"could not allocate space on disk for recording"

[Jenk2k]

Problem:

When recording, Pro Tools and MAC OSX allows you to do everything on the hard drive, including open new sessions, and copy endless folders filled with data all over the drive.

Due to Pro Tools inordinate amount of legacy code, if your hard drive happens to be formatted HFS+ case sensitive, it will frustrate you for two hours get any work done in front of a client. Despite the lack of any real record of this problem being solved (at least not in any easily accessible way,) I hope to document a fix here for anyone googling this very problem. I've seen it in several places on the net, but no one solved it.

Solution:

After backing up your data, erase and reformat your drive to HFS+ without selecting the case sensitive option. You do this by hitting COMMAND-SPACE (or clicking the magnifying glass at the top right of your screen) and searching for Disk Utility. When you click Disk Utility, you should be able to select your drive here and erase it.

Move the sessions back to your audio drive. All should be normal now.

Thanks a lot, Avid.