Re: st: RE: Slowing Stata down

[Laura Gibbons <gibbonsl@u.washington.edu>]

Sarah,

I only have one Stata instance running, and I only have this problem in 
Stata.

When I had this problem last year, Stata support said "I suspect the 
problem is that Stata is executing the do-file faster than your machine 
can write to disk."  Because this was a program I wrote, I could just 
add in a few msec of sleep to slow it down.

In -mi reshape-, Stata writes one file per imputation to disc.  They are 
there when the command dies.  So I'm pretty sure that's the problem.

Like you, I'm hesitant to mess with the Stata source code.  So far my 
workaround is to run this step on a different computer.

thanks,

Laura

On Wed, 22 Feb 2012, Sarah Edgington wrote:

> Laura,
> Are you running multiple instances of Stata simultaneously?  Or maybe doing
> something else to access the file outside of the current instance of Stata?
> This really shouldn't be happening unless multiple processes are trying to
> access the file at once.  Do you have problems with file access in other
> software?  Are you on a shared system where someone else could be accessing
> the file?  This is very strange behavior and could be an indication of
> either a problem with your hardware or your OS.  My recommendation would be
> to figure out what the underlying problem is and fix it, rather than trying
> to work around it in Stata.
>
> I suppose, in theory, you might be able to add a -sleep- command by creating
> your own versions of the mi.ado and mi_cmd_reshape.ado files.  That doesn't
> strike me as a particularly good idea, though.  Plus, I quickly glanced over
> the mi_cmd_reshape.ado file and didn't see any evidence of it calling for
> accessing any files on disk. Have you used -set trace on- to figure out
> exactly where the error is being generated?  If you decide to try to work
> around the problem within Stata the first step is definitely going to be
> figuring out exactly where the problem is happening.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> -Sarah
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> [mailto:owner-statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Laura Gibbons
> Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 11:57 AM
> To: statalist@hsphsun2.harvard.edu
> Subject: st: Slowing Stata down
>
> My Dell PC computer has timing issues such that when Stata's accessing a
> file on disc, Stata can occasionally go too fast, at least compared to my
> computer, generating error messages about files being "read only".  In my
> own code, if I have the program "sleep" for a few msec before accessing a
> file, I can get around this.
>
> But is there anything I can do to slow down internal Stata code?  I'm trying
> to MI reshape a data set, and I get error messages during the "assembling
> results" stage about files being "read only" which I know are indications of
> the same problem.  [My computer at home, while generally running faster,
> does not have this problem, either in my other code or within MI reshape.]
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Laura
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Laura E. Gibbons, PhD
> General Internal Medicine, University of Washington Box 359780, Harborview
> Medical Center, 325 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
> phone: 206-744-1842, fax: 206-744-9917,
> Office address: 401 Broadway, Suite 5122.7
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> *
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>
> *
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Laura E. Gibbons, PhD
General Internal Medicine, University of Washington
Box 359780, Harborview Medical Center, 325 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104
phone: 206-744-1842, fax: 206-744-9917,
Office address: 401 Broadway, Suite 5122.7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/help.cgi?search
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/