Pro Tools audio files missing from session, help, very stressed! :-(

[Danny Caccavo]

Basically, whenever you do a Finder copy of a session/audio from one location to another you need to "resolve" (in old speak) the copy to the new location of the files. I usually dismount the volume where I copied from, then open the copy and relink to the new location. Then I remount the original drive
Yes, I realize it's a pain, but I don't see how Pro Tools could know that you've done a finder copy. It it used a database technique like Media Composer, maybe. Seems to me that you should NEVER use Finder Copy and instead, always use Copy and Relink.
And the Project Browser is the most underused feature in Pro Tools....

[crizdee]

Originally Posted by midnightrambler

AVID:

The problem always arises when you:

1. Start a session on one drive, copy the session to another drive using the finder (rather than "save copy"), then open up the copy. ProTools just isn't smart enough to notice that the session has moved, and keeps the allocation of all the tracks on the original drive. Total crâp. I'm willing to bet a fair chunk of money that this is what the OP did.

Hi,

I do this about 20-30 times a week and never encounter this problem!! PT always knows the audio has been moved and simply tells me the disk allocation has been changed.

there are 2 situations when i see this could be a problem...

1. you have set record allocation to a different drive/folder than the session folder/drive

2. you have imported audio into the session and you don't have the preference to "automatically copy files on import" set to on.



Chris

[midnightrambler]

Originally Posted by crizdee

Hi,

I do this about 20-30 times a week and never encounter this problem!! PT always knows the audio has been moved and simply tells me the disk allocation has been changed

Chris

With all due respect Chris, you're talking rubbish. Absolute bloody rubbish.

As I will now prove to you with a VERY simple example:

New session, on Mac HD drive : http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/6523/picture2in.png

Check where the disk allocation is : http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8942/picture3yqi.png

Record some audio : http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/5638/picture4ue.png

There it is on the Mac HD drive : http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4944/picture5mw.png

Save session, copy the session (using drag on drop in Finder) onto another drive : http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/9678/picture11kf.png

Open up the copy of the session, and look where the disk allocation is:http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7966/picture12ya.png

Yep, on the Mac HD, despite me opening the copy of the session on the external drive.


I know you're very helpful on here Chris but please check your facts before posting wrong info.

[c-tone]

Also, after trashing PT Preferences, ALL drives get automatically re-set to "Record" status. The user needs to immediately change at least the system drive over to "Transfer" status to avoid some of these problems.

Avid needs to fix that and also make "automatically copy audio files on import" checked by default in preferences rather than unchecked.

About 75% of songs I am sent to mix are missing audio files caused by what I consider PT design flaws.

[ZEUSS]

Midnight,
If you are copying sessions to another drive for backup with the finder, You HAVE to quit protools first. Otherwise, For some reason, the disc allocation will stick with what ever volume it was originally recorded to.

As long as I do not have protools running when I do this, I never have this problem.

Try it out next time. If you are doing this with protools not running, then I am not sure whats going on.

[midnightrambler]

Originally Posted by ZEUSS

Midnight,
If you are copying sessions to another drive for backup with the finder, You HAVE to quit protools first. Otherwise, For some reason, the disc allocation will stick with what ever volume it was originally recorded to.

As long as I do not have protools running when I do this, I never have this problem.

Try it out next time. If you are doing this with protools not running, then I am not sure whats going on.

Well well well, you live and learn. Looks like I owe Chris a partial apology as it appears we're both correct. Thanks Zeus.

Now come on AVID, isn't this just the most counter-intuitive BS? You have to quit a program in order for it to behave correctly/differently???? WTF??? Seriously?

[JNS]

Well, since this whole procedure is just begging for an error to be made I guess the rule is double, triple check disk allocation both when starting a new session or transferring a session from one drive to another. That seems to be the only really safe thing to do......IF we all (myself included for sure since it's happened to me, too) could just always remember to do it in the heat of battle. Too bad we can't have a chip implanted in our brains for stuff like this.

Jeff

[Dizzi45Z]

Reminder to vote for this feature:

http://protools.ideascale.com/a/dtd/24246-3779

[LivFree]

Hey guys I'm having a similar problem.

I opened up my Pro Tools and all of my recent sessions were cleared. When I open a blank session and try opening the session from file>open session, the file folder is there, but the Pro Tools file is not. This is going on with over 15 different songs.

PLEASE HELP!

[WernerF]

The OP has never responded to the suggestion of the best way to locate where P Tools originally put the audio files. In other words, the "manually search for and re-link" function. That is the best way to find out where to start your search for missing files.