Dropbox Folder as Session Location?

[taylor4814]

I tried using my Dropbox folder on my system drive as the location for a session file that I used only as a template design, no recording -- make edits, then "Save as Template" into my system templates. Twice in the last week, while simply saving, mid-editing, some error message was generated, and upon viewing the Dropbox folder contents, the session file name was completely corrupted....

Are you in fact able to work on sessions located in a Dropbox folder? I've never had any issues with other kinds of files in Dropbox before...

[amagras]

The DB folder is usually located in the system drive and iirc the manual recommends not to work from the system drive, especially if the session has audio files. Maybe that's what happens.

[BScout]

Yes. Do it all the time.

You can move the dropbox folder to a different location/drive (which is necessary due to the size of my Pro Tools sessions collection.)

Pro Tools generates a lot of autosaves and Dropbox attempts to constantly save so while working with a session, if someone else is watching the dropbox-sync (or on another computer sharing the folder) you'll see it slowly populate with a lot of temporary pro tools sessions (just the session file/not the audio files) with gibberish names (those names are actually given by Dropbox through the sync process.) Not to worry -- once the session is closed (after your final save), all those weird files will clear out of the dropbox.
It's actually one way we can tell not to open a session since someone else is working on it.

(Dropbox, during the sync process, creates a alpha-numeric named file while it does the copy and then afterwards changes the name once the sync is complete to the actual filename. It's a safe way to do a copy just in-case the copy fails, the partially synced file doesn't overwrite the already synced file. The thing with Pro Tools is when a session is open, the file is constantly changing so there ends up a lot of partial-syncs that never finish.)

[SomeOtherGuy]

I've done this for the last 5 years. My system drive is a fast SSD internal on a trashcan Mac Pro. Working inside DB allows continuous backup (it's not my only backup), but also allows quick sharing as everything is already in the cloud. Plus you can easily revert back to prior PT session versions if you need to. I highly recommend––

[taylor4814]

Cool, well that's encouraging, I'll keep at it then... all the major cloud services have always seemed very robust to me, never had any issues with document files, etc being corrupted... possibly I'm hitting Save too much, mid-edit...

What would be ideal is if Avid Cloud Projects also had a "Save as Template" option... I'll submit to IdeaScale

[Eric Seaberg]

How about disabling sync while you're recording, then re-enable when you're done. All of the "partial incomplete" syncs while you're working could be most of the problem.

[off the wall]

Originally Posted by taylor4814

I tried using my Dropbox folder on my system drive as the location for a session file that I used only as a template design, no recording -- make edits, then "Save as Template" into my system templates. Twice in the last week, while simply saving, mid-editing, some error message was generated, and upon viewing the Dropbox folder contents, the session file name was completely corrupted....

Are you in fact able to work on sessions located in a Dropbox folder? I've never had any issues with other kinds of files in Dropbox before...

The only issue I've had running sessions off a DropBox folder is that if anyone else is syncing that folder, it is a nightmare for them with the temp files and backups constantly changing.

[SigFriedChicken]

I've been storing my projects in a dropbox folder without issue. It's nice having an instant mirror of everything you are working on. Though, I haven't done real-time collaboration with others with this configuration.

I have noticed that Dropbox seems more efficient on MacOS than on Windows. On a Mac, you barely notice that it's running. On Windows, it seems to be a bit more CPU-hungry.