Trashing prefs....why?

[audiogeekzine]

Why do we have to trash preferences and databases so often?
PT is the only program I know of where we need to do that.

Whats up with that!?

[DigiTechSupt]

How often is 'so often'?

Pro Tools isn't the only application that requires this on occasion. Any audio or video application can suffer from corrupted preferences - Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, etc. all have procedures for doing so. In fact, ANY application can suffer from this - the one you use the most is likely the one that will have the problem most frequently.

[mano111]

You don't.
If this is a must on a regular basis you might have another problem, like bad HD, or even a virus that is consistantly causing these files to become corrupted.
What problem are you having that makes you trash them so often?

[rossi68]

I saw a clever guy over in the macHD forum had written a little program that automated the trashing.
Only for mac I'm afraid, so, all you programmers out there, ............please..........

[spkguitar]

I saw a clever guy over in the macHD forum had written a little program that automated the trashing.
Only for mac I'm afraid, so, all you programmers out there, ............please..........

Digidesign already created one. It's part of the Tech Support Utility that is included in the Tech Support folder (linked from the General Troubleshooting thread). It's not really "automatic" (and quite honestly, shouldn't be) but it allows you to do it with one keypress.

[GTBannah]

How often is 'so often'?

Pro Tools isn't the only application that requires this on occasion. Any audio or video application can suffer from corrupted preferences - Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, etc. all have procedures for doing so. In fact, ANY application can suffer from this - the one you use the most is likely the one that will have the problem most frequently.

So I should be doing that in SONAR at last once a week then? (Sorry, I couldn't let that pass)

[audiogeekzine]

How often is 'so often'?

Pro Tools isn't the only application that requires this on occasion. Any audio or video application can suffer from corrupted preferences - Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, etc. all have procedures for doing so. In fact, ANY application can suffer from this - the one you use the most is likely the one that will have the problem most frequently.

Two days ago I was doing some mixing, got an error saying backup couldn't be saved, then I couldn't save the session and then couldn't exit.
I forced PT to quit from the task manager.
Trashed the prefs and database folders as per general troubleshooting thread.
Started it up and got back to work.
Today I'm having a problem opening a session, I'm getting C++ errors, access violation etc.
Thank god (and digi) for auto backups in this case as trashing the prefs didn't fix the issue. Kinda takes the fun out of mixing when you've got to troubleshoot before you start. (when nothing has changed from one day to the next)


Really though, what is the cause of it?
defragging drives?
Anti-virus scans?

[Sabe]

Are you using a Tranzport device by chance? I started having these exact same errors after installing Tranzport. I couldn't save backups, open sessions, C++ errors, etc... I trashed the ProTools Prefs, made no difference at all.

I uninstalled Tranzport, Protools works beautifully now.

Just checking to see if there is a common issue here.

[audiogeekzine]

nope no control surface at all.
I'll post a real error report/help thread if the problem persists and i haven't switched fully to Sonar.

[EGS]

I very rarely need to trash mine. Have you done ALL of the steps in the General Troubleshooting "stickey"? Problems are often solved by performing each and every one of those steps - to the letter.