Pro-Tools Set-Up & System Configuration

[MEWCO]

Can somebody help me here as I do not understand the wording in the bookley/manual supplied with the disks:

Page 3 states; (Avoid Recording to the System Drive) "Recording to your system drive is allowed, but not recommended. Recording and playback on a system drive may result in lower track counts and fewer plug-ins."

Can someone tell me the difference between a 'system drive' and the 'boot drive'?

And, if Pro-Tools is to be loaded on the boot drive, when I open a new session and then come to save (Save As) the recording, is it at this point the work is saved on another drive other than the C;\ (Boot Drive) ????

Its so confusing.

[JFreak]

System drive is a boot drive. You install PT there but do not use it for sessions. Have a dedicated 2nd drive for sessions and you'll be fine. At least 7200rpm and avoid green drives.

[MEWCO]

Originally Posted by JFreak

System drive is a boot drive. You install PT there but do not use it for sessions. Have a dedicated 2nd drive for sessions and you'll be fine. At least 7200rpm and avoid green drives.

When you say a 'dedicated drive'? I only have one other drive - an internal 750GB 7200rpm drive.

[MEWCO]

Originally Posted by JFreak

System drive is a boot drive. You install PT there but do not use it for sessions. Have a dedicated 2nd drive for sessions and you'll be fine. At least 7200rpm and avoid green drives.

I have downloaded from my part on the AVID site and on Page 6 of the installtion manual it clearly states:

3. Do the Following:
"If windows auto-run is disabled, locate and double click 'Set-Up.exe" and then select 'Install Protools' to begin installation.

In the Set-Up folder (from when unzipped), there are four folders called:

Codec Installers
Documentation
Driver Installers
Licenses
and also the Set-Up exe as described above.

When I click on 'Set-Up.exe" as per instruction, it just hangs up. It goes to 'Not Responding'.

I have NEVER in my life experienced sofware as bad as this to install. I am close to ditching this and using another manufacturer, because it just ain't happening for me at all.

There are 'certain secrets' that we are npot being told about or, hardly jump out in front of us in what to do. I can't go on any further now as I have followed the installation steps. However, if we have to start installing the other for directory contents above, where does it say so???

[MEWCO]

I am still having enormous dificulty getting Pro-Tools to run on my super laptop.

I have Windows 8 and it seems like Pro-Tools 11 HD will not run on this, according to compatibilty notes etc.

Here's what is happening on my Pro-Tools 11 when I open the program:

1. Within a Session, click on Track > New and add to the session

THIS TAKES 15 SECONDS to add to the session. Same when I add another track, with different parameters.

2. When I close the session down, I then try and close Pro-Tools 11. It goes into 'Not Responding' and I have to manually close the programme down. I have to do this EVERY TIME.

Also worth noting that this laptop is wholly dedicated to running Pro-Tools 11 solely for me recording bands etc. So there is no other programms to worry about.

You can see from my spec. that this should handle Pro-Tools with absolute ease. But it doesn't.

Can I try loading 'basic' Pro-Tools 11 WITHOUT HD version anywhere? I don't seem to recall I had the choice - somebody confirm.

Please help as this software is proving useless and non-functionable/workable.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by MEWCO

When you say a 'dedicated drive'? I only have one other drive - an internal 750GB 7200rpm drive.

Dedicated drive means just what it says - a hard drive dedicated for Pro Tools use only. Standard dictionary definition of the word 'dedicated'. PT use assumes a basic knowledge of computers, the terms, and how they work. Sorry but that's just the way it is. And a partition on your boot/system drive is NOT considered a dedicate drive.

A few posts back you asked about when you get to 'save as' in saving a session and where to save. When you open/create a new session you are asked for a location to save said session. That's where you specify your dedicated PT drive.

If you're using any amount of samples in a sampler like Kontakt you'd also ideally have a third drive for the samples.

Originally Posted by MEWCO

I have downloaded from my part on the AVID site and on Page 6 of the installtion manual it clearly states:

3. Do the Following:
"If windows auto-run is disabled, locate and double click 'Set-Up.exe" and then select 'Install Protools' to begin installation.

In the Set-Up folder (from when unzipped), there are four folders called:

Codec Installers
Documentation
Driver Installers
Licenses
and also the Set-Up exe as described above.

When I click on 'Set-Up.exe" as per instruction, it just hangs up. It goes to 'Not Responding'.

I have NEVER in my life experienced sofware as bad as this to install. I am close to ditching this and using another manufacturer, because it just ain't happening for me at all.

There are 'certain secrets' that we are npot being told about or, hardly jump out in front of us in what to do. I can't go on any further now as I have followed the installation steps. However, if we have to start installing the other for directory contents above, where does it say so???

There are no 'secrets' that are not being told. See my answer above. Possible reasons for the installer.exe not responding: the drive went into sleep mode (which it shouldn't), you have antivirus running and you shouldn't, or more commonly you're not installing as administrator. These are all things that are common knowledge and can be found out with research. You don't need to be an IT geek to install and run PT. PT is not plug-and-play software; it requires some work. Guitar Hero or Garageband it ain't. As always you install to your system/boot drive - which are the same drive.

Also you never told us what type of computer you're trying to install PT on, what operating system you're using, etc. Now and in the future when you have a problem we need to know all that so we can help you. There is a 'Help Us To Help You' link at the top of every page here that will give you the info needed.

One more point about drives - no 'green' energy saving drives. Don't let them sleep either.

[JFreak]

It is obviously not a super laptop then. Have you checked the system requirements published by Avid?

[MEWCO]

Originally Posted by JFreak

It is obviously not a super laptop then. Have you checked the system requirements published by Avid?

Is this not good enough, then:

DELL 'Alienware' 18 ¦ Processor = 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4800MQ (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz c/w Intel Turbo Boost) ¦ Memory = 32GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz ¦ Drives = 256GB mSATA SSD Boot + 750GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s ¦ Graphics = Dual NVidia GeForce GTX 770M with 3GB GDDR5 - NVidia SLI Enabled ¦ Operating System = Windows 8 64-bit

[MEWCO]

Originally Posted by musicman691

Dedicated drive means just what it says - a hard drive dedicated for Pro Tools use only. Standard dictionary definition of the word 'dedicated'. PT use assumes a basic knowledge of computers, the terms, and how they work. Sorry but that's just the way it is. And a partition on your boot/system drive is NOT considered a dedicate drive.

A few posts back you asked about when you get to 'save as' in saving a session and where to save. When you open/create a new session you are asked for a location to save said session. That's where you specify your dedicated PT drive.

If you're using any amount of samples in a sampler like Kontakt you'd also ideally have a third drive for the samples.


There are no 'secrets' that are not being told. See my answer above. Possible reasons for the installer.exe not responding: the drive went into sleep mode (which it shouldn't), you have antivirus running and you shouldn't, or more commonly you're not installing as administrator. These are all things that are common knowledge and can be found out with research. You don't need to be an IT geek to install and run PT. PT is not plug-and-play software; it requires some work. Guitar Hero or Garageband it ain't. As always you install to your system/boot drive - which are the same drive.

Also you never told us what type of computer you're trying to install PT on, what operating system you're using, etc. Now and in the future when you have a problem we need to know all that so we can help you. There is a 'Help Us To Help You' link at the top of every page here that will give you the info needed.

One more point about drives - no 'green' energy saving drives. Don't let them sleep either.

Hi 'Musicman'
Here is my laptop spec.

DELL 'Alienware' 18 ¦ Processor = 4th Generation Intel Core i7-4800MQ (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz c/w Intel Turbo Boost) ¦ Memory = 32GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz ¦ Drives = 256GB mSATA SSD Boot + 750GB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s ¦ Graphics = Dual NVidia GeForce GTX 770M with 3GB GDDR5 - NVidia SLI Enabled ¦ Operating System = Windows 8 64-bit


It runs nothing else apart from Pro-Tools.
I am wondering if it is the Pro-Tools HD that has been installed and this is NOT compatible with Windows 8 or 8.1 ???

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by MEWCO

I am still having enormous dificulty getting Pro-Tools to run on my super laptop.

I have Windows 8 and it seems like Pro-Tools 11 HD will not run on this, according to compatibilty notes etc.

Here's what is happening on my Pro-Tools 11 when I open the program:

1. Within a Session, click on Track > New and add to the session

THIS TAKES 15 SECONDS to add to the session. Same when I add another track, with different parameters.

2. When I close the session down, I then try and close Pro-Tools 11. It goes into 'Not Responding' and I have to manually close the programme down. I have to do this EVERY TIME.

Also worth noting that this laptop is wholly dedicated to running Pro-Tools 11 solely for me recording bands etc. So there is no other programms to worry about.

You can see from my spec. that this should handle Pro-Tools with absolute ease. But it doesn't.

Can I try loading 'basic' Pro-Tools 11 WITHOUT HD version anywhere? I don't seem to recall I had the choice - somebody confirm.

Please help as this software is proving useless and non-functionable/workable.

Have you done all the Avid recommended optimizations? What makes you think you have PT HD? Do you have HDX cards or HD Native cards connected to your computer? PT11 regular and PT11HD are the same computer code - it's all in the license asset you have on your iLok. You're not running 'green' drives are you? System isn't set to sleep (it shouldn't be)?