40G mod but battery/drive problem

jhanna1701

2009-12-11, 15:09 #1

Member since Feb 2008 · 2 posts
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

Subject: 40G mod but battery/drive problem

So I finally got around to installing the 40G drive/battery that I bought a year ago or more from Karma Limbo. Cracked the case a little, but that's ok...

It seems to me like the HD is constantly spinning (which I don't think that it always did with the orig. 20G drive), and thus seems to be sucking the battery dry pretty quickly.

So, I guess my question is, should the HD be spinning like that? Would moving do a CF card improve battery performance?

Thanks,

Jamie

M0tah 2009-12-11, 17:27 #2

Member since Dec 2007 · 85 posts
Group memberships: Members

Show profile ·

Link to this post

The Karma has flash memory that it uses as a cache - it normally only spins up the hard drive to fill up the cache and then turns it off to conserve battery life. The hard drive should only spin up when starting up, when refilling the cache (which takes a few seconds), and when doing other misc operations like reading/saving playlists and bookmarks. Most of the time the hard drive shouldn't be spinning; the exact ratio depends on the bitrate of the music that's playing. I'm not sure what would cause the hard drive to constantly spin, but I suppose you could try to fix it by reflashing the firmware (if you haven't already).

Moving to a CF card would improve battery life. I don't know the exact numbers, but you can probably read the flash memory thread and get a good idea.