PRO TOOLS -9073 error (what the heck?)

[avrinder]

"DAE can't get audio from the drive(s) fast enough. Your drive may be too slow, or fragmented, or a firewire drive could be having trouble due to the extra firewire bandwidth or cpu load. (-9073)" msg I get...


Deja vu, I posted few weeks back regarding my Pro Tools error (-6101) from playback/recording with 5-8 tracks (no plug-ins)

Now when I'm recording between 5-8 tracks, I get the -9073 error after 30-40 seconds. Arming the tracks, and recording blank audio it's fine. But as soon as the drummer starts jamming, it stops after 30-40 seconds (giving me false hope)

The levels aren't hot, if that even was an issue. My specs I'll list again...

I've tried repairing permissions, and trashing the preferences too..

I've had 2 failed recording sessions after setting up all the mics/stands. I'm trying again on Monday. It's very embarrassing for me, and frustrating. Any help? thanks a ton guys.

-Macbook (Black) Last generation
-4 gb ram
-Leopard OSx 10.5.8
-M-powered Pro Tools 8
-Profire 2626
-Latest M-Audio Driver
-Recording to Lacie 301313EK Firewire (daisy-chained to Profire...no other choice, my laptop only has one firewire port...also made it MAC OS EXTENDED)
-7 Tracks Simultaneously
-No Plug ins
-Buffer Size - tried all, to no avail)
-Firewire networking disabled
-Airport turned off
-Bluetooth turned off

 

[joeymusicguy]

put the hard drive first in the firewire chain

if the firewire drive doesnt have firewire out, you're fucked.

 

[joeymusicguy]

also, your hard drive must be journaled to be supported.

also i believe there is a "default recording length" that is set to an hour in preferences. you're never going to record a take that's an hour long, so you can change this setting to increase resources, i believe.

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Lacie drives can get pretty shitty....but Id try what Joey says first. If that doesnt work you may need to invest in a Glyph. When i used to have a home studio the same thing happened to me with my Lacie drive. I then bought a Glyph and BAM! Everything worked again, but the lacie only didnt work because it just died out, for the first year it was working fine.

 

[avrinder]

huh, I'll def try that. thanks man! Those are some steps I never thought about.

So just to be clear, I should plug my firewire hd to my only fw port on my computer...then chain that to my Profire. Would this have more of a solid connection to record?

 

[SkybluestudiosBEN]

Try it and find out! lol

 

[joeymusicguy]

huh, I'll def try that. thanks man! Those are some steps I never thought about.

So just to be clear, I should plug my firewire hd to my only fw port on my computer...then chain that to my Profire. Would this have more of a solid connection to record?

yes

this makes it faster for the computer to read/write to your hard drive

don't ask me how, but its what digidesign says

 

[avrinder]

great, I'll try that tomorrow. thanks a ton!

 

[avrinder]

I'm a bit confused, this Sound on Sound article mentioned that the external HD should NOT be journaled.



http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/protoolsbad.htm
"One reason, on Apple computers, is Mac OS 10.3's journalled file system, which will automatically 'log' any file modifications. If your computer crashes badly enough to require a restart (or you suffer a power failure), the OS can then use this journal to help fix any drive problems caused by the crash. However, because any writing to a drive will also require a journal update, this slows down disk performance and can throw up 'disk too slow' errors. Mac OS 10.3 ships with journalling on by default. Digidesign recommend that you format their media drives with journalling turned off. If you are using Apple's Disk Utility program to format drives, choose 'Mac OS Extended' format, instead of 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'. It is fine to leave journalling active on your startup disk, and this should be the default setting. "

I was under the assumption that the hd should be set ON journaling.

I'm trying to record tonight (round 3) - hopefully no more 9073 errors.

 

[avrinder]

ps - will Firewire networking being enabled affect this at all?

 

[C_F_H_13]

I'm a bit confused, this Sound on Sound article mentioned that the external HD should NOT be journaled.



http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/may05/articles/protoolsbad.htm
"One reason, on Apple computers, is Mac OS 10.3's journalled file system, which will automatically 'log' any file modifications. If your computer crashes badly enough to require a restart (or you suffer a power failure), the OS can then use this journal to help fix any drive problems caused by the crash. However, because any writing to a drive will also require a journal update, this slows down disk performance and can throw up 'disk too slow' errors. Mac OS 10.3 ships with journalling on by default. Digidesign recommend that you format their media drives with journalling turned off. If you are using Apple's Disk Utility program to format drives, choose 'Mac OS Extended' format, instead of 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'. It is fine to leave journalling active on your startup disk, and this should be the default setting. "

I was under the assumption that the hd should be set ON journaling.

I'm trying to record tonight (round 3) - hopefully no more 9073 errors.

that article is old as fuck. journaling became the norm after 10.4.x. This article is talking baout 10.3

 

[avrinder]

oh ok, phew. I should have known. thanks

 

[::XeS::]

Sometimes I have the same error messages and I have profire and PT8 as well.
The fact is that M-Audio says to put the drive always after the profire and not before in the chain.
A solution could be connecting the drive to an external firewire express card port or to an eSata express card (what I wanna do).

 

[avrinder]

Do you get the msg randomly, or oftenly? Last session, I got it EVERY time but one (that song didn't come out the best, either)

 

[::XeS::]

Randomly, expecially at the end of the session when the project is full of plugins...but sometimes also when the cpu usage is very low...it's random, like the cpu or the disk has a big and short peak of usage....It could be the interface/drive chain..but I don't know. I'll try with eSata if something change.
I read on DUC that a guy solved the problem resetting the SMC on his mac. Turn off the mac, disconnect the mag safe, disconnect the battery, hold on the start button for 5-10sec and release it, re-connect everything and restart the mac.

 

[avrinder]

I'll def. try the SMC reset option. Thanks!!