Audio files randomly missing

[aarborn]

Guys,
I'm lost! I have pretty regular business and randomly my pro tools sessions will come up with the "1 audio file(s) missing" message. It's really starting to mess with my money now because I have people recording with me from out of town and random files like leads and brass parts from brass sections will be missing!

1. I tried to relink the files using some youtube videos, but I noticed that one of the audio files I found is NOT EVEN READABLE by any of my programs.

2. I saw an audio file fixer: http://www.platinumsamples.com/WavFixer/WavFixer.php

but will not work for some reason or open on my computer.

I am now running pro tools 9 and just looking for some answers to MAKING THIS STUFF STOP!!

[cwsand]

Originally Posted by aarborn

Guys,
I'm lost! I have pretty regular business and randomly my pro tools sessions will come up with the "1 audio file(s) missing" message. It's really starting to mess with my money now because I have people recording with me from out of town and random files like leads and brass parts from brass sections will be missing!

1. I tried to relink the files using some youtube videos, but I noticed that one of the audio files I found is NOT EVEN READABLE by any of my programs.

2. I saw an audio file fixer: http://www.platinumsamples.com/WavFixer/WavFixer.php

but will not work for some reason or open on my computer.

I am now running pro tools 9 and just looking for some answers to MAKING THIS STUFF STOP!!

I've had this happen before when selecting All Unused Clips(Regions) and deleting them, sometimes it deletes files you still want so you really have to watch exactly what you're deleting.

Could also be a bad hard drive that's slowly corrupting your files. What I would do is before closing any sessions you've worked on, use Save Copy As and save a copy of the entire session to another hard drive.

Of course, it could be another issue entirely, but that's a start.

[Craig F]

If you show Full Path in the Clip List were does it say they are?

[thin ice]

Check you haven't been inadvertently recording files to a drive no longer connected to the computer by checking the full path names. Then I would open each session on the hard drive and "save copy in..." to another drive including all audio files first. Then after checking they open from the backup drive, reformat the hard drive they were on (assuming you haven't been recording to the system drive). Even better, replace the existing drive if you are worried about the reliability.

I never had problems with removing unused audio files with 9HD, but would always avoid deleting unused, which is a different thing. It sometimes can happen that a file not used in one session, can appear in another. This is likely when receiving work from other people.

[Larold]

Is it possible the clients deleted unused files before they brought them to you? It happens sometimes. This might not be your issue...