Protools help!!!

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goodguyjames

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Hi there! Im using protools 6.4 with a Digi 002 rack in a home studio. Im running an iMac G5 and have purchased an external harddrive where I want to be sending my raw audio data. Protools however, will not recognize this removable media as a "Recording Volume". How do I format this unit so I can use it during real-time recording? Or is this a software conflict? please advise!
 
If I'm not mistaken (and I may be, so don't quote me on it), in order to use your external drive as a recording volume via Firewire or USB, it needs to have the Oxford 911 chipset. You can buy a separate enclosure for your hard drive that has the chipset, and that should take care of it.

From here:
Do I really need a separate hard drive for audio?

While it is sometimes possible to record audio to the same physical drive as the computer's system and recording application, you'll get much better performance by recording to a separate drive. Audio eats up lots of space, but we've finally reached a time when it's rarely a crisis anymore. If you get an 80 gig hard drive you will have some trouble filling that puppy up for a while. 160 gig, 250 gig, and even larger drives are easily found, and not all that expensive, If you have a tower computer, you could install an internal EIDE drive for really cheap. If you have an iMac or a laptop, or just want portability, you can get a firewire or USB 2 drive.If you want to record to it or play back sessions directly, you will need to get drives that meet certain specs. Check with your editing software for specific requirements, but for instance, ProTools is very picky about specs on Firewire drives. (Check the digidesign site for specifics) The basic rule is that if the drive has a rotational speed of 7200 rpm, fast data access and if it's a firewire drive, an Oxford 911 or 922 bridge chip.
Click to expand...
 
No wait....In Pro Tools you must designate the drive as a recordable volume. Go to the primary "pull down" menus in Pro Tools. Pull down "Windows" and select "show workspace" to the right on the icons that represent the drives are two columns one marked "A" and the other "V". Select the A (audio) coulmns and switch it to R (record)
 
Joseph Hanna said:
No wait....In Pro Tools you must designate the drive as a recordable volume. Go to the primary "pull down" menus in Pro Tools. Pull down "Windows" and select "show workspace" to the right on the icons that represent the drives are two columns one marked "A" and the other "V". Select the A (audio) coulmns and switch it to R (record)
Click to expand...

amen........
 
it wont let me do that actually. I tried and it said I coudn't. Can you show me an example of an enclosure that would have that chipset?
Also, I've been looking into buying a new external harddrive to record onto and was looking at these new SATA II drives because of the faster transfer rate of 300mb/s. Now, I had always thought that firewire 400(the interface Im stuck using with my rack) had a transfer rate of 400mb/s, but I've been corrected saying that its actually 400mbits/s which apparently is quite different and more like 40mb/s. If this is true, getting something like a SATA II wouldn't really benefit me at all, am I right? I'm just trying to get myself the best option available so I wont have problems in the future. With this new education, Im thinking a regular ATA would do me just as well as a SATA II would considering my situation.
Can anyone verify, and advise?
Thanks!
 
goodguyjames said:
it wont let me do that actually. I tried and it said I coudn't. Can you show me an example of an enclosure that would have that chipset?
Click to expand...

I hate to see you give up on your current drive so quickly. Of course I'm not positive but if it Pro Tools won't let you "switch" to a recordable volume then it's not recognizing the drive itself. Did you format it to Digi's spec's??
 
what are digi's specs? the issue was actually at the time, me thinking I should replace it with a (what I thought would be faster) serial ATA, so I have long since sold that (IDE)hard drive anyway. Im inquiring so when I get a new one it will be okay. But so I do it right the second time, do you know how Im supposed to format it for use with the digi 002?
 
Make sure that the drive is "in between" your computer and your DIGI 002......If your drive is formatted it "should" recognize it......
 
No no not the issues...as I recall you were running pro Tools on a Mac yes??

You'll need to go to "Utilities" on your root hard drive...select disk utilities and there will be an option to format the drive. Once formatted the windows pull down menu (In Pro Tools) mentioned earlier will provide for select record.

There are a few...and I mean very few current drives that pitch a bitch about working with Pro Tools. It's more often than not the drive just has to be configured correctly. The only brand name drive that currently is problematic is the Porsche series of drives distributed by Lacie.
 
I did format the drive, several times, with journalling and without. and it was just a run of the mill, WD hard drive.
 
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