Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

I noticed that every time I plug in an external HD, for some reason PT is making copies of following folders onto that drive :
Clip effects presets
Documentation
Fade Presets
Grooves
IO Settings
and so on... until
Video Test Patterns.
Is there any way to stop PT from duplicating these folders onto external HD ? Or this is something that is “normal” with PT Studio ?
I never had this issue before (PT 5-12 since A.D.2005). Previous versions of PT never copied those folders onto external hard drives.

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

System details, drive details, other installed software/backup solutions.... more info please.

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

PT Studio 2022.7 on iMac 27-inch, Late 2015. 3,2 GHz, 32GB Memory
OS 10.13.6 High Sierra
SSD T7 Samsung

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

No this is not normal behavior.

You need to troubleshoot what is going on, start by getting clear what/when this happens. This happens when you run Pro Tools right? It's not just the action of connecting/mounting a drive.

Pro Tools blindly tries to reinstall files files under ~/Documents/Pro\ Tools every frigging time it starts up. A stupid idea that just slows down Pro Tools start up. What is happening here will likely be an extension of that.

(See https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=421450 and Case 04496592 ... the underlying "copy everything" behavior here should have been escalated to a bug or attached to an existing bug if one exists.)

Some things you should likely consider:

Have you tried to trash prefs, all troubleshooting starts there, see "help us help you" up the top of every DUC web page.

How exactly are you launching Pro Tools?

Where is Pro Tools app bundle installed? Have you done anything unusual there? It should only be put in /Applications.

Look what is going on with your environment variables HOME and USER, I have no idea how Pro Tools works out the path for the Documents/Pro\ Tools folder but you should be able to work this out if needed.

Is your home directory or Documents or Documents/Pro\ Tools is symbolically linked anywhere?

Is your home directory using iCloud (don't do that).

What filesystem is on the external drive(s)?

If it turns out you are not doing something too crazy to cause this please file a support case and push to get escalated to a bug. The underlying blind copy of all this stuff on Pro Tools start up is just stupid.

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

Well quick test shows this is not caused by the HOME or USER environment variables. If I create an account and mount drives so that the drive appears mounted under ~/Documents/Pro\ Tools then what you see happens, and in that case is expected. Did you deliberately set up the external drives to mount like this? That is a bad idea for multiple reasons.

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

Thanks so much for responding. Yeah... I have zero idea how the files are organized for PT, but EVERY TIME I start PT is copies those mentioned folders onto an external HD where the session is based (in my case Samsung SSD T7 ProTools HD). After I effectively delete those files from that drive, and work just fine for the rest of the day, the next time I mount the drive - Voila ! It copies those again.
And it’s NOT only this particular drive.
PT did it with all other drives I plugged in the past.
Always copying those folders onto the drive where the session resides.
Strangely enough - it does NOT copy those folders onto Sound Libraries HD where I have entire content of my extensive sample libraries from various developers.
Honestly - I am puzzled...

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

And no, I did NOT set my HD in Documents folder.

Re: Folders from PT copying themselves automatically onto external HD. Why ?
 

Here’s my entire system :
In Applications I have several sub-folders associated with PT environment :
-AIR Music Technology (Boom, Common, DB-33, Mini Grand, Strike, Structure, tmp, Xpand!2). Strangely, I purchased a full version of Structure, but I am unable to use it (???). I can only use Structure Free. I paid these $$$ for a full version and now I can’t even use it :-( IMHO it’s idiotic and just a bad business practices. I was only able to use Structure full version for like 2 years, and after I updated PT to 10 it no longer allowed me to use full version. Instead it has been replaced with Structure Free. Why did they even sell Structure full version, if one cannot use it is beyond me...
-AVID (AIR Content (Strike library), Application Manager, Avid Link, Licenses, m)
-Avid 003 Family app. (Do I even need it for anything ?)
-Avid Uninstallers
-Pro-Tools app.
-Sibelius app.

In Documents folder I have
- Pro-Tools 6i6 setting 6i6
-Avid (with GrooveCell sub folder)
-Pro-Tools ( with all those folders that copy themselves onto my external HD).

Everything is on
Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support > Avid
Macintosh HD > Users > Abbey Road 60s. Battery 4 and so on...I guess these are Native Instruments folders. Why do they install themselves like that I have zero idea...

That concludes anything associated with AVID and PT on my system.
I still don’t know why the PT copies those folders from Documents onto external HD...