Recovery disk and midi note color

[Harpo]

I guess I'm the world's worst search engine user...because I can never find answers to what I know must be simple questions.

1)
How does one make a recovery disk? When I built my computer (thank you DUC), I just used the recovery disk from my other computer. No prob...everything went in fine. Of course then you have to go and make all the adjustments so PT will actually work.

My worry is...what happens if my hard drive crashes? (I know it will eventually) I would like to have a disk onhand that would allow me to reinstall everything in it's present (i.e. "functioning") form. Should I just copy the hard drive entirely?

1a)
I am presently saving my work by...completely finishing the song, deleting unused files, and copying the audio folder to CD. Is this good enough? Or do I need to copy more?

1b)
When it comes time to defrag....is there a resource around here explaining that in some detail? (I don't want to mess it up.)

2)
I was recording some midi tracks last night. When I recorded the first two, the notes were green. When I recorded a third midi track, the notes were red. Is this some sort of "warning! You are recording too much midi and this PC is about to self-combust!" thing? I believe this is the very first time I've recorded more than two midi tracks. Everything works fine...but red usually means "bad".

[Harpo]

bump....with fingers crossed. (No wonder I couldn't find the answer with the search... )

[JMS40]

I guess I'm the world's worst search engine user...because I can never find answers to what I know must be simple questions.

1)
How does one make a recovery disk? When I built my computer (thank you DUC), I just used the recovery disk from my other computer. No prob...everything went in fine. Of course then you have to go and make all the adjustments so PT will actually work.
My worry is...what happens if my hard drive crashes? (I know it will eventually) I would like to have a disk onhand that would allow me to reinstall everything in it's present (i.e. "functioning") form. Should I just copy the hard drive entirely?

I use True Image . Excellent product

1a)
I am presently saving my work by...completely finishing the song, deleting unused files, and copying the audio folder to CD. Is this good enough? Or do I need to copy more?

I don't trust CD's for long term storage. I use hard drives.

1b)
When it comes time to defrag....is there a resource around here explaining that in some detail? (I don't want to mess it up.)

Digidesign recommends against defraging audio drives. Format the drive and restore the audio data from a backup.

[spkguitar]

1) Acronis True Image
or Ghost
or something similar. I like True Image

1a) there's a maxim in the corporate software world that goes "Data doesn't exist until it exists in 3 places". Copy more. Also, you really need to be copying the whole session folder, not just the audio. I would also recommend using RW disks and doing a "Save Copy In" and selecting "All Audio Files" in the "Items to Copy" section.

1b) Digi recommends that you move all the files off the audio drive, reformat, and move all of the files back to defrag an audio drive.

2) I'm pretty sure you can make them any color you want.

[Harpo]

Thanks guys.

Again.

I swear this is the very best message board in existence. (Hey...I can't help the bluster...my questions always get answered here. And for a guitar player, that's a godsend.)

I do see two different recommendations fom Digi here on the defragging thing. Do they recommend formatting or moving files and defraggin? Hey...either one works for me.

[spkguitar]

I've always followed the advice of DigiTechSupt in threads like this one (and several others).