File number limitation in Pro Tools

[Eric L]

Consider this a public service announcement for anyone unfortunate enough to experience what I went through this morning, on a mix day.

It seems that there is maximum allowed number of files in a Pro Tools session. Something to do with the OS addressing the files or something to that affect. Based on one forum post from 2008, the number appears to be around 32,768.

I never knew that. It seems to be missing from any documentation. This wouldn't be much of a problem, except for the way in which the software notifies you when you reach the limit. It doesn't. It just throws up a DAE 9022 error and stops processing the files that you are trying to either create (fades) or import (audio).

Since I don't know what error DAE 9022 means, I assume I have a bad fade file in the session. So I close the session, throw out the fades and relaunch, expecting to re-create fades.

A funny thing happens next, Pro Tools will not re-open the session. It just crashes each time I try to open it. So now I think I must have a corrupt track in the session. Ugh. We all know the only way around that is to import all your tracks, half at a time, into a new session until you find the bad track with the corrupt region. (Kinda like the old extension conflict test in os 9)

Well, of course that doesn't work either because that isn't really the problem. I get all the tracks imported but the task window starts throwing more DAE error 9022s at me. This is what sends me to google, and thus finding the forum thread about file number limitations.

The best part of all this is coming next. The logical step to fix this is to break up my mix session from all 5 reels to one reel per session, then selecting unused and removing from the sessions so that I'm not over the limit. Except that Pro Tools crashes every single time when trying to remove the files from the session.

Next step, make new sessions for each reel, then import the newly split out tracks into the session, copying only the files needed for each timeline. This works out fine, after Pro Tools re-renders every single fade file for whatever reason it feels it has to.

2.5 hours later I can resume mixing. 2.5 hours of clients wondering when we will get started. 2.5 hours that I have to give to them for free. 2.5 hours charged at dub stage rates.

I can appreciate the fact that the programmers never expected this to be an issue. I mean, who in the world will build a session with 32000 files in it? That person is just asking for trouble, right?

Pro Tools offers warning dialogues for all kinds of things. Auto created regions, exceeding the number of tracks etc. The System usage window is helpful in planning a session, except in this area. The lack of a clear description of this limitation cost me and my company valuable time today. Literally.

I'm sure in Pro Tools 10, this is not a problem since fade files are gone and they are by far the biggest bloat in file numbers. But if Pro Tools keeps increasing it's ability to play more and more tracks for longer time, maybe some documentation in this area would be warranted. At lease a clear message that says

" You have exceeded the maximum number of allowable files in this session."

That would have saved a lot of headache today.

Thanks for reading, I hope this info helps some other poor mixer in the future.

[Postman]

Hi Eric,

I ran up against the limit during a film two years ago. The large majority of files were fade files.

Yeah, it would have helped to have some sort of "helpful" error message, something better than a stinking error number. I feel your pain.

[The Cargo Cult]

fixed in PT10 I believe

[Dism]

Originally Posted by maggot

fixed in PT10 I believe

Especially considering fade files are a thing of the past.

[Eric L]

Originally Posted by maggot

fixed in PT10 I believe

Great news. $1000 per system. I have 10 systems. I know, a different thread.

Thanks for the support Postman. Sorry to hear about your own upgrade issue. Marketing departments are evil.

[duckandcover]

anyone know if this issue affects both mac and pc or if it's just an OSX issue?