Import audio… Beachball

[jwilkers]

Mid 2012 Retina 15" MacBookPro10,1 Quad-Core i7 'Ivy Bridge' 2.6 GHz
Presonus Studio 192
Presonus DP88
Pro Tools Dock
Artist Mix
Pro Tools 2018.12
Last version High Sierra

Hello, this only happens on occasion. But it is very frustrating.
Whenever I create a new session and go to import audio as soon as I select the first file I get a beach ball. The only way out is to kill ProTools and start over. Sometimes it requires a reboot. Sometimes it requires deleting the session and building a new one. Once it happens the first time it continues to happen until some combination of rebooting and restarting ProTools which I have not figured out. Any ideas?
Since it does not happen every time I cannot tell you what is different from one session to the next. I pretty much use the same workflow every time. Create session, file import audio, select file, Beachball.
Both the session and the external files are on an external hard drive.

[jeam25]

Hi !

Thats strange , databases and preferences trashed ?

[jwilkers]

Databases...no, prefs....yes.
May try databases.
Thank you.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by jwilkers

Mid 2012 Retina 15" MacBookPro10,1 Quad-Core i7 'Ivy Bridge' 2.6 GHz
Presonus Studio 192
Presonus DP88
Pro Tools Dock
Artist Mix
Pro Tools 2018.12
Last version High Sierra

Hello, this only happens on occasion. But it is very frustrating.
Whenever I create a new session and go to import audio as soon as I select the first file I get a beach ball. The only way out is to kill ProTools and start over. Sometimes it requires a reboot. Sometimes it requires deleting the session and building a new one. Once it happens the first time it continues to happen until some combination of rebooting and restarting ProTools which I have not figured out. Any ideas?
Since it does not happen every time I cannot tell you what is different from one session to the next. I pretty much use the same workflow every time. Create session, file import audio, select file, Beachball.
Both the session and the external files are on an external hard drive.

Those external drives - are they on a network or direct connected to your computer? And if direct connected how are they connected? Are the drives somehow sleeping (they're not 'green' drives are they)?

[jwilkers]

Good questions.
I have multiple.
They are the usual Glyph spinners.
They are older so I doubt that they are green.
I don't think they sleep.
May have to read on that.
Connected via USB and TB.
Possibly just USB as I am not there at the moment and haven't looked in forever.
But I am pretty sure at least 1 is TB.
Even if they do sleep, there's no way that they are asleep when this happens because I have been banging on them for a while.
Thanks and keep the questions and/or answers coming.
I know this forum well enough to know that if people CAN help they will.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by jwilkers

Good questions.
I have multiple.
They are the usual Glyph spinners.
They are older so I doubt that they are green.
I don't think they sleep.
May have to read on that.
Connected via USB and TB.
Possibly just USB as I am not there at the moment and haven't looked in forever.
But I am pretty sure at least 1 is TB.
Even if they do sleep, there's no way that they are asleep when this happens because I have been banging on them for a while.
Thanks and keep the questions and/or answers coming.
I know this forum well enough to know that if people CAN help they will.

Thanks for the info. There is no such thing as a 'usual Glyph spinner'. Some of those old Glyph spinners will spin down on their own even if you have OSX set to never let drives sleep. I know because I had them at one time. Green drives not only mean they can/will sleep but also spin up or down in speed as needs warrant.

[jwilkers]

Yeah, I knew 'usual' was going to be a bad word when I wrote it.
I am pretty sure that I have been using the drive enough when it happens that it is not going to spin down at that time anyway.
Unless you think a drive is going to sleep/spin down/hibernate/whatever after a minute or two.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by jwilkers

Yeah, I knew 'usual' was going to be a bad word when I wrote it.
I am pretty sure that I have been using the drive enough when it happens that it is not going to spin down at that time anyway.
Unless you think a drive is going to sleep/spin down/hibernate/whatever after a minute or two.

The old Glyphs would do that all on their own. There are even some current bare enterprise hard drives that slow down and park their heads - these are the types of drives that would be used in a network that would be expected to see heavy use.

[jwilkers]

Ok then.
That could be it.
I'll find a way to troubleshoot.
It really is the only reasonable explanation if you think about it.
There seems to be no other rhyme or reason.
Thanks for your help!

[jwilkers]

I am back. I am having the same problem with my internal SSD. Therefore the spinners going to sleep could not be the issue. Anymore thoughts? Thank you!