Optimising WIN2K for videocapture

[egov]

Since I will be moving my videoediting platform to Windows 2000: is there any way to optimise it for best videocapture?

[Dr Mordrid]

Win2K is pretty well behaved compared to Win9x, especially as concerns swapfile/disk cache use and memory conservation.

The main things I'd advise would be to install Service Pack 2, DirectX8a and the Video Capture Update for DirectX8. DX8 and the Video Capture Update are on Microsofts DirectX download page.

Cacheman 5 is also useful for a couple of things it enables. One is the unloading of unused *.dll's. There are Wizards to take you through the options.

One other possible concern is the age & BIOS update status of your mainboard. If it's more than a few months old or has not had a BIOS update in that time you might want to;

1. check for a BIOS update newer than what's in your system. Prepare to install it if you have problems with Win2K as many of the recent ones from major makers have Win2K compatability patches.

2. set the system up without ACPI support. Win2K uses ACPI heavily to map IRQ's and other low level stuff. Older boards and hardware addons may not respond well to this and you'll have some conflicts when Win2K maps a bunch of devices through IRQ9.

To install Win2K this way you first turn off power management in the system BIOS.

Once you start the Win2K installer you'll see a blue screen with the prompt "Press F6 to configure SCSI devices...". Press F5 instead and select "Standard PC" from the menu. Exit the menu and continue installing as normal.

Win2K will now run in Standard PC mode and map IRQ's normally.

Dr. Mordrid

[egov]

Thanks!

[Fred H]

What file system should I format my other 50% of my system hdd, if I want dual boot?
Actually Win98SE is my only OS on the C:\ witch is a logical drive, 50% of a 15.3 GB (see the signature) physical hdd.
The free logical drive is partitioned FAT32, to F:\ (little odd) which is the second logical drive of the same physical one.

Sure an NTFS is better, but it is not seen by another FAT32 drive, which my other drives are. But an NTFS drive recognizes the other hdds, like my video drives?

How can I (if I want to do so) uninstall W2K and repartition the NTFS to FAT32, without destroying the W98 drive?

Sorry for the questions. I am less then a beginner in W2k.

Fred H

[Dr Mordrid]

Ok, you have the primary/master drive partitioned half and half with both being formatted FAT32? Is that correct?

If so the Win2K installer will prompt you for the drive (or partition) you want Win2K installed to and format you want it to be in. The Win2K installer will also automatically set up the boot menu for you. At bootup you just select what version of Windows you want to use at that moment.

If you do not already have the pri/master drive partitioned in half then this should be done first. Programs like Partition Magic can re-partiton a boot drive without destroying the Windows installation, but you need to read the manual

As far as "seeing" NTFS drives from Win9x/ME goes that requires a bit of a hack. Winternals makes an NTFS for Win9x filesystem that lets you do that, but with limitations. You cannot access >4 gig files with it. You install the driver then copy some files over from Win2k to get it working, and it works quite well. I have it in all my multiboot systems. It's totally transparant and works like any other disk driver.

Dr. Mordrid

[Fred H]

Thanks, Doc for the quick answer.
Apreciate it, it's just early morning over there

As far as "seeing" NTFS drives from Win9x/ME goes that requires a bit of a hack.

I am most intrested to know if the NTFS drive, where W2K starts, sees the Fat32-VIDEO drives? At this moment W98 is off.
And what is the biggest point with W2K in video capturing/editing?
A W2K book, I've read, says "dont't install W2K in NTFS, do it in FAT32".
What am I missing in W2K/Fat32 vs. W2K/NTFS, keeping in mind only VIDEO.
I don't realize, yet, the big pros vs. install problems.
As I said, I hav zero experience with W2K, but some early NT 3.5.

Ahhh, what? I'll just try... What could go wrong? Not the HW. The rest is only a question of backup and try again

Fred H

[Petr]

Block size NTFS

What a would have to be block size NTFS for maximum capture speed and reliability?
Thanks a lot.