Microdrive Battery Usage Tests Conducted

aximx3dude · 12-20-04, 04:58 AM

Hi all,

I'm doing some battery tests with the microdrive 4gb vs a Lexar Sandisk 1gb SD card (regular speed card).

Please read my notes at the very bottom before jumping to conclusions...

Axim x50v
Betaplayer with intel 2700 plugin (0.095)
- All other settings default
- Brightness at 1 notch
- Sound at 1 notch
- Using Bud style earphones
- Processor on Auto

Movie: dogma
Duration: 2hr 8min (on repeat mode)
Video Stream: Xvid
Resolution: 640 x 304
Video Avg Bitrate: 404 KB/s
Audio Avg Bitrate: 129 Kbits/s

Microdrive 4 GB Retail (Betaplayer Microdrive mode OFF):
1 Hr 44 Min

(UPDATE) Microdrive 4 GB Retail
(Betaplayer Microdrive mode ON (default settings): 16000KB md buffer and "microdrive starts at" 10%):
2 Hr 12 Min:

Lexar 1GB SD Card (regular version - benched around a 32X read/12X write card):
2 Hr 39 Min

NOTES:

Before you freakout and return your Microdrive there are a couple things to note:

1) I suck at doing benchmarking

2) I had the processor mode set to AUTO. Through repeated tests, the microdrive seems to want to bump up the processor mhz more than the SD card. I can't explain this because this happens even when i use a buffer mode that causes only a read from the microdrive every 3-5 minutes. What does this mean? The tests that I ran above used the "Auto" CPU mode and usually the microdrive fluctuates from using Normal-Max cpu mode whereas the SD card usually stays around the Powersave mode. THat would itself account for the increased battery performance of the SD card. Which leads me to believe that if I ran the tests with the processor on the powersave mode, I would get more similar results between the two cards.
3) I'd like to run some tests using the following modes:

- powersave forced (seems more accurate since under powersave mode one can still get 100% frames on betaplayer, and the CF microdrive would be using the same cpu power as the SD card)

ryno4youth · 12-20-04, 05:45 AM

You did a great job. Thanks for the information. Merry Christmas!

trchang · 12-20-04, 05:50 AM

Hello?

I have bought a hitachi 2GB microdrive at $109(with $20 rebate) @ Frys.
At first, I tried to transfer a big file through active sync, but it was failed. So I re-tried to transfer the same file through 11b(wi-fi), and it was succeeded, but it took too much time. I think that the throughput of 11b must be 11Mbps at maximum speed, so my MD has a very poor write speed maybe.
I'm disappointed about the performance of MD

.

By the way, if I turn on the buffering for MD, can I watch the high resolution video file without problem? :rolling:
How can I turn it on?
Please let me know about that.

PS. Should I return my MD?

NiwRoC · 12-20-04, 05:50 AM

Thanks for the review. Will help me on my next purchase.

Happy Holidays.

e-heli · 12-21-04, 12:30 AM

Thanks for your benchmark results. I do have one request. If you decide to run more benchmarks, it would be interesting to see the same test run with Microdrive mode turned on. That would be a more interesting test in my opinion. Plus, if you have a microdrive, you probably are going to run Betaplayer in microdrive mode to conserve power.

aximx3dude · 12-21-04, 12:37 AM

I am planning to do a microdrive mode test, but whether or not that would be more "interesting test" is up for grabs. The reason I first tested with microdrive mode off was to get a feel for "real world" performance of the microdrive. Many applications are not optimized for the microdrive - for instance if you store you avantgo data on the microdrive, you may be signifcantly less runtime. Other applications such as mp3 music, programs, etc will be affected. In additon, I play movies from my SD and CF cards - and the lazy bastard I am, I just don't want to go in and change the microdrive mode on/off (etc.). Stay tooned for more test :hide:

Originally Posted by e-heli

Thanks for your benchmark results. I do have one request. If you decide to run more benchmarks, it would be interesting to see the same test run with Microdrive mode turned on. That would be a more interesting test in my opinion. Plus, if you have a microdrive, you probably are going to run Betaplayer in microdrive mode to conserve power.

dwoloz · 12-21-04, 02:27 AM

was waiting for someone to do this bench, thanks

i knew the microdrive sucked down battery but damn, that sucks
oh well, i plan on only using my 5gb microdrive when traveling and having my axim coupled with a AA rechargable battery extender

aximx3dude · 12-21-04, 03:16 AM

Microdrive 4 GB Retail (Betaplayer Microdrive mode OFF):
1 Hr 44 Min

(UPDATE) Microdrive 4 GB Retail
(Betaplayer Microdrive mode ON (default settings): 16000KB md buffer and "microdrive starts at" 10%):
2 Hr 12 Min:

Lexar 1GB SD Card (regular version - benched around a 32X read/12X write card):
2 Hr 39 Min

My lasts tests will be using the "powersave" mode with microdrive and the SD card. I guestimate a runtime anywhere from 3.5-5hours.

# I edited original message with results

e-heli · 12-21-04, 12:13 PM

Originally Posted by aximx3dude

In additon, I play movies from my SD and CF cards - and the lazy bastard I am, I just don't want to go in and change the microdrive mode on/off (etc.).

Thanks a bunch for your second round of tests! I just leave Microdrive mode on. I don't really see any downside to buffering into memory even when you're reading from an SD.

CornyAxim · 12-21-04, 02:32 PM

I will be buying a Microdrive in the next few months to hold tons of music. Can someone do some microdrive battery tests on mp3 playback on both betaplayer and pocket music? Also tests using the "power save" option would be interesting to see versus the "auto" I doubt music would skip at those settings? Or would it?

It would be greatly appreciated since I don't want to buy an iPod to listen to mp3s.

Thankyou in advance

Originally Posted by aximx3dude

Microdrive 4 GB Retail (Betaplayer Microdrive mode OFF):
1 Hr 44 Min

(UPDATE) Microdrive 4 GB Retail
(Betaplayer Microdrive mode ON (default settings): 16000KB md buffer and "microdrive starts at" 10%):
2 Hr 12 Min:

Lexar 1GB SD Card (regular version - benched around a 32X read/12X write card):
2 Hr 39 Min

My lasts tests will be using the "powersave" mode with microdrive and the SD card. I guestimate a runtime anywhere from 3.5-5hours.

# I edited original message with results

FrankSpencer · 12-21-04, 03:06 PM

Re you last comment - this may not be true... MicroDrives use fairly constant power during read and write, however SD and CF cards only use max power when erasing data (see the Wikepedia listing for flash memory and how it works).

- Sorry, missed the rest of the posts, they didn't show first time round! Managed about 2.5hrs playback using Pocket Player 3 with back light off on auto today. Tomorrow will try on powersave (mp3's play fine in this mode) using BetaPlayer 0.4 and the screen off while playing. I am using a 5gb Seagate drive BTW.

FrankSpencer · 12-21-04, 07:21 PM

Just finshed testing with BetaPlayer - turning the screen off and on Powersave mode got 3.5 hours of MP3 playback with 40% battery left...

Howard2k · 12-21-04, 07:26 PM

Nice tests. Thanks.

longle · 12-21-04, 07:29 PM

Do you have any tweaks/hacks installed? I'm also using the Seagate 5gb drive but cannot seem to get as good of playback time. about 20% left after a 3 hour drive with screen off (using PHM PPC PowerToys, not the built-in screen off function of Betaplayer). Others have mentioned that there are tweaks or hacks that appear to be a power drain.

Originally Posted by FrankSpencer

Just finshed testing with BetaPlayer - turning the screen off and on Powersave mode got 3.5 hours of MP3 playback with 40% battery left...

Howard2k · 12-21-04, 07:30 PM

Originally Posted by FrankSpencer

Just finshed testing with BetaPlayer - turning the screen off and on Powersave mode got 3.5 hours of MP3 playback with 40% battery left...

That's impressive. Does it cache the playlist? Like does the drive spin up at the start of each song?? Or does it cache multiple songs?