ProTools melted my hard drive!!!

[mahler007]

I was working on a session last night in PT, saving to an Iomega 120 GB Desktop Firewire HD (7200 RPM) when I got an error message that said "PT can't get data from the HD fast enough- it may be too slow or the device may be having trouble due to processor use, blah blah blah..." or something to this effect.

Shortly thereafter, PT crashed and the hard drive did too. I tried Disk Warrior, but it said that the directory had been to badly damaged to be fixed. I could no longer mount the disk, either. Restarting the machine yielded a Finder message that said the format of the disk was unrecognizeable- I had to initilaize....

Which I did- I zeroed all data, reformatted, etc. and got the drive back up on the desktop. I started a new session in PT and the same thing happened again. Toast...

This drive is brand new- is it just not up to the job? It supposedly matches the specs. Would i be better off recording to my other ATA internal hard drive than this Firewire drive? Is this Iomega drive a piece of garbage? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated...

Many thanks,
Andrew

[Rail Jon Rogut]

Sometimes drives will just fail. Do you know which actual drive is inside the OEM Iomega case (Iomega don't make hard drives)? I personally would stick to Seagate and Maxtor drives.

Rail

[Gene Backlin]

I looked up the drive on the web and I did not see Oxford911 in the specs for that drive.

From Digi Online Docs.

Although not fully tested and supported with Pro Tools systems by Digidesign, you may be able to use firewire drives from other manufacturers with similar results, given the same guidelines noted above. To date only Firewire drives with the following specifications have performed well with Pro Tools systems:

Oxford 911 Firewire bridge chipset
7200 RPM drive
Check with the drive manufacturer to verify that their drive has the "Oxford 911" or comparable chipset & drive speed of 7200 rpm.

Also check your firewire chain with your drive and 002.

http://www.digidesign.com/compato/osx/stg/firewire.cfm

Take Care,
Gene

[Carl Z]

My external drives are coated in a candy covering so they don't melt.

But Seriously, if you have space for an internal audio drive that always the best way to go. Use the external for moving stuff around.

Carl

[where02190]

You'll get better performance using an internal drive over an FW as the IDE buss is faster.

Your problem sounds like an issue with the drive, no Protools. If it is new, take it back for an exchange or your money back, and ifnd out if it indeed uses the Oxford 911 chipset. If it doesn't, get your money back and get one that does and is a minimum 7200rpm.