• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Seems like Xbox is also switched to the updating a la PS4

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Well, I updated Gears 5, for some reason I have it installed. And for some reason I picked up high activity od the HDD, which I have plugged in. And well update was just 500MB or something, older patches was like 5GB and then long wait on "Finishing things up", which took 10x more time than download, since I have 1Gbit connection. First time I ever saw this, so I guess it's new.

It's shit. Discuss.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
But it's not there and I don't mind downloading 10GB of data, because it's still faster than this shit.
It's not the size of the patch that really matters. These updates are basically the same as a install + a full Defrag at the same time.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
It's not the size of the patch that really matters. These updates are basically the same as a install + a full Defrag at the same time.
I don't thing filesystem on consoles needs defragmentation, it's just patching file instead of re-downloading the whole patched file.
 
Why has this become a thing at the end of the gen, or is it something I just didn't notice as much in the beginning? It sucks. Next-Gen can't get here soon enough
 

phil_t98

#SonyToo
It's not the size of the patch that really matters. These updates are basically the same as a install + a full Defrag at the same time.
would it be moving game data about to fit the game patch onto the same portion of the disc where gears 5 is located?
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
The only time I get annoying updates is if I opt in through Xbox Insider. Not sure what the op is actually referring to.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
The only time I get annoying updates is if I opt in through Xbox Insider. Not sure what the op is actually referring to.
That before you downloaded whole file(s) of patched files, so downloads was bigger (way bigger), but now it's just patchfile, which requires a lot of movement of data, unpacking etc on the local console, so update is not done when you downloaded it, but you need to wait considerable time till it's finished. Akin to "copying" state of PS4 updates.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
I don't thing filesystem on consoles needs defragmentation, it's just patching file instead of re-downloading the whole patched file.
would it be moving game data about to fit the game patch onto the same portion of the disc where gears 5 is located?
From the road to ps5 thing we learned that on ps4 all files related to a section of the game need to be clustered together in the hdd for easier reads, as you patch some files, others need to be moved to other sectors because of the file size differences, and if you need to patch a file that has 200 dupes, you need to patch all 200 of them.
I assume Xbox works in the same way.
 
Last edited:

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
From the road to ps5 thing we learned that on ps4 all files related to a section of the game need to be clustered together in the hdd for easier reads, as you patch some files, others need to be moved to other sectors because of the file size differences, and if you need to patch a file that has 200 dupes, you need to patch all 200 of them.
I assume Xbox works in the same way.
If those games would be in large packs, this would not happened, because it seems like they had to change a lot for this to happened and I wonder why...
 

Ar¢tos

Member
If those games would be in large packs, this would not happened, because it seems like they had to change a lot for this to happened and I wonder why...
It's up to the devs. They can decide what type of update a specific update is. If it can just be copied anywhere or if it requires full rewrites and moving data around in the hdd. It's annoying for us, but these type of updates improve/maintain the game performance. Blame the cursed hdd tech that we had to cope with for 30+ years.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Why has this become a thing at the end of the gen, or is it something I just didn't notice as much in the beginning? It sucks. Next-Gen can't get here soon enough
No it was not there. Definitely PS4 was like a midgen update to the updating system a this is now happening and it's terribly slow ass process.
 

JOEVIAL

Has a voluptuous plastic labia
Not sure what you're talking about OP. The new XBOX UI and updating system is stellar. Like seriously golden for me.

All updates que in an update list and I select which ones I want to update. I just did a few yesterday and didn't have to wait for an install. It just downloaded the update, got to 100%, and was done. I'm on XBOX One X... not sure if that makes a difference though.

But yeah, I'm still annoyed that the PS4 has basically two update/install processes to go through.
 
Last edited:

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Not sure what you're talking about OP. The new XBOX UI and updating system is stellar. Like seriously golden for me.

All updates que in an update list and I select which ones I want to update. I just did a few yesterday and didn't have to wait for an install. It just downloaded the update, got to 100%, and was done. I'm on XBOX One X... not sure if that makes a difference though.
I am saying that's it not the case with Gears 5 at least. I just waited like an hour after download for it to be applied.

It's up to the devs. They can decide what type of update a specific update is. If it can just be copied anywhere or if it requires full rewrites and moving data around in the hdd. It's annoying for us, but these type of updates improve/maintain the game performance. Blame the cursed hdd tech that we had to cope with for 30+ years.
If anything this probably makes more mess on HDD, than it would, when you update whole big pack of files how it should be (on the HDD)...
 
S

Steve.1981

Unconfirmed Member
Haven't noticed this myself. I also have Gears 5 installed on an external drive. It & Metro Exodus updated this afternoon. About 500 mb each. Took 5 minutes at most. My broadband is meant to be 30mbps on average, so it's nothing special. Seems the same as ever to me.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Haven't noticed this myself. I also have Gears 5 installed on an external drive. It & Metro Exodus updated this afternoon. About 500 mb each. Took 5 minutes at most. My broadband is meant to be 30mbps on average, so it's nothing special. Seems the same as ever to me.
Well I know that definitely Gears 5 makes my external HDD active for like 30 minutes. And it seeked constantly, it was audible. Which I haven't seen/heard before ever.
 

ThatGamingDude

I am a virgin
Well, I updated Gears 5, for some reason I have it installed. And for some reason I picked up high activity od the HDD, which I have plugged in. And well update was just 500MB or something, older patches was like 5GB and then long wait on "Finishing things up", which took 10x more time than download, since I have 1Gbit connection. First time I ever saw this, so I guess it's new.

It's shit. Discuss.
Hold up; are you talking an external hard drive??
If you are talking an external hard drive, I would troubleshoot that as well. Your external could be going bad. I'd try doing the same install+Update on the internal storage versus the external to see if it makes a difference.

Also, just because it's 500MB, doesn't mean it doesn't have 1 million files in it; file writes do take more time if you have a lot of little files versus a bigger file

I don't thing filesystem on consoles needs defragmentation, it's just patching file instead of re-downloading the whole patched file.
White-Monkey-Meme.jpg

Yeah, you still need to defrag consoles...they slip it in during inactivity. Both Windows and Apple do the same thing these days.


EDIT:
Well I know that definitely Gears 5 makes my external HDD active for like 30 minutes. And it seeked constantly, it was audible. Which I haven't seen/heard before ever.
You can HEAR clicking from the drive??
Yeah your drive is probably dying dude; you shouldn't be able to hear the arm click

You might be able to connect it up to a windows machine to atleast run smart tests on it; I'd figure they'd encryypt the contents of the drive in some fashion so you can't do full on read/write tests on it
 
Last edited:
S

Steve.1981

Unconfirmed Member
Well I know that definitely Gears 5 makes my external HDD active for like 30 minutes. And it seeked constantly, it was audible. Which I haven't seen/heard before ever.

That's weird. Maybe the drive is in trouble. Is it quite old?

I'm kind of dreading when mine dies. Got almost 100 games on it :messenger_grimmacing_
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Hold up; are you talking an external hard drive??
If you are talking an external hard drive, I would troubleshoot that as well. Your external could be going bad. I'd try doing the same install+Update on the internal storage versus the external to see if it makes a difference.

Also, just because it's 500MB, doesn't mean it doesn't have 1 million files in it; file writes do take more time if you have a lot of little files versus a bigger file


White-Monkey-Meme.jpg

Yeah, you still need to defrag consoles...they slip it in during inactivity. Both Windows and Apple do the same thing these days.
External disc is fine, I've try couple thing and it's normal, this is just some Gears 5 shit probably, because I have never seen "Finishing things up..." in the download queue...

Anyway I definitely did not hear about HDD fragmentation in years with NTFS and besides on consoles there are even less files to be written on HDD, so I don't think this is much of an issue. And I have never heard external drive to spin and defragmented 4TB of data before. It would be audible on my side.

That's weird. Maybe the drive is in trouble. Is it quite old?

I'm kind of dreading when mine dies. Got almost 100 games on it :messenger_grimmacing_
Nah it's okay, it updated everything fine. Yesterday I've downloadd few games and went absolutely standard, this is some Gears 5 stuff.
 

ThatGamingDude

I am a virgin
External disc is fine, I've try couple thing and it's normal, this is just some Gears 5 shit probably, because I have never seen "Finishing things up..." in the download queue...

Anyway I definitely did not hear about HDD fragmentation in years with NTFS and besides on consoles there are even less files to be written on HDD, so I don't think this is much of an issue. And I have never heard external drive to spin and defragmented 4TB of data before. It would be audible on my side.
I hate to be THAT guy
But "Trying a few things," and actually getting metrics are two different things. If it's intermittent and such, it could be that the drive is only starting to fail, which may not show in just "Trying a few things."

Oh yeah, HDDs still write in the same way, and NTFS is still a file system
Consoles have tons of files for their operating systems and such; ever modded a console? They're not as simple (Ha, I'm honestly laughing at calling old consoles simple) they used to be.

And that's what I'm saying; your drives SHOULDN'T be making audible clicking noises in the way you're describing.
In a huge storage array? Sure, you will, in fact it's one of the factors you have to take into account for when building storage arrays with HDDs instead of SSDs
But if this thing is in on your desk, in your living room, etc, you should NEVER hear it click loudly like you're saying
Either that or you bought a REALLY shitty hard drive with REALLY poor quality parts

Not even a reputable site I would go to, just some random link
But unfortunately, there are cases when that hard drive clicking is a sign of a serious hard drive issue and an imminent crash.

EDIT: I mainly use platter drives and can't hear them over the sound of silence, so if you're hearing clicking, I'd check the drive. Typically means you're failing a bunch of read/writes and it's having to constantly redo whatever operation
 
Last edited:

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
I hate to be THAT guy
But "Trying a few things," and actually getting metrics are two different things. If it's intermittent and such, it could be that the drive is only starting to fail, which may not show in just "Trying a few things."

Oh yeah, HDDs still write in the same way, and NTFS is still a file system
Consoles have tons of files for their operating systems and such; ever modded a console? They're not as simple (Ha, I'm honestly laughing at calling old consoles simple) they used to be.

And that's what I'm saying; your drives SHOULDN'T be making audible clicking noises in the way you're describing.
In a huge storage array? Sure, you will, in fact it's one of the factors you have to take into account for when building storage arrays with HDDs instead of SSDs
But if this thing is in on your desk, in your living room, etc, you should NEVER hear it click loudly like you're saying
Either that or you bought a REALLY shitty hard drive with REALLY poor quality parts

Not even a reputable site I would go to, just some random link

It not clicking noise, but basically that deep humm which drive always have been doing. It's WD 4TB, always served me well so far. Seeking of that drive is still audible. For my country, they are not really available those shady sites and well Aliexpress obviously works, but I am not an idiot. I have Xbox currently on my desk basically, because lot of work and in the evening someone else want to watch TV and sometimes I don't want to and want to play. So obviously, I should have specified my situation.

NTFS is still a file system, which is less prone to fragmentation as FAT 32 was. And I am just saying that on console there is way less background services and that kind of stuff which makes stress on HDD way more. It's not "simple" obviously, but simpler...
 

Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
That before you downloaded whole file(s) of patched files, so downloads was bigger (way bigger), but now it's just patchfile, which requires a lot of movement of data, unpacking etc on the local console, so update is not done when you downloaded it, but you need to wait considerable time till it's finished. Akin to "copying" state of PS4 updates.
Ah okay, I get what you are saying.
 

ThatGamingDude

I am a virgin
It not clicking noise, but basically that deep humm which drive always have been doing. It's WD 4TB, always served me well so far. Seeking of that drive is still audible. For my country, they are not really available those shady sites and well Aliexpress obviously works, but I am not an idiot. I have Xbox currently on my desk basically, because lot of work and in the evening someone else want to watch TV and sometimes I don't want to and want to play. So obviously, I should have specified my situation.

NTFS is still a file system, which is less prone to fragmentation as FAT 32 was. And I am just saying that on console there is way less background services and that kind of stuff which makes stress on HDD way more. It's not "simple" obviously, but simpler...
Well if it's just the standard hum call it that!

You're gonna have nerds like me coming out of the wood work to try to make sure you don't have to download a shit ton of data again hahahaha

If anything it was just a bunch of small file writes in that case; if not and it continues to pop up, I'd try a smart test on it

Man you had me freaking like "THIS DUDE IS TOTALLY RISKING HIS DRIVE!!!"
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Well if it's just the standard hum call it that!

You're gonna have nerds like me coming out of the wood work to try to make sure you don't have to download a shit ton of data again hahahaha

If anything it was just a bunch of small file writes in that case; if not and it continues to pop up, I'd try a smart test on it

Man you had me freaking like "THIS DUDE IS TOTALLY RISKING HIS DRIVE!!!"
Since this is nerd forum, I expected that people would get what I am saying, that if it would be clicking noise I would know what to do honestly : D
 
Top Bottom