Drive too slow errors (while disk usage at 0%)

[Frank Kruse]

Hi,

I often get drive too slow errors while the disk usage is at 0% because the timeline is fully cached. How is that?
Everything playing from RAM but PT says "can't get audio fast enough from drive because it might be too fragmented"?



Frank.

[ronwasserman]

Perhaps your drive is going bad? Is there at least 30% free space on it?

[sw rec]

Is that a (REQUIRED!) separate dedicated recording drive, or are you attempting to record to your system drive?

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by Frank Kruse

Hi,

I often get drive too slow errors while the disk usage is at 0% because the timeline is fully cached. How is that?
Everything playing from RAM but PT says "can't get audio fast enough from drive because it might be too fragmented"?



Frank.

You have ram going bad maybe?

[sw rec]

No to belabor the point, but if you're trying to record to the system drive, it's going to give you exactly this kind of fits. A dedicated audio drive is a must. From the PT compatibility page:
http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/c...m-Requirements

Audio Drive Requirements: One or More Hard Disk Drives Dedicated for Audio Record and Playback
System Hard Drive: Minimum 15GB free space on startup drive required for Pro Tools installation
Please note that they are treating the AUDIO and SYSTEM drives exactly as they are. Separate. This is one of the many places with Pro Tools where you can't take a shortcut.

[rockridge]

Originally Posted by Frank Kruse

Hi,

I often get drive too slow errors while the disk usage is at 0% because the timeline is fully cached. How is that?

I know the error is about audio, and after 4000 plus posts, I'll assume you have a dedicated audio drive, but could your system drive be on it's way out?
You might think, it's all in ram... shouldn't matter, but I've had all sorts of drive reading/writing issues... when it turned out to be the system drive.

[Frank Kruse]

0) I've been using PT since v4.3 and I know about the requirements, thanks.
1) I'm not recording
2) I'm playing back from an internal SATA drive
3) The same session runs just fine under 10 (no drive too slow errors)
4) Unlike 10 PT11 will pop up a "too slow" error pretty much every time I trim a clip while It's playing back (entirely from RAM). Something I do all the time in 10 with gigantic sessions.

It somehow reminds me of the time when we get constant 9073 errors till AVID fixed it. (see those huge threads about 9073 from some time ago).
The error seems to be back in 11. Not sure.

Generally I was wondering why PT says it can not get audio fast enough from the drive when 100% of the timeline is cached.

Frank.

[ronwasserman]

Originally Posted by Frank Kruse

0) I've been using PT since v4.3 and I know about the requirements, thanks.
1) I'm not recording
2) I'm playing back from an internal SATA drive
3) The same session runs just fine under 10 (no drive too slow errors)
4) Unlike 10 PT11 will pop up a "too slow" error pretty much every time I trim a clip while It's playing back (entirely from RAM). Something I do all the time in 10 with gigantic sessions.

It somehow reminds me of the time when we get constant 9073 errors till AVID fixed it. (see those huge threads about 9073 from some time ago).
The error seems to be back in 11. Not sure.

Generally I was wondering why PT says it can not get audio fast enough from the drive when 100% of the timeline is cached.

Frank.

What if you tried opening those gigantic sessions from an external drive using PT11 and see what happens. Even a USB drive at 5200 RPMs should work.

[Craig F]

Frank, file type?
I seem to remember you use MXF audio a lot.

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by Craig F

Frank, file type?
I seem to remember you use MXF audio a lot.

BWAV, 48k, 24bit. split-mono.