Hardware upgrade question

[homegrl]

This will probably be a couple of unusual questions, but here goes...I have been using Protools 8LE since 2010 - I know, I know, it's a dinosaur, but I like it and am used to it, and all of my files are completed in it. Problem...my dinosaur computer just died...also from 2010. I am going to have a new computer built for it. I have had an i7 870quad core @2.93 running windows 7, hard drive with external glyph GT050Q. I want to stay with windows 7 and my glyph still runs. 1st question...if I rebuild, will I have any conflicts with new hardware, or better yet, what do you recommend for upgrade, OR, if I have to upgrade the protools, will I have any issues importing my files in 8LE to a newer version? I am of the old adage "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", so I haven't upgraded. I don't do major projects, just small voiceovers for my "projects" and I write a little music. I am by no stretch of the imagination a professional, but I like to have my projects well done. Any recommendations?

[EGS]

Originally Posted by homegrl

...Any recommendations?

Congrats on a good long run. Don't build an old rig; it's time to move on. Get a Win 10 computer & the latest Protools version. Use it for 10 years.

[homegrl]

will there be any issues trying to use my files from 8LE? Will the newer version of Protools read them?

[albee1952]

100% agree with EGS. And, since it now IS broken, you should fix it right

Old sessions SHOULD open and run fine. When you go to close any, you will get a prompt to save in the newer format. When I dealt with this, I would save with the same session name, but I would add the suffix "PT2020"(IOW, the old version was "sessionname" and the new version was named "sessionname_PT2020"). Obviously, you can choose this method, or anything else that works for you, or add 2021 to the name(since its likely to be 2021 before you get to it). Another option: once you have a new version saved, any old versions could be dragged into the Session File Backups folder(so when you open a session folder, you don't have to look at multiple versions, but the old versions are still available if you need them in the future)

Beyond that, all of your plugins will need to be updated to the current AAX64 versions. Some of them will be free to update, some will cost something and some, you may decide to ditch in favor of new options(much easier now than it was 10 years ago). Also, a handful of stock plugins got updated to the point where you may need to redo settings(Example: the old Delay plugins for Short, Medium, Long, Extra-long have been replaced with a single delay plugin that does everything, but you must manually insert and tweak).

I resisted moving to Win10 for a long time, but after a few months, I came to feel that 10 is a much better and leaner OS. The growing pains will be worth it in the long run

You didn't mention what interface you have, so be aware that some(like USB Mbox variants) are probably not going to work on a newer system(but 002 and 003 may work fine, though unsupported).
Your new computer should use a SSD for windows, and I recommend at least 500GB(as long as you record to a separate hard drive). If you want to do everything on a single drive, a 2TB SSD will do the job nicely(way better performance than any spinning hard drive). If you get a new-enough motherboard that has NVME slots, those style of SSD gives the fastest performance you can get(AFAIK, anyway).

[The Weed]

NVMe drives for sure and at least 32 GB of RAM. Plus a backup solution like Macrium Reflect. I image my OS and audio drives nightly, keeping 3 images, the oldest replaced automatically with the latest, and before any update/upgrade/install/uninstall.

Lots of new interfaces available, from inexpensive to take out a loan, for the newer Pro Tools, since you don't need a Digidesign interface to authorize the program, just an iLok with the license on it.