Track Playback is screwing up BADLY!

[BradBristow]

i'VE GOT AN imac 3.06 OSX 10.6.8 with 16 gb ram. Using Pro tools 8.05 003 Rack Plus with an Iomega T-Byte usb hard drive as audio drive.

I've had this system a year or so and had no problems but my recordings have gotten more track intensive lately, now I am having trouble getting anything to play right. Tracks drop out and don't come back until I reboot. All of a sudden I'll be working with an effect while track is playing and suddenly a very high pitched sound starts until I have to close the track. when I reopen without completely rerstarting I am missing much of my tracks - they are there and playing but no sound is coming from them at all. iT SEEMS TO HAPPEN RANDOMLY ON ANY TYPE OF TRACK. All of my recordings are of acoustic instruments,sometimes midi percussion but mostly real instruments, voices, etc......I have begun mixing down through subgroups and use about 8-10 Aux inputs for effects as well but my overall track count is usually below 32 actual wave form tracks and I've got 16 gb of ram. Why is my system performing so poorly and what do I need to do to get it back to good again??? I have spent over a week now combing through all the forums, avid site, etc...and tried EVERYTHING you would think to try...re-installing Pro Tools, trashing preferences, all the mac system tweaks like repairing permissions, shutting off all but Pro Tools, i have tried them all! Any help or direction that anyone can give to me would be greatly appreciated! I have taken off work for a month to finish a solo CD and this is killing my time!

Thanks,
Brad

[ejwells]

Well...when you consider that USB drives aren't now, nor have they ever been qualified for audio recording/playback with a Mac, that probably explains the poor performance.

[GregV]

Yes, go get yourself an Avid approved external HD. If you're running more audio now than before, it's not surprising it's giving you hassles...
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=210747

[BradBristow]

Originally Posted by GregV

Yes, go get yourself an Avid approved external HD. If you're running more audio now than before, it's not surprising it's giving you hassles...
http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/self...p?DocId=210747

Thanks for the quick response. I went out today and purchased a new hard drive and I am transfering files now but I see another problem. I only have one firewire 8 connect on my IMAC and its being used to connect my 003 Rack Plus so how am I going to get this hard drive connected? Can I go through the 003 and it's extra firewire connect?

[shisty]

To my knowledge the extra Firewire port on the back of your 003 should be just fine for your hard drive. I've done the same thing off of a 002, with no real problems.

[GregV]

There are mixed opinions as to whether the HD should be first or second in the chain. Try both and see which works best for you.

[ejwells]

Originally Posted by shisty

To my knowledge the extra Firewire port on the back of your 003 should be just fine for your hard drive. I've done the same thing off of a 002, with no real problems.

Do NOT connect a hard drive to the 2nd firewire port on the 003.
This is copy/pasted directly from the 003 getting started guide:

Do not connect a FireWire hard drive to the second FireWire port on the back panel of 003 or 003 Rack.
The second FireWire port on 003 or 003 Rack is available for daisy-chaining FireWire devices such as digital cameras or digital video recorders.

Daisy chain your hard drive direct to your computer, usually Mac to HD, HD to 003.
As Greg pointed out above, some have better results going Mac to 003 to HD.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by ejwells

Do NOT connect a hard drive to the 2nd firewire port on the 003.
This is copy/pasted directly from the 003 getting started guide:

Do not connect a FireWire hard drive to the second FireWire port on the back panel of 003 or 003 Rack.
The second FireWire port on 003 or 003 Rack is available for daisy-chaining FireWire devices such as digital cameras or digital video recorders.

Daisy chain your hard drive direct to your computer, usually Mac to HD, HD to 003.
As Greg pointed out above, some have better results going Mac to 003 to HD.

To expound a bit, the reason for putting the drive nearest to the computer is; if the 003 is the middle device, and it loses power(or gets turned off) while data is being written, the data can be corrupted. This can happen in the background, even with PT closed, and you would not know it until you come back later and find your session to be screwed up. If you play it safe and always remember to eject the drive, or shutdown the computer first, you'll be safe.