[sjb1603]

I have upgraded PT7.4 to PT8 without any problems and it appears to run fine on all my 7.4 sessions, loads of tracks, loads of digi and 3rd party plug-ins. First impressions are really satisfactory. I wanted the new toys, but not as much as I didn't want trouble, so I'm pleased to have gotten through it ok.

I see that so many are having difficulties and maybe my experience is a useful reference.

I am running XP Home SP2 on a dual core, digi compliant PC. These are the steps I took (it took me a while to assemble this list from the DUC and various digi docs, and this is certainly more thorough than the digi "upgarding to PT8" pdf, which doesn't seem very thorough to me.)

- take an acronis backup of c: drive, for disaster recovery
- export/save the following settings files: IO settings (.pio), midi studio settings (.dms)
- make a note/take screen grabs of: preferences, peripherals, hardware engine
- close PT7.4 and switch off interface (003 rack in my case)
- use the uninstall pro tools.exe utility that downloaded with PT8 to uninstall PT7.4
- delete DAE and Pro Tools preferences: Start Menu > My Computer > Local Disk(C:) or correct hard drive (click "show the contents of this drive" if the files aren't displayed) > Program Files > Common Files > Digidesign > DAE > Right-click on the DAE Prefs folder and delete. Then Start Menu > My Computer > Local Disk(C:) > Documents and Settings > "Your user folder" > Application Data > Right-click on the Digidesign folder and delete. (If the Application Data folder is not showing: Tools Menu > Folder Options > View Tab > Select "Show Hidden Files and Folders" > Click Apply and OK.)
- Delete digidesign databases Start Menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) > Digidesign Databases > Right-click on the Digidesign Databases folder and delete. Repeat for all hard drives. And Start menu > My Computer > Local Disk (C:) > Program Files > Digidesign > Pro Tools > Databases > Right-click on the Volumes folder and delete
- switch off PC
- switch on interface (003rack)
- power up PC
- Install PT8 (run setup.exe)
- Wait a long time and try not to bite all your nails. Do what the on-screen prompts tell you.
- Enter auhtorization code when prompted
- Arrive at PT8 !!
- NOTE: I have a prompt telling me my 003 firmware is not the latest, but for now I have not updated it, and it all seesm to work fine.
- Open a blank session
- Import/reinstate IO settings, Midi studio settings, Hardware Engine and Preference settings.
- Create new midi tracks and reinstate any midi device files (.midnam)
- Open a previous 7.4 session and away you go

Worked for me - hope this is useful to someone.