using 7.4 with a dell inspiron 600m laptop

[normanvegan]

I am running protools on a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop (which used to be listed by digi as protools compatible when I first got it!). I recently added RAM -- I currently have 2 Gigs. I use an mbox.
I recently upgraded from 7.1 to 7.4 and have questions for anybody with a similar rig or knowledge.

Since upgrading to 7.4, I have also acquired an mbox2 micro.

I had been using an external usb harddrive for my sessions in the past. 7.4 doesn't allow that, and neither does the "micro". So I'm putting the sessions on my system drive for now (which I know is not recommended)

When I am running protools things seem fine. But after I shut down a session my laptop usually runs extremely slow and is many times totally unresponsive. So far, the solution has been a hard shutdown (sometimes more than once) and disk defrag (also more than once).

Has anybody come up with a way to make this type of rig work more effectively?

I'm actually thinking of downgrading back to 7.1, and I don't know if the micro will work

[spkguitar]

The micro will not work with 7.1.

You should not be defragging the drive with your sessions on it. Ever. Sessions should be copied off the drive, the drive should be reformatted, and then the sessions copied back onto the drive.

You need to be using a separate drive for Pro Tools sessions. Using the system drive is the same as using the USB drive in that case. USB drives are not supported, and have never been supported, for ANY version of Pro Tools. You need to be using a qualified firewire drive.

[normanvegan]

The problem is...I don think I can retrofit my laptop with a firewire port.

[spkguitar]

The problem is...I don think I can retrofit my laptop with a firewire port.

If that were true, then it couldn't have ever been "Pro Tools compatible". As far as I am aware, the 600m has a cardbus expansion slot that you can plug a PCMCIA firewire card into. I would recommend the Belkin F5U513V, as I have had success with that model.

On a laptop, you are going to need an qualified external firewire drive to be able to use Pro Tools, no matter what numeric version you are using. Period.

[normanvegan]

Wow
this is great info
would you believe I tried Dell support twice and they told me absolutely, positively that I couldn't put a firewire port in the 600m.
thanks

[normanvegan]

any particular firewire drive you'd recommend?

[spkguitar]

I usually recommend that you build your own. You would need to use an external case that has the Oxford 911 chipset in it.

I used to recommend the Bytecc 720f for the external case, but they are difficult to find these days.

My current recommendation is the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Enclosure. Put a drive of your choosing in there and you will be good to go. OWC also offers those cases with drives already in them, if you're feeling lazy.