Setting up 002 for the first time

[powerjoe]

First, please allow me to thank all of you for your kind and generous assistance. It is with your help and advice that I finally had a custom computer built to run PTLE with my DIGI 002.

Now, I am setting up for the first time and would like to know the following: (don't laugh)
Also, I have 3 80G WD 7200 Deluxe HD's all on their seperate cable and channel of the Promise controller. The Promise Controller is rated for up to 3 terabytes. No RAID on this bad boy.

1. Should I install PTLE and all the additional software plugins on the same drive that I will be storing and editing PTLE sessions on? Or, should I install all the software on my main "C" or Windows OS drive and use the two other drives just for storage?

2. What should I set my Virtual Memory file size to? I hear this can be a pain.
(I have done an msconfig to remove everything not needed)
3. How much will it help to rid my system of any ethernet adapters?

Here is my system now:
TTGI Black Aluminum case.
Sparkle 400 12V ATX Power Supply.
Asus A7N8X nForce2 DDR400 AGP/LAN/USB2.0 -Mainboard.
2 Kouwell IOFLEX -FW4PCI to FIREWIRE Cards on independant buses.
AMD Athalon XP2700 (2.167GB) 333FSB (retail).
PowerColor Radeon 9000 Gold 128MB.
1024 MB of PC2700 333MHZ DDR RAM.
Lite on 52x/24x/52x/ CD-RW.
3, 80GB Western Digital Special Edition 8MB -Cache 7200 RPM ATA/IDE Hard Drives.
Teac 1.44 floppy.
Lite on 16X DVD-ROM LTD-w/SW.
Promise Ultra 133 TX2 ATA-133 IDE Controller.

So, your thoughts please. I am mainly concerned about where to install the software and the Virtual Memory File Size limit. However, any tips and advice you can offer will be rewarded with a great big smile!

Thanks,

[J. FO]

you should install all your software on your system drive, and then save any sessions you do to a 2nd drive. you want to run the program from one dirve, but read sessions from another. this will improve performance. i'd designate the remaining drive as storage for completed sessions.

[IntelDoc]

I found that if I have the virtual memory on any other drive but the C: Drive, the systems really lags. I have it setup to have all applications and OS on the C: drive and then I have a drive partitioned just for SESSIONS. I seem to find that it works best that way. If it helps, this is how my system looks:

AMD 1800+ with 1.5 gigs of PC2700 ram
G-Force 3 Ti500 card for left monitor
ATI Radeon 8500 (PCI) for second monitor
(This setup works great BTW)
20 gig Maxtor 7200 RPM drive (OS and APPS)
60 GIG 7200RPM drive partitioned to 2 30 gig partitions. One for video post stuff and one for data.
60 Gig 7200rpm drive partitioned out to 2 30 gigs (again) One for Sessions, the other for backup. This seems to run very smooth for me,and helps keep things organized.
I am running XP Pro and have had little to no problems so far.

Hope that this helps some. Your setup seems to be a nice setup. If you are not running them in a RAID setup, I would recommend partitioning out 20 gigs and using that for your OS and apps. Then use the rest for storage. Set your Virtual drive to 1024 and 1 1/2 time that for max. That will work the best. I also recommend partitioning those other 2 80 gig drives at least into 2 40 gig partitions. No need to search thru all that space all the time. You are not using RAID and at that size, even the speed it still the lim factor.

Hope this helps. Just some things that I have seen working with the 4 systems I use at home. I have one machine that has 180 gigs of MP3's on it and the other has 20+ gigs of loops and data storage. Mainly a animation monster for use with MAYA, etc. The other is a server for website and virus scanner. So I have dabbled with it some to see what works... Still new to PTLE a bit, but I use the same hardware ( 002, etc )

Good luck

[Phil O'Keefe]

Joel, with the 002, IRQ's are not quite as much of an issue as they are on the 001. You want to make sure that your firewire card is on its own IRQ and it isn't sharing an IRQ with anything else. Beyond shared IRQ's, you really don't need to worry about things too much.

As far as partitioning your C drive, that's up to you. I don't have my (60 GB) C drive partitioned, and it has not been a problem for me at all.

[powerjoe]

Hey Phil, have you needed to download the ASUS 1.16 package driver for your MOBO?
Are there MOBO drivers for this board that I should consider downloading? Also, how to I view my IRQ's?

Thanks!

[Allen Hallada]

Joel,
Let me give you my .02 cents. And that is probably what it will be worth here. If it were me I'd dedicate one drive C: as the system drive for OS and Apps and a second drive for audio only. Then for the third drive I would buy an external firewire/USB hard drive enclosure with an Oxford 911 chipset and put the third drive in this bad boy. I'd format the first two NTFS and the external drive FAT32. The external drive is your backup drive and for transporting sessions to other computers. Most Mac TDM and HD systems have firewire ports and FAT 32 formatting will allow them to read the drive. Macs don't read NTFS formatted drives.
I would get a backup program that backed up "My Documents", "My Pictures" etc. on the C: drive and the entire D: drive automatically every day to this external drive. Iomega made a good backup program at one time for this purpose and I believe it was a free download. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I would also back up any sessions that you just finished working on in PTLE. Most backup programs will allow you to do this at any time.
Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Allen Hallada]

For IRQ settings:
I get to mine easiest by going into Start/System Info/Hardware/IRQ.

You may need to go into Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Info/Hardware/IRQ

Allen [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[PDEES]

As usual, Allen has provided what works. I too have c: for system, by wd 80 8c for audio, and firewire for b/u. That's it. No worries.

[powerjoe]

Hey, thanks alot Allen. I really appreciate that. I am going to take your advice.

NOW!!! I have been trying to figure out how to even get started this evening and I can't even get the thing to record one bit of sound!
I know, I am the epitome of new, but for God sakes, where do I start. I tried to access the Protools online videos and they will not load. So I am flailing around here like a Pike with one gill and feel really stupid.
When I try to start something, like adding the d-verb, I get an error message that says "no audio tracks selected". Am I just missing something here? Of course I am. But what? I can't even get my original track windows to pop up. I am using a Dragonfly mic into channel number one. The record is selected and blinking but I have no sound. When I try to record, nothing plays back.
Man alive. I have just re-affirmed I am a complete idiot.
Help!!!

[powerjoe]

Man, I really feel stupid. But are there built in pre's for the 002? I thought there were but I cannot find them. I am trying to use a cool Drgonfly mic with this but I can't even get sound. I surely must have lost the braincells with common sense on them, because I can't even find the pre's. I thought there were digital Focusrite pre's in here somewhere, but I can't find them.
Yep, you're shakin' yer heads. I deserve it.