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  #1  
Old 08-08-2019, 08:35 PM
MikeReganNoise MikeReganNoise is offline
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Default .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

I'm a post professional and have been using Pro Tools HDX for the last 7 years. This bug is a first and one of the WORST I've ever seen, period.

Twice in the last month, I've had .ptx files get corrupted and remove audio files AND video files from my session. I'm not talking about disk allocation issues where audio needs to be re-linked. I'm saying that audio, in this case specifically audio that came from mix prep (AAFs/OMFs), imported video (along with audio) are GONE from the session. The ONLY remaining audio has been processed using audio suite, rendered in place (Opt+Shift+3) or spotted with Soundminer. In some cases, random audio has been placed where old clips once were. So on my DX channels, random FX and Foley now occupy the bounds of the previous clip.

The .ptx file is now corrupt. The missing audio files are no longer in the clip bin either. The audio is not deleted though. It's still technically in the "Audio Files" folder. (See SS1 and SS2) for a look at the session edit windows.
SS1-Missing Audio and Video at 5PM
SS2-Last Session File back up with Audio and Video in tact at 1PM

Unfortunately, this issue seems to affect session file back ups as well, sometimes going back several hours. A tell tale sign something is up, is that the session file backs ups suddenly get smaller in size compared to hours before (or the day before) when the .ptx files aren't corrupt.(See SS3 and SS4).
SS3-Session File back ups suddenly smaller at 1:13PM from 4MB to 2.6MB
SS4-Main ptx file corrupt and smaller (2.7 MB) in the root of the folder

Another telltale sign is when opening the corrupted .ptx file it's missing hundreds or thousands of fades. (See SS5)

It's happened to me in two places- my rig at home (Mac 6,1 trash can 10.12.6 PTs Ultimate 2019.6) and at a vendor(Mac Pro 5,1 10.12.6 PTs Ultimate 2018.4). The other consistency: It's happened only when using their fairly straight forward mix templates (one stereo, one 5.1) which both originated in the UK. I'm working for the vendor out of LA and wonder if somehow there's a time stamp issue with Mac OS and it's internal clock/calendar from PDT to GMT. It also seems that many who have had this issue are working out of Europe or Australia.

Hope someone else has seen this, I found one other thread with not much hope for a solve. You'd better believe I'll be issuing a support ticket with Avid on this.

Last edited by MikeReganNoise; 08-14-2019 at 01:37 PM.
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  #2  
Old 08-09-2019, 12:49 AM
MikeReganNoise MikeReganNoise is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Oy, there is a cached thread on google detailing this VERY ISSUE and when I try to read it, I don't have permissions.
It's from 9/25/18 in the Pro Tools 2018 sub. "Files missing from project Pro Tools 2018. "

When I click the link, I am denied access even though I'm logging in.

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=401217

Based on the cache in google though, I can derive this:

"Files missing from project Pro Tools 2018. ...

OP: Very weird problem, wondering if anyone has run across this. Mixed an episode of a TV show, exported review mix and saved project. ...

Nothing weird all straightforward.


Today I got a list of updates to do and as I opened the project I got a message that there were tons of invalid fade files. ...


Project opened and I discovered that about half the files had disappeared from the timeline, not empty clips, nothing, gone. Went to the last autosave, same message and situation. We keep several versions of ..

When its been arranged into our template.3. after dialog leveling pass. 4. mix 5. mix with updates. Went back to version 2x Then I got one that was fine and mix was present for about half the show. ..

... Went back to version 2, all opened fine. No warnings all files present.I didn't want to go back to square one so started going through autosaves from newest to oldest. Same corruption until I got to about halfway through the list. ...

The next autosave, ten minutes later was 1.5 mb this was the first corrupt.


So what I'm guessing is that all saves after a certain time were corrupt. ... I had made a backup of the whole project onto another drive at the end of the day and that had all the same problems. So, if the PT launch file is over 3.2MB, the session will corrupt itself?"


Someone’s reply: Hi, we had the same problem yesterday while mixing a TV show too…

Last edited by MikeReganNoise; 08-09-2019 at 07:30 AM.
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  #3  
Old 08-09-2019, 01:10 PM
MikeReganNoise MikeReganNoise is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Someone, anyone? Hoping that some people out there have run into this. My calls with Avid for support have been woeful.....
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  #4  
Old 08-11-2019, 06:17 AM
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Farhoof Farhoof is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Yep I've seen this happen some time ago (1-2 years), I think it was either PT 12.5.2 or 12.8.1. All audio that was in the session when first opened is now gone, only the new audio (either soundminer or rendered) was in the timeline. All audio was still present in the Audio Folder. There was no problem when saving or closing, no errors or any sign something was wrong. Just when reopening the session later on the issue revealed itself. The session is indeed much smaller, as are the session backups.

All important modifications where mix adjustments on the auxes, they were all still present. We were able to combine the latest mix automation and the new audio files with an older still working session and work from there.

I have not been able to reproduce this, nor find any clues to why this happened. Also this never happened again since. It's a bit worrying this can still happen with PT 2019.6.
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Old 08-11-2019, 09:39 AM
MikeReganNoise MikeReganNoise is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Wow, yep, that's exactly what happened. Really bad and still present in 2019.6. I lost hours of work and I've been around enough to know how to trouble shoot Pro Tools issues quickly, there is no fast or easy fix here. It's a puzzle that needs to be put back together and in some cases work is gone and needs to be redone.
I've had talks with Avid support but it's not helpful as of yet. There is one thing that I've noticed that is odd, the only people thus far posting with the issue aside from me, are based in Europe or Australia. The template I used originated in the UK, though I'm working out of LA. Were you using a template created with the .ptxt extension?
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Old 08-12-2019, 08:36 AM
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Farhoof Farhoof is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

No I don't use the template function at all.
I have a few empty startup sessions I maintain. I copy the session to a new project folder and work from there. The faulty session was the same session I've used for hundreds of other projects, so I highly doubt the session is faulty.

All I can think of is maybe there was a momentary problem with the disk, causing Protools to fail to write the full session and instead only writing the new additions. Either that or it was some deep hidden bug triggered by some rare momentary issue.

I just checked, it was sept.'18, running Protools HD 12.8.1.
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  #7  
Old 08-12-2019, 05:26 PM
MikeReganNoise MikeReganNoise is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Dang, thanks for that information. Was it you who started the thread I mentioned a few posts ago? It was from September of 2018.

I haven't had the issue for a few days but I've also not heard anything from Avid about it since a call with support. In the meantime, I'm saving and renaming .ptx files every 30 mins or so and also compressing them as .zip files. Hoping that saves me if it does happen again.
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  #8  
Old 08-13-2019, 01:35 AM
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Farhoof Farhoof is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

No I don't recall starting a thread about it. So that's at least 3 people with the same issue.
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  #9  
Old 08-13-2019, 11:27 AM
jyellen jyellen is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Same issue here. It's happened to me twice now...once in July and now today. SUCKS!!! I just updated from 2018 to 2019 but I see that didn't work for one poster. I use a template which I created myself here in Canada and have been using versions of it for many years now. This is REALY SCARY!!!!! Someone please help.
__________________
System Specs
Protools 12.8.3
MAC OS 10.12.6
Mac 2010 3.46 GHz 6 Core

Thanks,
Jeff Yellen
ridgelinesound.com
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  #10  
Old 08-14-2019, 10:51 AM
MikeReganNoise MikeReganNoise is offline
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Default Re: .ptx file corruption-missing audio and video files- no way to relink-

Sorry to hear it's happening to others. Still no idea how or why it happened to me in LA. I've been saving my own session file backups, renaming them and .zipping them to hopefully "contain" functional files.



Can you describe how and what happened for you? For anyone else, are you all using MacOS? I am on 10.12.6

In my case, it happened once in the middle of a job being open. I looked up and out of nowhere audio and video were gone.

In the second case, it happened when I returned to a session the next day. I had worked with no issues all day until 5pm. Came back to see that my 5pm file was corrupted and all others past until 1pm when I started were bunk.

Avid has been able to help me yet, other than this thread, which is inaccessible, aside from caching text in a google search for "pro tools project files missing"

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=401217
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