Work
21 Aug 2010 1:07:07 UTC
Topic 195273
(moderation:
Hey everyone! I'm new to the Einstein@Home thing ( I've only been at it for a few days) and I've got a strange question that I don't think anyone else has asked, or if they have I can't find it.
Anyway the question is this: Each little packet of information we're downloading to our computers, processing and then returning would have to have its own program dowloaded with it so that the computer could process it properly right? If thats the case, then how much of these very small pieces of data are actual field data? I mean when I look at the disk space usage tab, in Bionic, it tells me that its only using a little more then 200 MB... even very basic programs take up more space.
Thanks in advance for you help and your time!
Work
)
Welcome to E@H Amanda! :-)
You're right, the E@H project downloaded files ( as distinct from the BOINC system that manages it ) contain the data and the program(s) to process it. The program files are typically 10 - 20 MB, data files up to about 5MB. However a given program ( version ) will process very many data files. The data files are of various types, some useful to all workunits, some very specific, and some used for administrative purposes.
A BOINC feature called 'locality scheduling' is used by E@H, which essentially means that we try to minimise unnecessary downloads. So when you've finished one workunit, it is highly likely that you ( well, your BOINC installation ) will be asked to then do more work using data you already have - as a given data set can be examined in various ways. E@H is sensitive to the issue that download capability ( speed & quota ) varies widely worldwide and we want to include as many users as possible! :-)
If you want to see the files themselves they'll be in a directory something like this ( as on my Windows machine ) :
D:\ProgramData\BOINC\projects\einstein.phys.uwm.edu
You don't need to manage this area ( it's best left alone ), as BOINC will - based upon instructions from the project.
Cheers, Mike.
I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter ...
... and my other CPU is a Ryzen 5950X :-) Blaise Pascal