Protools/OSX question

[MetalSir]

hi,
sometimes PT stops playback and a popup says: "Disk too slow or too fragmented". sometimes happens, not too often but it happens.

i read almost EVERYWHERE on the web that OSX don't need ANY defrag, because of blablabla, but is better NOT to defrag ANY volume.

do you defrag your mac volumes?
(i mean the boot volume and the external drives used for recording/editing audio).

it really makes sense, like on a PC?

tks a lot!

 

[jeid]

What drive are you recording to? Are you running a lot of plug ins?

 

[Lasse Lammert]

I'm using iDefrag every other month.
OSX drived don't frag as easily and as much as PC drives, but they still can benefit from defragging every now and then

 

[Skinny Viking]

don't think you would get that error message from too many plugins

probably would get the message that says you don't have enough memory or a dae error or something

as far as I know it shouldn't be a problem on a mac to defrag

 

[MetalSir]

What drive are you recording to? Are you running a lot of plug ins?

an external LACIE d2 quadra (1,5TB, 7200rmp, firewire 800).. and yes.. maybe sometimes is due to lots of plugins runnin'out.. in THAT case is my fault and i split projects (very very rare) or i make bounces for reducing the number of rtas.. i think that this is quite normal..

i'm trying to understand if really an OSX volume (boot or data) works better if NOT influenced by ANY defrag operation..

i worked on a pc for lots of years, and the disks defrag operation was a MUST. maybe on OSX is really not useful at all..

 

[MetalSir]

I'm using iDefrag every other month.
OSX drived don't frag as easily and as much as PC drives, but they still can benefit from defragging every now and then

ok.. i was thinking on the same software.. i just found it on the apple store.. it works? you notice any performance improvement?

do you defrag only the external/data disks or even the internal (data and system) one?

really thanks!

 

[egan.]

At one point (4 years ago) I was getting this error and turning off spotlight solved the issue. It was trying to index the record drive while I was recording. Granted that was three operating systems ago.

 

[MetalSir]

At one point (4 years ago) I was getting this error and turning off spotlight solved the issue. It was trying to index the record drive while I was recording. Granted that was three operating systems ago.

i read about this problem even for lion os.. so is quite actual.. annoying by the way.. i use spotlight a lot.. may be i can exclude the directory i use for my project.. let me try!



EDIT: ok.. now spotlight works everywhere except for the locations used for my sessions.. should be fine.. btw i really want to understand the defrag thing.. =)

 

[jeid]

BUMP!

In a weird twist of fate, I am having the same issue with the same drive. Only started happening recently. I've put a lot of stuff on my external drive recently. I was doing a session tonight and it crashed about 4 times, very frustrating/unprofessional.

Do you think I'd benefit from a Defrag?

 

[MetalSir]

BUMP!

In a weird twist of fate, I am having the same issue with the same drive. Only started happening recently. I've put a lot of stuff on my external drive recently. I was doing a session tonight and it crashed about 4 times, very frustrating/unprofessional.

Do you think I'd benefit from a Defrag?

what worked for me:
just "clean uninstall" PT and reinstall it.
osx don't give a shit on defrag (IMHO).

after reinstalling everything i produced an album with something like 110 tracks and LOTS of plugins WITHOUT ANY ram/disk issue.

good luck man!

 

[jeid]

I just recently did that and I have been getting the same issue on my laptop and my iMac. fml

 

[MetalSir]

I just recently did that and I have been getting the same issue on my laptop and my iMac. fml

try a pram reset and an SMC reset. i forgot to write that i do this periodically, and generally fixes everything on my macbookpro!

you can find the "right" procedure (i mean the one for your machine) on the official apple website.

lol my PT runs with my presonus FP10, that the avid official marks as UNSUPPORTED because of it's 1028 (in stead of 1024) structure..
but it works PERFECTLY!

 

[jeid]

Cheers for the tip, but I'm assuming since the error is happening across two different computers, that they are unlikely to be at fault.

 

[MetalSir]

your PT version? i'm actually running the 9.0.4, and those tips solved any issue.

 

[jeid]

9.0.6. Might need to try rolling back if it persists

 

[Mikaël-ange]

Quick answer for peoples having this specific problem (Disk too slow or too fragmented)

Go to PT setup>playback engine
DAE playback buffer (disk buffer)
increase it (level2 by defaut, set it to level 4)

Warning: you will get a kind of latency between the time you hit the space bar (for exemple) and between the time PT start playing back if you run a G5. It's normal but really annoying at first

 

[jeid]

Cheers man, imma give that a try!