pt8 calculating overviews - backup nightmare

[sammyfarr]

Just posted this in another forum but thought i might get some more useful info here...

After pt8 calculates all the overviews from a pt7 project, it changes the "date modified" for every file on the timeline. This makes my backup software (synchronize pro x and retrospect) back up all audio files again. It's extremely frustrating as simple mix fixes from a pt7 project (done it pt8) now require all the audio to be backed up again. i found this out at 5am this morning. i was expecting to backup a few hundred megabytes and was seriously surprised that i had to backup about 30gig of audio files that had already been backed up months ago.

Does anyone know of a way to avoid this happening or are we stuck with all this useless extra data?

Cheers

Sam

[Studio Dweller]

I experienced the same thing and was wondering why all of the audio files in the project I was working on had new modification dates. This was also a project that was started on PT v7.4

[drenkrom]

Now that you know it'll do this next time, after you retrieve your session, keep a copy of it untouched. Do whatever it was you retrieved the session to do and, before backing that up, take the Audio Files folder from your retrieve (with dates intact) and replace the "updated" Audio Files folder with it, being careful to transfer over any new audio files you created beforehand. Retrospect will not back your audio up but it will be in the snapshot the next time you have to retrieve. Of course, this way PT will recalculate everything every time you take out a given session, but you're still gaining some time.

I still hope there's a more elegant way of getting around this.

[sammyfarr]

Originally Posted by drenkrom

Now that you know it'll do this next time, after you retrieve your session, keep a copy of it untouched. Do whatever it was you retrieved the session to do and, before backing that up, take the Audio Files folder from your retrieve (with dates intact) and replace the "updated" Audio Files folder with it, being careful to transfer over any new audio files you created beforehand. Retrospect will not back your audio up but it will be in the snapshot the next time you have to retrieve. Of course, this way PT will recalculate everything every time you take out a given session, but you're still gaining some time.

I still hope there's a more elegant way of getting around this.

This is a really good idea but the main problem with it is, if i do one fix today, then another tomorrow and then the next day, im going to have to go through this process each time as i backup at the end of every day. Im usually pretty tired by the time im doing the backup and dont know if i trust myself to be messing around with all the audio files probably safer to just back it up again

although i have an album done in pt7.4 thats almost finished and is over 400gig. If there are tweaks to do to a lot of those mixes i will definitely give your method a go.

Thanks for your help

Sam

[DigiTechSupt]

Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't you want it to back up all your files again, given that the new waveform overview data is now updated in the audio file?

[sammyfarr]

Originally Posted by DigiTechSupt

Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't you want it to back up all your files again, given that the new waveform overview data is now updated in the audio file?

It's definitely simpler to back it all up again, it just seems a little excessive to have to backup gigabytes of audio files when perhaps all you've changed is the level of a vocal. It just means there's gonna be a few weeks of heavy backing up. doesn't really matter, I guess clients will have to pay for more ait tapes

[DigiTechSupt]

Originally Posted by sammyfarr

It's definitely simpler to back it all up again, it just seems a little excessive to have to backup gigabytes of audio files when perhaps all you've changed is the level of a vocal. It just means there's gonna be a few weeks of heavy backing up. doesn't really matter, I guess clients will have to pay for more ait tapes

Yes, true, but think of it this way - if you don't back them up and your drive crashes, you're going to have to go through waiting for all the overviews to be recalculated again.

Is this not something you could have running (backing up) overnight? That's all I did - opened each session and let the waveforms recalculate, save it, then set my backup routine to occur overnight. Painless!

[sammyfarr]

Originally Posted by DigiTechSupt

Yes, true, but think of it this way - if you don't back them up and your drive crashes, you're going to have to go through waiting for all the overviews to be recalculated again.

Is this not something you could have running (backing up) overnight? That's all I did - opened each session and let the waveforms recalculate, save it, then set my backup routine to occur overnight. Painless!

I use synchronize x to make a safety of my master drive incase the master crashes, then i run retrospect on the safety drive overnight. so i still gotta wait around while synchronize x does its thing. gonna be a late one tonight as we've done tweaks to 10 tracks that were started in 7.4. not exactly painless... but at least its not ongoing.

Thanks for chiming in

Sam

[drenkrom]

I personally used this method when revising a session backed up to a catalog that was getting to the end of a DLTape. Backing up all audio again would've put a new DLT in circulation for a few gigs of data in a catalog I don't back up to anymore. A minute of waveform recalculations is not worth 90$ to me.

Unless a client pays me 90$/min, of course...

[Mark Dann]

Yes, for tape drives this is a real drag. Because nothing gets overwritten on a tape, the backup has now just doubled in size. Not to mention the additional wear and tear on both the drive and the tapes.