Finally ready for upgrade... what do do first.

[SixChurchStreet]

I have been putting off upgrading from Win98/ProTools5.1.1 for quite some time. My system worked fine and dandy as it is, and I didn't want to mess with it.

I am thinking of upgrading to WinXP Pro and whatever the latest version of Protools is. First question is... taking into consideration my system specs, will this upgrade actually impair my performance? I have an Athlon XP 2400+ cpu and 512MB of PC2100 ram.

Reasons i want to upgrade are mainly for things outside of protools. i want to be able to use wireless networking adapters to email myself bounced mp3s to my other computer( my computer with win98 doesn't play nice with wireless adapters at all). i also want to install some newer software like the newest Sound Forge.

But if my ProTools performance is going to suffer greatly from an XP upgrade, I'll probably just continue to leave it alone. It works great as is.

If i WERE to go ahead and upgrade... what do i do first? do i upgrade to windows XP, then do the protools upgrade? and again, which protools upgrade do i want? just asking a lot of questions cause i don't wanna mess anything up. thanks!

[millicent frndly]

Do you have a Digi001? If so PTLE 6.4 is the highest your software will go. As for performance.. there is a slight performance hit in Protools by upgrading to WinXP, but the extra 8 tracks are well worth the upgrade. I'm running a 2500+ and get 32 tracks + 8 Aux tracks on the DaveC test. Good luck.

chris

[SixChurchStreet]

yeah, sorry, left that part out, i have a digi001. what does it cost to get the protools upgrade?

[millicent frndly]

I think it's $75 bucks but I'm not finding a link in the Digistore. You might contact Digidesign and see if they still have the upgrade available. Usually you purchase the 6.1 upgrade and then update it through the downloads section (free) to 6.4 (or you could do the free WinXP upgrade to version 5.3.1 provided you still have your software serial number... it's in the downloads section under WindowsXP)

[spkguitar]

It's $35. I covered that in your other thread S.C.S.

[millicent frndly]

cool, I couldn't find the link to it. I ended up paying the $75 bucks through Sweetwater... bummed!

[Kevin P]

May I suggest checking the windows HCL for hardware compatibility. Backing up your data. I would also burn all session/audio files to CD or DVD.