# Movie files getting jammed while playing



## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Hi all,

This is about possible problems with my HDD. I have a one and a half year old MBP 13in.

I download around 2 to 3 movies every month. My HDD seems to be in good shape but of late I have noticed some symptoms of what seem to indicate problems with the HDD.

While watching this particular comedy series from the 1980's, the display keeps getting stuck. It seems to happen mostly at the time I begin playing the file. Once a few minutes are gone by it the file generally runs without any hiccups.

Now I used to keep pausing and then playing files of this comedy series when I would watch them earlier.

So, I am wondering if this problem indicates that these files are getting corrupted or some such thing, or perhaps that the HDD has some problems (bad sectors?). Has someone seen something like this?

Thanks!


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## MattD313 (Dec 6, 2007)

What kind of filetype? If it is WMV, that in itself could be the problem. That filetype, for me, runs like crap on my Macs. Not as bad as you describe, though.

Run disk utility and see if there are any issues with your drive. Verify disk, and disk permissions. If there are issues, fix them. If not, it's very possible you've downloaded corrupt or just crappy files. Especially if they're comedy series from the 80's... Not sure where you're getting them, but I'd bet that's your problem.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks!

Well these files are all .avi so not sure the format has anything to do with this.

But took your advice, and verified disc permissions, and was a little alarmed to see it suggesting repairs. So, can you tell me more about this? What are disc permissions and why does one need to verify/repair them?

You know what? I am not sure if the same problem happens with the newer movie files. Which makes me think that this has something to do with the old or corrupted files of the serial. Will check up on that.

Thanks!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Have you tried playing the files in VLC?


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Actually I only use VLC ! I don't think I have ever opened iTunes


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

It's a combination of slow computer and not the best file quality.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Oh really?

You know, I've had this query on my mind for some time now, and now that you've brought up the issue of the slow computer, let me ask you about it now.

I have noticed a certain slowdown in speed for the past 8 months or so (the laptop will be 2 yrs old in Dec). Basic operations are taking more time -booting up and loading the desktop, opening chrome and firefox for the first time, especially MS Word. 


Some techies were insistent that there is nothing wrong with the laptop, and its just that I am inadvertently ending up comparing its speed with the newer core i3, i5 machines.

Now I was not very convinced, and left it at that until recently when I faced problems in running the files of the TV serial from yesteryears.

So, do you think this i because the HDD is getting worn out fast?

Should I backup all data using time machine, and try formatting the HDD first?

Moreover, is there some way of knowing when it is time to put in a new HDD?

And when I do end up changing the HDD would it be a better idea to go for another 250 GB HDD or for a faster SSD? 

I ask this because, I was thinking of replacing the HDD after 2.5 to 3 yrs of use, and then putting in a fresh disk so as to give me another 1.5 to 2 yrs of use.

Thanks for your patience!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

I don't care what any "tech" tell you, but hard drive slow down with use and age. If you can, yes, back everything up and reformat the drive. But what I say next sounds painful, but it'll give you the biggest boost. Don't restore from a backup, it'll just copy everything back in the same order it was on the drive, and the reformat won't help you. Install the OS, update the OS. Now install and update the programs you were using, one at a time, (in other words, install an app, update that app, then install the next one). Then lastly copy all your files and documents and media back. This will give you the best use of the drive.
If you want to get a new drive, do the same procedure to install everything. As for getting a larger drive, bigger is nice, but it also means that the heads will do more traveling, so make sure it's faster than the one you have now. SSDs are suppose to be super fast, but I've never used one. They have the potential to not slow down with use.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks Sinclair for this useful tip!

But one clarification about backing up from an ext HDD using Time Machine -
I had assumed that it only backs up data - music, docs etc - and not the applications.

So say if I were to directly restore everything after the format would Time Machine also re-install applications such as MS Office, Chrome, VLC etc?

Second, going by your method I need to update the OS first, install all the apps once and update them, and then only put back all my data files using Time Machine. So, will I have a simple option from within Time Machine wherein I can have it only put my data files back in and not re-install the applications? Because if it tries to reinstall the already installed apps again it could create some kind of conflict, right?

Thanks!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

I believe that Time Machine if still using default settings will backup the whole drive, OS updates, apps, settings/preferences, and documents. But being I've only used it to restore once, and that was years ago, I'm not 100% sure how it is now. I'd go in and do a new Time Machine backup, like you've never done it before. This may require reformatting a backup drive. Once you have a drive to backup to, you'll need to make some changes to Time Machine's settings. For some reason the only thing you can do is select exceptions to the backup (what to leave out of the back up), not what you want to be backed up. So go in and add every folder on the root level of the drive but the user folder. This will keep it from backing up the OS and apps. Once you have the OS reinstalled, updated, and the apps installed and updated, find the Migration Assistant in the app or utilities folder and run it after connecting the backup drive. Poke around and there should be an option to restore a user account, or better yet the files and documents only from a user account. FYI, if you choose to restore a user account, make sure that when you install the OS you done use the same account name as the one you'll restore. It'll cause issues. Once the account is restored, you can delete the account you made during the OS install.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks! This is quite helpful.

But not sure how to exclude the user folder and simultaneously select each file and folder I want backed up.

e.g. The documents folder is within the user folder. So, how will i be able to select folders within root if I exclude the user folder in the first place?

Btw, I get to the user folder by clicking on Macintosh HD (where I see - user guides and information, application, library, system, users, test.txt).

When I click on users, I can see subfolders with the first one in my username, followed by guest, shared, and portdetect.log.

So, are you asking me to exclude my username folder here? And then select files from my documents etc? How do I do the latter?

Thanks for your patience!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Are you in Time Machine's preferences? You don't want to exclude your user folder, you want to exclude all other folders on the hard drive root level. The items you are to the list when you click options are items that it will not backup.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Gotchya. So, basically you are saying that I should only backup the files in the folder with my username!

I can see how that way I would have all my important documents etc backed up, but not the system settings.

And now I see how I will need to reformat my current ext HDD to carry out this exercise. You see, I have not excluded any folders right now.

Thanks a lot!


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

*Re: How to backup only data on ext HDD?*

Hi Sinclair!

I am readying to backup my laptop data in the way you suggested. Since, I will be formatting it soon after, I thought of just making sure that I understood you right. You see, this is research data and I would be in big trouble if I messed up the backup. So, I hope you don't mind my asking you again.

As you can see from the attachment here, I began by excluding all the folders in "Macintosh HD".

The only folders to be included in the backup are the one's associated with my user name ID. 

I have even excluded the other folders within "Users" - i.e. the "Guest", and "Shared folders", and files called "PortDetect.log" and "test.txt".

If I got you right, the idea is to NOT backup any applications etc., other than one's data such as docs/pdfs, music, and movies. I just hope that I don't end up leaving anything that is important out of the backup.

Once, I have everything reinstalled, I will simply let Time Machine take over and hopefully there'll be no hiccups in seeing all the data restored to its original place.

Please let me know if I need to keep an eye our out for something else.

Many thanks!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

It's been a long time since I've messed with Time Machine's exclude options, so I can't be sure if you have this right. But what you can do is run it like this, and then bring up Time Machine and see if it backed up your user folder. There are also programs that let you look in the backups to see what they contain. You could find one and look to make sure it grabbed your user folder.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Thanks! I should be fine. In any case, I think it wouldn't harm to copy paste my doc files on to a flash drive - the old fashioned way!

One thing I would like to clarify. I have excluded the "System Files and Applications" folder. But now I am wondering if I need to back this up too? Shouldn't I at least keep the system related stuff on, so that it is restored as it is now, when I eventually use TM to put stuff back on my computer?

Thanks


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

IMHO, it's best to not restore apps and OSes. You'll be better off in the long run to set up everything fresh. Sure, it's a pain, and takes longer, but things run cleaner in the end.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Hi Sinclair,

So, I reinstalled OS X 10.6.8 in my laptop like the way you suggested. And I can see straightaway that there is a significant hike in overall performance!

It definitely looks making a fresh install and simply copy-pasting your data files makes for the most gains in performance. I am happy I didn't blindly follow Apple's suggestion of backing up and restoring everything through Time Machine 

While it's still early, going by the improvement in the booting up, application start times etc., it would seem that the internal HDD is still in decent shape. So -

1- I had always been told that OS's like Mac, or Linux don't slow down due to file fragmentation - a perennial problem with Windows. But clearly there was something that had slowed down the OS after these 2 years or use. If, Mac OS does not suffer from problems of file fragmentation, then what could have caused the OS to slow down like it did?

2- Even now the laptop won't go to sleep right after I press the button. This has been a problem for nearly a year now. Nothing happens when I press the sleep button (either the Apple menu or the keyboard), and the laptop goes off to sleep only after approx. 10 sec. Mac technicians were earlier unsure as to why this could be happening. Hence also reluctant to open up the laptop. Any guesses why the problem persists despite the reinstall?

3- I have a 4 yr old WDC ext HDD that has a partition for installing its software on Windows platforms. This partition still shows despite the disk being formatted with the Mac FS. 
I tried to create backups with Time Machine, but there was some problem in copying the files. After backing up something like 4 GB of data, it would then keep backing up and the Gigs would keep increasing. This would have gone on indefinitely had I not interrupted the backup. 
However, everything worked fine on my new LaCie drive. 
Any ideas as to what could be wrong with the older ext HDD? And if I should still try and use it for reglar backups?

Many thanks!


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

1. There is still, and always will be, some kind of fragmentation on all OSes, but it is much less on *nix based systems. But there are tons of log files, and preference files, and other files that get written over the course of using the PC, and those will take time to load and be read, which is why a fresh start is faster, those files collected over years are not there anymore. Also, keep things off of the desktop for faster loading.
2.When going into sleep, it's got to place things on the hard drive and into RAM. It could be what programs you have open or things running in teh background that cause the slow down. Try doing it with no programs opened after a fresh reboot, and then try sleeping after opening each program, or after having multiple programs open. The more you have open, the longer it'll take to sleep.
3.With the drive connected, open Time Machine's preferences and exclude the drive's partitions from the backup. It may be trying to backup the backup as it's backing up. That extra partition for Windows software installing is what is messing it up. If you'll never use the feature, try to destroy it and add it to the rest of the drive.


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## AM_SOS (Jul 8, 2010)

Okay, so I checked and realised that the separate partition has software for both Windows and Mac.

I tried deleting it with Disk Utility, but haven't had any success. Can you suggest some other way to delete it?

I also accidentally installed the software, and so on the other hand I am wondering if I should just use the ext HDD software to backup all my data? 

Though the ext HDD is a 3 yr old WDC, and for some reason I don't feel comfortable doing this.

Thanks


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

You might be able to force it gone with some terminal working, but I wouldn't know the commands or the process.
As for backups, if you aren't comfortable with it, don't, unless you have no other backup process.


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