\"Session must be on an Audio Record volume\" - Workspace info
 

If you are receiving any errors regarding drives not being suitable for playback or not being an audio record volume, try the following:

In Pro Tools, go to the Windows menu and select 'Show Workspace'. In the Workspace window you will see a list of your drives on the left and to the right of each drive will be an 'A'(for Audio) and a 'V'(for Video) column. Under the 'A' column next to your drive it will probably have a 'T'(for Transfer) or 'P'(for Playback) - click on the 'T' or 'P' and, from the drop down list, choose 'Record'.

You should now be able to open, play and record in your session as normal.

If you're drive will not change to a Record volume, you may need to reformat the drive.

On Mac OSX - use the Disk Utility to reformat the drive as Mac OS Extended.

On WinXP - Right click on the drive in the browser and select 'Format'. File system should be NTFS and you can use the quick format option. All other settings can remain at their defaults.

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

okay i have this same problem and i have searched the forums and cannot find an explanation on how to do this in detail...If someone could please help me out because i am new to MACS and have no idea what i am doing in regards to the disk utlity.i tryed the workspace suggestion and it will not allow me to change to record.thanks

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

Can you provide specific information on your system - computer model, OS version, PT version, attached peripherals, etc?

The more information you can provide, the easier it is for us to assist you.

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

I have just bought an imac g5 with mac osx and i am having the very same problem. In "Show Workspace" it will not let me change to a record volume. How exactly can i reformat the required drives? Any help will be much obliged!

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

Hi - I am having the same problem with my PowerBoo G4 1.6.
When I try to change the T or P to Record - it tells me this drive is not "a valid audio volume".
I hope your queerie will aslo help me.
I also have rec ently moved to Mac and need some help with formatting the drives.
Thanks
Alan - Cape Town

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

After banging my head all day I had some luck - the answer is Pro Tools LE 6.9 has to be upgraded to 6.9.2 at Digi's web site to run with Tiger. I did this and it solved the problem. I was able to covert my hard drive to "record" and it worked. Good luck. Alan

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message Info
 

Here's a thread with some obvious holes in it:

1) What if you get the error on a drive that IS formatted Mac OS X Extended?

2) Does Journaling matter? Should it be on or off?

3) Why would Avid not promptly fix any software that requires the destination drive to be reformatted, since it is obviously screwed up?

4) Does version 7 fix this glaring problem?

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message Info
 

I had the same problem when I moved to my new dual-core 2.3GHz Power Mac. I tried all of the above but it didn't help. However, I then tried reinstalling PT 7. After that everything worked fine and I was able to change the drive to "R".

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

1) What if you get the error on a drive that IS formatted Mac OS X Extended?
The drive can be allocated as a record drive under OS X.

2) Does Journaling matter? Should it be on or off?
Digidesign has supported journalling for a while now. Default setting is turned on in the OS disk utility for quite a while now too.

3) Why would Avid not promptly fix any software that requires the destination drive to be reformatted, since it is obviously screwed up?

These issues are related to drive permissions, more an OS issue than applications alone.
As the best way to defrag data drives is to copy the data off and format the drive, this shouldn't be a big deal anyway. It's certainly quicker in most cases than running a defrag utility, and definitely safer. After all most defrag utils warn the user to backup the data before they start..........

4) Does version 7 fix this glaring problem?

Drive permissions are there for security reasons and my guess is will be around for a long long time. Not actually a "glaring problem" per se. Think more a necessary evil, like locks are.

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

Same problem here: my new Powerbook IS setup as Mac OS Extended with Journaling. Still can't get the internal HD allocated as a record/playback volume in the Workspace.

Any suggestions? Re-formatting the drive is out of the question for me, there MUST be a simpler solution.

I just installed the 7.0cs whatever update...should I actually uninstall my entire PT M-Powered? Any suggestions how to do that, and/or which files I actually need to remove?

Thanks,
Justin

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

i have an Mac OS X 10.4.6 1.83 GHz Intel-mac, m-audio 410 interface, and a lacie 160 firewire external hard drive. I have tried to reformat my drive many times now, and every time i try to change the record volume, it will not allow me to select "playback" or "record".


I used my hard drive on different pro tool set ups, and it worked just fine from the start. I dont know if maybe my version of pro tools is not compatable with the lacie hard drives or what, but it feels like i have tried it all.

if anyone could offer any advice, i would really appreciate it.

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

Lets try to get some answers on this thread.
I have a brand spanking new MacBook Pro with 2GHz Intel Core Duo processor(s). I am running PT M-Powered 7.1.1 (which accoring to other threads i shouldn't be able to do). Abandoning all hope on my internal HD I purchased a 320GB firewire HD. I then Formated this drive to OSX Extended (journaled) and made sure the partition table was set at GUID, although there is only 1 partition. Starting up PT, no chance at switching the drive to "r" because it is "not a valid audio volume". Please tell me it is still possible to use Pro-Tools on this laptop. considering that i bought this equipment to use on the advice of my school to use for required classes.

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

The problem here, Justin, is that you can NOT record to your system drive. If you're running on a Powerbook, I'd recommend getting an external firewire drive AND a PCMCIA firwire card. Why? Because you don't want your M-Audio IO and the harddrive on the same firewire buss. Even if you have FW800 on your Powerbook, the 400 and 800 run on the same buss and share traffic.

To be safe, get a card for the external drive and keep your IO on the internal buss.

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

I did the worskspace window and all of that and it let me open a session with my external hard drive as the recording sysem. But now whenever I turn on the record function it gives a hug hiss and overloads the channel. I've unplugged the mic and verythnig and it still does that. Anybody know what to do from here?

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

I am experiencing this problem as well. I'm using Pro Tools m-powered academic 7.1.1 on Mac OS X 10.4.8. Pro Tools will not allow me to set my external LaCie hard drive to a record volume, even though it is properly formatted. No matter how many different times I reformat and trash the preference and database files and reboot, Pro Tools never sees it as a "valid audio volume".

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

I would LOVE to know where or what manufacturer makes these express cards with FW 400/800 for MBPs
I did a quick googling and only Belkin came up.

This is quite frustrating.

Mg

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

eff it I bought a transit and I'll just use it for editing.

anyone want to buy a brand new fw 410 for 350USD...ugh...so annoying.

MG

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

ANSWERS!!

I has the same problem with my drives when I first got my new MBP 2.33 Intel Core 2 Duo - the internal laptop drive and all of my LaCie d2 drives, all properly formatted to Mac OSX Extended (Journalled) were ALL apparently incompatible with PT. They would only allow to be set to Transfer, but not to Playback or Record.

A few email from Digi support recommended the usual nonsense - reformat drives etc.. I did reformat one drive (as it was empty), and it made NO difference!! Then I was told it was probably cos my new laptop wasn't yet qualified and so probably incompatible. Yeah right...

THE SOLUTION IS: first move all third-party plugins and settings to a temporary folder, then completely uninstall ProTools using the UnInstaller that came on the CD. After uninstalling, use Spotlight to find any pref files etc the uninstaller may have missed and trash them. Then re-install ProTools and update to the current version. It then all WORKS FINE!

_________________________

My new MBP came with a FW800, and I use a FW410 interface for my audio with PT-MP. So I bought a $64 SIIG 2-port FW400 Expresscard/34, hoping to use this for my FW410 while keeping the FW800 port for the LaCie drives.

IT DOESN'T WORK! Well it does, but only a 400mb/s.. As soon as the SIIG card is inserted, even though it creates a second separate FW bus, it still takes the speed og the 800 port down to 400, because there's only one FireWire controller on the MBP's logic board.
So the answer is - get a SATA ExpressCard/34, SATA enclosures and SATA drives (getting cheap now), and keep the FireWire free for your audio interface.

cheers,

nG

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message Info
 

so i have to buy the upgraded version?
that sucks

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message
 

Hello there. I am having the same exact problem with my iMac/ProTools. Were ever you able to fix it. Any advice would be helpful.

Thank you,

Dennis
[email protected]

Re: Audio Record or Playback Volume Error Message Info
 

i have an Mac OS X 10.4.6 1.83 GHz Intel-mac, m-audio 410 interface, and a lacie 250 firewire external hard drive. I have tried to reformat my drive many times now, and every time i try to change the record volume, it will not allow me to select "playback" or "record".


I used my hard drive on different pro tool set ups, and it worked just fine from the start. I dont know if maybe my version of pro tools is not compatable with the lacie hard drives or what, but it feels like i have tried it all.

if anyone could offer any advice, i would really appreciate it.

thanks

boboc2
[email protected]