[jfredk]

I would love to hear more input on this topic. But here's my deal.

For me the best way to defrag an audio drive has been to get a second drive and copy the session files directly to it. They load directly to the second disk intact, thereby defragging the files. Then, if need be because of your configuration and hardware limits, copy the sessions back to the original audio drive in a new folder with special permissions, relaunch the sessions and make sure everything is shipshape and make sure the audio files you're accessing are from the copied folder and not the original file; then trash the original session files if they have not been running/reading correctly.

IMO, do not under any circumstances run any Norton product on a Mac/HFS+ audio drive. Also, turn off journaling in disk utility on any ProTools audio drive. Disk Warrior will only fix directories. If you want more stability from your sessions you might want to consider consolidating your tracks/playlists into single file audio from the beginning of the session. It makes the drives not work so hard to find the data.

J Fred
in Nashville