POWER OUTAGE... NOW SONG WON'T OPEN?

mellotron · Post by **mellotron** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:50 pm

I was saving as song to disc when our neighborhood's power went out at the same time. That particular song now will not open... it says "Digital Performer is having trouble reading the file from the disc". Needless to say I'm kind of freaking out because it's a lot of work and a 15 gig file. I'm copying the file to a new drive as I type this. I use DP 5.12 on a dual G5 dual 1.8 MAC (Tiger). Any help would be appreciated... especially since i just found out there's no more Unicornation??? Thanks in advance!

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 6:26 pm

There may be a chance that someone at MOTU could open it. If you find Magic Dave (a MOTU employee), he may have some advice for that. Or just call tech support and see if they can help.

Shooshie

newrigel · Post by **newrigel** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:56 pm

I think a UPS is the most important and required piece of equipment you could buy.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 11:54 pm

mellotron wrote:... especially since i just found out there's no more Unicornation???

Take a look up at the banner at the top of this page. See the part where it reads "formerly Unicornation?" You're in the right place. Just changed the name is all.

mellotron · Post by **mellotron** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:39 am

James Steele wrote:
mellotron wrote:... especially since i just found out there's no more Unicornation???
Take a look up at the banner at the top of this page. See the part where it reads "formerly Unicornation?" You're in the right place. Just changed the name is all.

Cool... James, sorry about that, I was in a hurry and didn't see the print, I just noticed it didn't come up in google. Do you have any idea how to solve this kind of problem? Or do you or does anyone know if there are any other expert techs like the previously mentioned "Magic Dave"? who could possibly help me dig in and remove the corrupted files and open up the song? As I'm sure is the same for a lot of you working on something right now, I have a lot time and hard work wrapped up in this one... Thanks to all!

twistedtom · Post by **twistedtom** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 6:36 am

Do not give up all hope but it may be damaged beyond repair. newrigel is so right about a UPS back up unit. The battery allows you to finish what your doing and then shut down. I have them on both my computers. Make sure you get one that is big enough to power all the gear you need to keep running. Some people save as a copy then the first copy is not over written so you only loose your latest version. With OS 10.6 Time Machine it can be a life saver, I know this personally.

newrigel · Post by **newrigel** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 7:20 am

If the mac didn't shut down gracefully... it's pretty much a 90% chance that your DP document is corrupt. It's happened to me one time... and that was all it took for me put out the $$ for a UPS that not only protects data, but my hardware investment too.
Like I said, if you use computers, a UPS should be right up there in necessity with a monitor IMHO. I know this isn't a fix, but hopefully this is a wake-up call towards this inevitable fact of computing... the power WILL go out.
DP has an auto save feature (v.7) and I recommend if your hardware and workflow can handle it, use it.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 7:38 am

Learn from my mistake re: UPS.

I bought an APC 900 and hooked up my old G4 and 2 monitors. Rather than keep the system running during an outage, it would overload and shut everything down on it's own!

So, make sure you get a big enough unit to handle the load of what you want to keep powered in your studio.

Perhaps mine was defective...I did the math and it seemed like 900 Watts should have been enough.

Maybe some other members can offer recommendations of UPSs that they like.

Buzzy

Sorry about your present dilemma.

newrigel · Post by **newrigel** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:11 am

buzzsmith wrote:Learn from my mistake re: UPS.

I bought an APC 900 and hooked up my old G4 and 2 monitors. Rather than keep the system running during an outage, it would overload and shut everything down on it's own!

So, make sure you get a big enough unit to handle the load of what you want to keep powered in your studio.

Perhaps mine was defective...I did the math and it seemed like 900 Watts should have been enough.

Maybe some other members can offer recommendations of UPSs that they like.

Buzzy

Sorry about your present dilemma.

Interesting... I have an APC 1500va (865 watts) and I can run my monitor and Mac pro for about 10 minutes (with a heavy load) no problem but that's all I have on it. You don't want to put everything you own on it, just the monitor and the box. Mine is set up to automatically shut down and it works perfect without any needed drivers or software. I just have it connected with a USB and in power management, it noticed the APC.
I noticed you said an APC 900. Mine is a 1500va and it has 865 watts. FWIW, yours was a bit small if it was an APC 900. The name doesn't reflect it's output. It's only 540 watts.
You need at least 800 watts for a Mac tower. And the G5's I think are a bit more.
Mac towers have 800 to 1000 watt power supplies in them.
They aren't really designed to use your computer during a power outage for any extended period of time, more for just making sure you achieve a graceful shut down and that's what keeps your data and hardware protected. Mine is set up to save and quit all applications and shut down after a minute of power outage automatically.

buzzsmith · Post by **buzzsmith** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 8:40 am

newrigel wrote: Interesting... I have an APC 1500va (865 watts) and I can run my monitor and Mac pro for about 10 minutes (with a heavy load) no problem but that's all I have on it. You don't want to put everything you own on it, just the monitor and the box. Mine is set up to automatically shut down and it works perfect without any needed drivers or software. I just have it connected with a USB and in power management, it noticed the APC.
I noticed you said an APC 900. Mine is a 1500va and it has 865 watts. FWIW, yours was a bit small if it was an APC 900. The name doesn't reflect it's output. It's only 540 watts.
You need at least 800 watts for a Mac tower. And the G5's I think are a bit more.
Mac towers have 800 to 1000 watt power supplies in them.
They aren't really designed to use your computer during a power outage for any extended period of time, more for just making sure you achieve a graceful shut down and that's what keeps your data and hardware protected. Mine is set up to save and quit all applications and shut down after a minute of power outage automatically.

Being a novice at UPSs, I think that was my mistake. I saw the 900 and figured that was the load it could handle. I forget now what the actual capability of the unit is/was. (Just noticed you said 540.)

Even when I disconnected everything but the Mac and it's accompanying monitor (powered by the Mac) it still went into overload.

I'm on a new system now, and I need to get the UPS, just need to decide which one. All I want is (as you say) enough time to gracefully shutdown.

Thanks...

Buzzy

Radiogal · Post by **Radiogal** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 11:13 am

UPS for sure!
I run 3 of them on all critical equipment in my studio.

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:31 pm

.

Spending big bucks on something as unglamorous as UPSs might not seem that interesting, but they will save your arse eventually.

One of my first pro audio purchases were a couple of big Tripp-lite UPS units (and proper grounding/electrical installation). At that time I'd rather have spent that money on something else, but I'm glad I was well advised regarding them. ESPECIALLY in a place with unlimited power surges and horrible/terrible electicity service, like in my "beloved" (yeah, right ) city.

newrigel · Post by **newrigel** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 1:39 pm

If you use computers... the data is everything and if you don't invest in your data integrity, your screwed!

FMiguelez · Post by **FMiguelez** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:16 pm

newrigel wrote:If you use computers... the data is everything and if you don't invest in your data integrity, your screwed!

Agreed.

And that goes not only for UPSs, but also for cloning system drives twice, and doing data backups twice constantly, ideally having at least one set of the redundant backups in an OFF SITE LOCATION.

Also, one should do something about anything else that might destroy your data or your way of making a living (theft, fire, earthquakes, etc.).
An insurance won't get your data back, but you won't have to worry. You'd have 2 sets of backups safely stored away and the insurance company would pay you money, helping you avoid going out of business for losing everything!

mellotron · Post by **mellotron** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 9:10 am

Thanks to all for advice about how to prevent problems in the future. UPS... yes, I'll be looking into UPS... thanks. I already have 1 or 2 back ups for every song I'm working on, but s**t happens... I've had setbacks and holdups, but I've never lost a song or file in 10 years of doing this almost everyday.

Now, does anybody have any experience with opening this kind of file? Something similar like this happened once to me about 7 years ago (not a power outage, but a file that wouldn't open) and I was able to get it resolved, but that required paying a Digital Performer expert/tech to come to my studio and spend half the day, which cost a fortune, but which ended up being worth it.

Thanks again!

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