs and doing things involving disk activity, so i wasnt conserned)

This sounds like you either haven't enabled "directory cache" or haven't loaded the database to RAM.

[soap]

only moving when navigating through songs and doing things involving disk activity, so i wasnt conserned)

This sounds like you either haven't enabled "directory cache" or haven't loaded the database to RAM.

That's part of what I was querying about, but it doesn't explain continuous HDD spinning throughout playback.

[Chronon]

Right.  It seems the OP has a different issue.

[mpeskett]

I had the 3.1 release installed. I've updated to the current build but there's unfortunately no change in HD behaviour.

[soap]

Is this a player you bought new?

[mpeskett]

No I've had it for a very long time. I replaced the HD some time ago with an identical one as the previous one broke after I dropped it.