Disk Allocation!?!?

[Kenshiro]

I just lost a piece of a session:

1) I recorded the session on a disk (pause of about 1 week)
2) I moved the session to another disk to make room on the first one (after 10 days)
3) I forgot to change the disk allocation (of course!)
4) I recorded new material and the session recorded the new files on the old disk (a few days ago)
5) I deleted the folder containg the new files on the old disk (today) thinking it was the previous version of the session.

Now the question:
Why Pro Tools doesn't change automatically the disk allocation when you move the project to a different disk? At least I'd like to have an option for selecting a path for the Audio files relative to the actual path of the Project folder (e.g. "disk=same as project")...many sequencer do this!

Please, I don't like too much to loose piece of sessions!
Thanx

[shawnosimpson]

i'm currently teaching two very experienced engineers how to run protools. they are extremely talented in the conventional methods and can cut a hit record with their eyes closed, but they are almost completely computer illiterate. there is one piece of advise that i have been giving and i still think is very important. ALWAYS know where you're coming from, where you are, and where you're going. this is a lesson for you to learn, albeit a hard lesson. If you do get into a situation where you've accidentally recorded some audio on a drive you didn't realize was allocated for recording, then copy the audio to the drive you meant to use, then don't erase from the accidental drive. unmount it, open the session with all the audio on the intentional drives. if all is well, then you can clear the other drive. i realize that this isn't the response you might have wanted, but this is how it works. digidesign isn't going to start coming over to make sure your tracks sound good any more than they're going to make sure you know how to manage your files, it's up to you. good luck.
--Shawn

[DigiTechSupt]

Thanks Shawn, could not have said it better myself. My motto is DON'T ERASE without checking, double checking, then checking again that you are not using the files you are about to erase. Under the audio menu you can tell pro tools to show you what drives your files are recorded to -

B Carter
Digidesign

[Richie Rodriguez]

Hey,
Yeah, for big files, or files spread out over a few days - always use the "show full pathname" option under the audio menu and scope out where your stuff is. If you don't want to manually move a bunch of stuff to one folder you can use track tranfer utility to combine all the audio you're using into one place. Make sure you set it to copy files, not ref. original....

[Kenshiro]

I'm not asking to Digidesign to manage my files....I'm just asking to Digidesign a tool to avoid possible confusion...

Try doing this in Digital Performer:
1) Create a new file and record some audio
2) close the session and move it to another HD
3) open again the session.

You'll see that DP doesn't automatically create a new folder on the old HD but it keeps track of all the moved files and automatically changes the record path. This is a useful tool to avoid errors and confusion.

Since I don't think that MOTU engineers are much more clever that Digidesign engineers, it should be easy to have at least an option to do that....ProTools is a wonderful software but there are some little things that will make it perfect; this is one of those little things

I don't have so much money to buy lots of HD (I'm just a poor musicians) and I often have to move projects from an HD to another to make room....It could happen to make an error...sorry about that...