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  #1  
Old 03-09-2023, 01:05 AM
lode lode is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Norway
Posts: 618
Default Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

Hi!

We are experiencing some strange issues with loading session files from our NAS.

When loading a medium complex session from our studio complexes shared NAS we are seeing obscenely long load times. However if we copy (just) the .ptx file over to the desktop the load times are quite normal. Load times are also normal when the .ptx file is on a Nexis server system (that the video edit suites use).

An informal comparison I did this morning:

Studio 1 (Catalina, PT 22.7)
From the NAS: 5.30
From the desktop: 45sek
From our shared Nexis server: 45 sek

Studio 2 (Monterey PT 22.10)
From the NAS: 6.40
From desktop: 35sek
From our shared Nexis server: 35sek

Now the Nexis servers not fast enough to serve audio and video fast enough to all our rooms at once which is why we got a nice Nas to serve the audio suites. But these load times absurd, so we need two try to figure out what is going on here. The problem crept up on us this autumn we think. No one is sure exactly when it started to be like this.

But there is obviously some way that PT is doing something different when loading from the NAS, and I´m at loss as to where the problem is.
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  #2  
Old 03-09-2023, 11:33 AM
BScout BScout is offline
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

A start would be to mention the NAS in question. And system version.
SMB shares have been tinkered by a number of NAS makers (with many breaking and then fixing compatibility.)
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  #3  
Old 03-10-2023, 05:02 AM
lode lode is offline
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

It is a Nextron Supermicro.
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  #4  
Old 03-10-2023, 08:14 AM
BScout BScout is offline
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

That's just the computer.
Are you running something like OpenNAS on it? What is the NAS software?
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  #5  
Old 03-10-2023, 10:31 AM
Darryl Ramm Darryl Ramm is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: USA
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

How large are the ptx files themselves?

Is Pro Tools disk cache enabled? How large is it? Is the cache fully loaded before you start using Pro Tools or are you getting started with a partially populated cache?

You sure the actual content is on the NAS? None of the users have gotten frustrated with the NAS and been working on local sessions then uploaded stuff to the NAS and left copies of content on the local systems… that a session runs with fast locally.

Is the NAS system complaining about stuff? Your administrator checked logs etc.?
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  #6  
Old 03-10-2023, 01:15 PM
lode lode is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2004
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

Not sure about the os running on the NAS.

There is no question that the media (audio files folder) is located only on the NAS.

The ptx file I was using for the test was 11mb.

I made a copy of just the session file onthe desktop on both machines. They have 64gig ram. I also tried in two of our orher studioes with similar results. Vastly longer load times when the session file was on the NAS.

The disk cache is set to normal on all the machine. Not sure how this is relevant tbh.
Edit: typo
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Last edited by lode; 03-12-2023 at 06:37 AM.
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  #7  
Old 07-28-2023, 09:57 AM
Cranky Mike Cranky Mike is offline
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

We experienced this exact same problem on our Pixstor SMB NAS. We spent many hours troubleshooting the issue with Pixstor as we assumed it was an SMB setting on the NAS that was causing the problem. No other programs had issues with the NAS as we also have picture work we do here. We have a Nexis as well and like you it did not display this behavior. We experienced the problem on multiple Mac's, 2019 Mac Pro, 2013 Mac Pro (Trashcan) and 2012 Mac Mini's, running multiple operating systems Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey and running either Pro Tools 2022.12 or 2023.6

We also found if you move the .ptx file to ANY other location except the directory where is Audio Files folder is kept for that session (PT default) it will locate and load files as expected. You can even just create a sub folder in your main project session folder and put the .ptx file in there and again the session will open quickly and not stall on locating individual files.

After months of troubleshooting we finally found if you go to Pro Tools Preference on the Processing page there is a setting for Parallel Task Optimization. Set this to Off and the session will locate and load files at the expected speed of your NAS. The Pro Tools default is set to High so any new user will need to change that setting in order for Pro Tools to work as expected on the NAS.

We have put a ticket into Avid to let them know about the issue. We will see if it will be fixed or not but at least this makes a very expensive, very fast NAS usable for Pro Tools.
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  #8  
Old 07-28-2023, 12:37 PM
Cranky Mike Cranky Mike is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2023
Location: Los Angeles
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Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

We experienced this exact same problem on our Pixstor SMB NAS. We spent many hours troubleshooting the issue with Pixstor as we assumed it was an SMB setting on the NAS that was causing the problem. No other programs had issues with the NAS as we also have picture work we do here. We have a Nexis as well and like you it did not display this behavior. We experienced the problem on multiple Mac's, 2019 Mac Pro, 2013 Mac Pro (Trashcan) and 2012 Mac Mini, running multiple operating systems Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey and running either Pro Tools 2022.12 or 2023.6

We also found if you move the .ptx file to ANY other location except the directory where the Audio Files folder is kept for that session (PT default) it will locate and load files as expected. You can even just create a sub folder in your main project session folder and put the .ptx file in there and again the session will open quickly and not stall on locating individual files.

After months of troubleshooting we finally found in the Pro Tools Preferences on the Processing page there is a setting for Parallel Task Optimization. Set this to Off and the session will locate and load files at the expected speed of your NAS. The Pro Tools default is set to High so any new user will need to change that setting in order for Pro Tools to work as expected on the NAS.

We have put a ticket into Avid to let them know about the issue. We will see if it will be fixed or not but at least this makes a very expensive, very fast NAS usable for Pro Tools.
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  #9  
Old 08-07-2023, 11:27 AM
Cranky Mike Cranky Mike is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2023
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 3
Default Re: Extremely slow loading speeds from SMB Nas

We experienced this exact same problem on our Pixstor SMB NAS. We spent many hours troubleshooting the issue with Pixstor as we assumed it was an SMB setting on the NAS that was causing the problem. No other programs had issues with the NAS as we also have picture work we do here. We have a Nexis as well, and like you it did not display this behavior. We experienced the problem on multiple Mac's (2019 Mac Pro, 2013 Mac Pro (Trashcan) and 2012 Mac Mini's) running multiple operating systems Catalina, Big Sur or Monterey and running either Pro Tools 2022.12 or 2023.6

We also found if you move the .ptx file to ANY other location except the PT default directory where the Audio Files folder is in the same directory as the .ptx session file it will locate and load files as expected. You can even just create a sub folder in your main project folder and put the .ptx file in there and again the session will open quickly and not stall on locating individual files.

After months of troubleshooting we finally found if you go to Pro Tools Preference on the Processing page there is a setting for Parallel Task Optimization. Set this to Off and the session will locate and load files at the expected speed of your NAS. The Pro Tools default is set to High so any new user will need to change that setting in order for Pro Tools to work as expected on the NAS.

We have put a ticket in to Avid to let them know about the issue. We will see if it will be fixed or not but at least this makes a very expensive, very fast NAS usable for Pro Tools.
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