NASLite Network Attached Storage

Last week I converted over an XP box to NasLite 2 to store video from a PVR server as well as personal data, pics, etc. Since doing this the video that is being stored is quite often choppy / missing frames when viewed on a client PC. Overall the response time is much improved vs the XP setup but the dropped frames are driving my family nuts. After reading some posts here, especially this one, it's seems there are issues with SageTV and/or NasLite. Here's the thing though - I ran the XP setup for quite a while with ZERO issues, recording multiple streams, no dropped frames, no corrupt files. Here's the basics of my setup:

DFI NF2 mobo, AthlonXP 2500+ CPU
1 GB RAM
Gigabit LAN (Intel Pro)
Adaptec 2410SA Raid
3 drives RAID5 for personal files, 1 drive as a video volume

What I've tried so far:
- disabled S.M.A.R.T.
- moved the raid card to a slot with no shared IRQ's
- disabled write caching on the adaptec

Things I've noticed:
- System drive useage and memory are always at or near 100%

IMHO a setup like this should be able to handle multiple streams reading and writing without breaking a sweat. Any ideas?

Hi jeff. I feel for ya. I went through the exact same thing as you a few
weeks back, as you already know. I did end up finding a hardware issue
with my machine, but it was the most elusive computer issue i've ever
dealt with, and i've dealt with a few in my time.

To be honest, i've seen other people on the SageTV forums report the
same corrupt mpeg problems with NASLite-2 when using it as sage
recording space. Imports seem to work ok.

As for your question about almost 100% mem usage, AFAIK, that is
normal behaviour for this kernel, as the memory is only freed when
necessary.

My advice to you, salvage any mpeg's that aren't yet destroyed, and go
back to XP for now. If you have a spare machine, maybe throw NASLite-2
on that and try it in a less mission-critical TV role, like imports.

good luck.

I use NASLite+ and SageTV and have not had this specific problem. What I do notice is that even though I have SMART disabled in NASLite+ the drives still go through all of the SMART testing when the system is rebooted and any shows SageTV is recording during this time have dropped frames. I validated this by doing the following:

- Make triple sure SMART is disabled in NASLIte+
- Reboot NASLite+
- As soon as NASLite+ comes back on line start recording something to it (DVD quality)
- Wait an hour (for SMART to finish?)
- Playback recorded file, and it has dropped frames
- No other MPEGs have dropped frames.

I may be wrong about the SMART tests running even though disabled in NASLite+, but nevertheless any SageTV recordings made just after the NASLite+ box is rebooted have dropped frames. All recordings made after the NASLite+ box is up and runnign for a while are just fine. Something is going on after NASLite+ reboots that SageTV does not like.

BTW - 100% memory usage in NASLite+ is normal, the system grabs all the available memory for buffers. And the 100% drive usage would also be normal if you are like me and have have 60 Fvorites and have Intelligent Recording enabled.

So yeah, the boot time SMART check is always enabled.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Last night I turned off showanalyser which was running on the same box as SageTV. I recorded at least 3 streams simultaneously. I did get the occasional stutter but when I rewind back 10 seconds and replay the segment it seemed OK. Previously I was running showanalyser on the XP box that was acting as the file server (now the NAS box). With regard to S.M.A.R.T. I have disabled it in the bios for the system drive. Tonight I'll recheck the raid card and NAS settings to make sure it is off. The box was running all day before I started recording so any secret S.M.A.R.T. processing at bootup would have been finished.