DP Projects Folder on main system HD; Bad?

[cbergm7210]

Hi guys.

I keep all my DP Project files on my main system HD. All samples, audio, etc are all spread out on other drives.

In your opinion, is this wearing out my system drive much quicker, or is the wear and tear of DP accessing the actual project file minimal?

I never thought about this, I just always assumed that the majority of disk access would be for accessing audio, VI's and samples.

Thoughts?

Chris

[Dan Walsh]

I keep all my projects on an external drive so that only the main drive utilizes the DP program. Then, if you have a meltdown, all the projects are still safe on the external drive and you can re-install DP on your main brain. Plus I think (I'm no expert) your main drive doesn't work work as hard while workin' with DP

I'm sure others will chime in.....

[mhschmieder]

Although the bandwidth of what is written is probably smaller than for audio files, the sheer volume of reads/writes is much larger for the project file (especially if you do a paranoid save after practically every operation, as I do).

OTOH I'm not sure where the scratch area is for DP for its Undo buffer etc. (although there is an Undo directory in the projects, I think that's only for stuff that gets marked during interim Save operations?).

Perhaps the location of the scratch buffer is dependent on which drive the Project file is located on?

Unless there is a performance ADVANTAGE to putting the Project file on the system disc, I can see of no reason to complicate project bookkeeping by separating project files and folders from audio files that they use.

[toodamnhip]

Exactly, putting the session file on the main sys disk is just unnecessary complexity and , POSSIBLY, work for your system drive.

Remember, the system drive gets busy with various system oriented tasks. This business is the reason we use external drives, that and the fact that some buy super fast external drives for disk access improvement. Leave the sys drive to do SYSTEM house keeping.

Store your sess file in a folder in an "audio" drive.

[newrigel]

What do you do when you go to back the sessions up? And do you mean the DP session document only, or the complete session folder? It's best to keep everything in ONE folder to be able to move or copy it for any reason (back up maybe?) but the default folder (path) is the "audio files" folder in the "session" folder itself (with the DSP analysis files, UNDO, fades etc.) and splitting it up all over the place is just asking for problems. If you happen to do a "save as" your going to have to locate the files unless you "duplicate audio" in which you'll have copies of the same thing so it's kinda counter intuitive. What if you want to back up the session? Instead of pointing you BU SW to the volume to BU your going to have to set the paths to each folder etc. and that is a PITA!
Get a small fast HD for your sessions only (WD Raptor 36 GB 10k or a small capacity SSD) and then you can BU painlessly and you'll get way better performance overall.

[toodamnhip]

What do you do when you go to back the sessions up? And do you mean the DP session document only, or the complete session folder? It's best to keep everything in ONE folder to be able to move or copy it for any reason (back up maybe?) but the default folder (path) is the "audio files" folder in the "session" folder itself (with the DSP analysis files, UNDO, fades etc.) and splitting it up all over the place is just asking for problems. If you happen to do a "save as" your going to have to locate the files unless you "duplicate audio" in which you'll have copies of the same thing so it's kinda counter intuitive. What if you want to back up the session? Instead of pointing you BU SW to the volume to BU your going to have to set the paths to each folder etc. and that is a PITA!
Get a small fast HD for your sessions only (WD Raptor 36 GB 10k or a small capacity SSD) and then you can BU painlessly and you'll get way better performance overall.

You back sessions up on DIFFERENT drives than where they were recorded.
If you have a big enough system drive, you can create a back up folder on your system drive and back up from the audio drive to the system drive.
Keep all project files in ONE folder, on the audio drive. The only time you need audio on a sperarate drive or on more than one drive is in the event that you have too much audio for one drive and need to split it among several drives to handle so many tracks.

[cbergm7210]

Guys, I think I owe an apology. My DP Projects folder is not on the system drive. I read another post that made me think about some other apps that store their info on the system drive and I should've thought a minute before posting.

My only excuse is that I got home from the hospital from an appendectomy that was a particularly nasty one (Gangrenous, turned me septic, my surgeon tells me) and I haven't been at work in front of DP for three weeks until now. The pain killers must be doing a number on me cause I know full well what drive I keep all my projects on as DP is my bread and butter software 40 hours a week.

Next time I'll wait to recover and off the drugs before posting anything. How embarrassing. Please forgive me.



I've updated my avatar in light of my recent operation. (Actual appendix, don't ask how I got a picture of it.)

Chris