basic question/info--Newbie..

[Todd115]

Howdy.. New to the forum.. Been using Pro tools since 6.0 or so.. always LE until I recently upgraded to an HD Native System..

Currently running Protools Version 11.2.1
Mac Mini Intel Core i7
16 GB
Avid HD I/O 16x16

Here's my question that I'm curious to get some info on..

Tracking a band and recording 15 tracks of audio at a time 24-48 with a HW Buffer at 128.. Everything was and still is basically running totally fine.. occasionally I get a AAE error 9093.. 2-3 times through out the 10 hour day.. recording a pretty loud band.. to me, one time is too much..

I adjusted the Disk Cache from normal to 3GB and since then it hasn't really been an issue.. I do notice that on the System Usage Activity monitor the Disk indicator fluctuates wildly and basically goes from 1-2% and will occasionally fly up to 100% and stay there for a few seconds.. This seems to correspond with very loud parts of the tunes where the drummer really lays into the cymbals..
Can someone

1.. explain this?

2.. Can this lead to the AAE error I was getting? Is disk going up to 100% normal?

3.. What can I do to avoid this and any other future issues?

note.. I am using the internal (non-partitioned drive on the Mac) and I did transfer the sessions to an external Lacie drive (5400 rpm thunderbolt that I'm using the USB 3 connector on.. ) I tested with the drummer and the Disk meter did not seem to be as crazy..

OK.. Thanks so much!

Todd

[JFreak]

5400rpm (green?) drives are a big no-no, though disc cache should help you out. Try even bigger cache and see if it helps

[Darryl Ramm]

What make/model/spec internal drive do you have? Any VIs being used? (e.g. drum backing/click tracks?).

Timeline cache should help a lot as you found out.

There is no mechanism where sound volume affects disk IO. Writing from/reading into the cache may happen at the same times and make it look like there is a correlation.

Get things thing better set up. A proper spec external HDD or even better a good SSD. Try running it without the cache to confirm the basic IO is working OK.

[Michael Zull]

15 tracks at 48/24 on a proper drive should hardly budge the disk meter at all, but you aren't recording to a proper drive, thus the spikes. I do mobile recordings with 14+ tracks of 96/24 audio on a Celeron dual core laptop with a Kingston SSD in a USB3 enclosure, and the disk never goes over 9%. Never use the internal system drive or any 5400rpm drive on any serious session. Get yourself an SSD or at least a 7200rpm spinner with 64mb of cache, pop it into a USB3 or Thunderbolt enclosure and your problems will be over.

[Todd115]

Thanks for the replies.. I ran everything off of a LaCie Rugged v2 - 1TB Thunderbolt & USB 3.0 to day using the USB 3 connector.. Much less Disk meter movement.. It basically never get above 2%.. It is a 5400 rpm drive which seemed to work fine, but I'll get a 7200 rpm drive to work off of.. Thanks again for the replies.. I sincerely appreciate it!

Todd

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Todd115

Thanks for the replies.. I ran everything off of a LaCie Rugged v2 - 1TB Thunderbolt & USB 3.0 to day using the USB 3 connector.. Much less Disk meter movement.. It basically never get above 2%.. It is a 5400 rpm drive which seemed to work fine, but I'll get a 7200 rpm drive to work off of.. Thanks again for the replies.. I sincerely appreciate it!

Todd

Even better get an SSD, much faster, and more robust if you move/carry it around. The LaCie Thunderbolt Rugged SSD are a good choice for SATA based SSD. Get as large a size as you can afford. You will never go back to a HDD.

[JFreak]

Yep, absolutely, if you're buying a drive today, grab a SSD as large as you can afford.

You can use those spinners you have for backup so your SSD doesn't need to be 1TB if you cannot afford it but don't just go for 1TB spinner because you think you need to have a terabyte drive. What you need to be thinking is to buy fastest possible drive and see how many gigabytes you get for your budget. (the alternative being buying a terabyte drive and see how much performance you may get, which is bad thinking regarding DAW's)