Reality check for PT 10's time for loading sessions

[oreo1]

I've tried loading 5 or 6 files since i got PT 10 installed yesterday. Every file I've tried, has taken about 90 seconds to load. I thought it might be caused by PT needing to convert to some new format. That's not it, because when i save a session and reload, it still takes about 90 seconds. I'm using an i7 iMac with an SSD OS drive and a e-sata document drive.

For comparison, i tried loading one of the same sessions onto my old macbook with a single hard drive running Protools 8 and the M mini connector. It took 20 seconds for the macbook running 8.x, versus 80 seconds for PT 10 on my whizzy iMac. No, I had no lost files, or anything like that.

Is everybody else having the same issue? Reality check, please.

[oreo1]

anybody?

[DigiTechSupt]

Where in the loading process is it taking the longest to load?

Generally speaking the load times should be about the same as Pro Tools 9 - for some it's a bit faster, but it can vary from system to system depending on several factors.

[oreo1]

I only owned PT 9 for a few days before installing 10. Yes, the two times i tried to load sessions on 9, it was abomidably slow. I chalked it up to PT not really being ready for prime time on Lion.

Here's how it goes time-wise. The PT 10 app loads just fine, I just timed it at 25 seconds.

When i click to load a session I get the usual mac colored line that is supposed to fill in as parts get loaded. In the case of ANY PT session the blue line shows empty for a full 60 seconds. then it suddenly gets about a quarter filled in, as it tells me that it is building the transport window. That does not change for a full 90 seconds, until at about 2:30 seconds when the entire PT screen suddenly shows itself ready to go. Once a session is loaded, everything works smoothly and quickly. I enjoy using PT 10.

I've tried this session-load with several different files, both new and old larger and small. I even tried loading a file from an external firewire drive, and it still took 2+ minutes. I have set the workspace preferences correctly for my various drives. I have repaired permissions on my OS drive. Nothing changes. When I work with any other app, files load very quickly, including some very large Photoshop files.

One thing i'm wondering about as a potential cause for this lag. I have a brand new iMac (just 2 weeks old). It is a 4 core i7 iMac with 16 gb of memory and two internal hard drives. My document hard drive is the usual e-sata 2 tb drive. However, the main drive, which hold the OS and all installed apps, is a 256 gb SSD. I'm wondering if somehow, PT doesn't like this SSD drive. Besides that, i am completely out of both theories and troubleshooting tricks on why this takes so long to load. I've been using PT for 15 years, so i know my way around the program.

[DigiTechSupt]

Hmm. Interesting. I don't have any other reports of this kind of behavior with PT10 and it sounds to me like it's a 'data loading' issue, meaning (as you thought) probably related to the drives.

I know it's going to be a pain to try to test without the SSD so I'm wondering if you have another OS drive you could boot from, maybe something on a FW drive, or does the other drive (esata) have an OS install on it?

Which specific SSD is this? I recall an issue with certain SSD manufacturers drives (I'll see if I can dig up the info) that rings a bell here so you may actually on the right track with thinking it has something to do with the SSD drive.

[oreo1]

My drives came standard on the iMac. I didn't change anything from the way they came from the factory. As i say, the imac ihas an i7 quad processor.

Here's the system info about the 2 drives from "About this mac. However, because I did get the same horrible load time using an external FW drive, I don't think it has anything to do with the 2 tb hitachi drive I use for all my docs.

The SSD is: 251 GB

APPLE SSD TS256C
Revision: CJAA0202
Native Command Queuing: No
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Medium Type: Solid State
TRIM Support: Yes
Bay Name: SSD
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

The 2 tb drive is:

Hitachi HDS722020ALA330
Revision: JK0KB35E
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk1
Rotational Rate: 7200
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified

The Avid test lab can probably do this test a lot easier than I can. If this was a desktop, it would be plausible for me to switch drives and try what you ask. But not with an iMac. I do have an old USB HD with Leopard onboard. But i see no way to install PT 10 onto this drive without also uninstalling from the SSD. And unless i do the uninstall, I'd still be starting PT off the SSD.

I used PT today, to start a new CD project. As I say, once that horrible 2'30" load time is completed, PT 10 works like a dream. Plus, once the load time problem is solved, I'd go out on limb to conclude that this 27" iMac with this particular drive configuration may be the current champion as the perfect PT project studio machine.

PLEASE help me solve it.

[Mischdepp]

Hi,

Maybe cloning your system drive to a external drive (FW or USB) is worth a try!? Carbon Copy Cloner works very well for this task and afaik is free.

Check www.bombich.com

This little app has saved my ass more than once!
I always do a system clone copy prior to installing updates (OS and important apps).

Best

Matthias

[oreo1]

Thanks for the advice Matthias. I've opened a dialogue with PT tech support, and sent them an ongoing stream of my system logs from when i open Protools and then open a session.

We're still trying to understand if the problem is unique to me or something common for everyone using PT10 with Lion from an SSD drive.

[Mischdepp]

Thanks for the info Jim!

Any news worth posting?

Matthias

[TimNielsen]

Strange, I notice PT10 HD loading times are WAY faster than PT9 HD on my end. Loading a massive session from PT9 loads very fast on PT10.

I chalked this up to it seemingly doing the waveform overviews after the session is open as opposed to while opening like PT9 did.

But all I can say, on every session I've opened, load times have been very fast.