Frustrating copy protection

[edwinh]

I don't know if there is anything to be done about this, but I just have to vent. I've had 7.12 on my Macbook Pro since it came out. Never any problems. Tonight I go to a gig and all of a sudden it wants the install disc and key code again. It worked fine the last time I booted it up and I have not changed a thing on my computer. Of course, the install disc is safely at home. I'm screwed. I legitimately own this software, and yet I can't use it. In these scenarios, I would gladly put up with an iLok or some sort of internet activation. I don't want to have to lug around my install disc and risk losing it in the venues in which I record. I really hate that copy protection ends up punishing the people who abide by the rules and pay the money for the software. If anything, copy protection like this is an incentive to use cracked software.

So, has anyone done anything like create a disk image on their hard drive of the install disc? It's an inane waste of HD space, but it would alleviate the severe problems caused by issues like this. Or perhaps I could make copies of my install disc and put them in all of my gear bags.

Any ideas to deal with this or even comments in commiseration are welcome. Meanwhile, I'm going to let MOTU know how I feel.

Feh.

[kassonica]

Thats pretty strange, in over 7 years of DP from 4 onwards, it's never happened to me..


Just lucky I guess.

[James Steele]

Never had it happen to me either. Ever. Did you change time zones on the computer? Sometimes that will cause it.

As Site Admin I'd caution you on making statements encouraging the use of cracked software. Regardless of your incentive it is not justified.

[newrigel]

What will you do when your HD takes a dump?
I always have a backup drive with an image of my HD on it. Just part of the territory.

[Frodo]

What will you do when your HD takes a dump?
I always have a backup drive with an image of my HD on it. Just part of the territory.

Taking a back up HD is one thing, but it's a far cry to anticipate that DP won't boot all of a sudden and to tote the actual install disc and manual (ie: serial number) with you everywhere you go.

And how does one anticipate this happening with any one of their VIs or plugins? What if those products were downloads? All the confirmation e-mails would have to be toted as well.

Honestly, in Snow Leopard I've seen a lot of things un-authorize themselves for no apparent reason. In some cases it is a very simple issue of not being to log into a website. In other cases it's a matter of OSX telling me that I'm not authorized to run software that was registered and authorized and up and running for weeks/months.

I'm just saying that there is a legit problem with this which goes beyond a simple "duh". It's all meaningless until you've been through it.

[newrigel]

If you do mission critical computing you hopefully understand that what can happen will @ the most inconvenient time. Just be prepared. SL isn't working? There's always Leo.

[n2mpujack]

What will you do when your HD takes a dump?
I always have a backup drive with an image of my HD on it. Just part of the territory.

If you read the op's message you'll find he's on a laptop. If he's got other stuff hung off the lone FW port there might not be enough bandwidth to handle the external boot drive and whatever's on there.

[stephentayler]

Actually when my MBP hard drive went down, I managed to run a boot drive on the FW buss and an audio drive using an eSATA through a PCI card.... the external boot drive (a small portable FW400 thing) was reinstalled from a Time Machine backup.... worked a treat. But then I always take backup kit when I am away from home on a gig. Paid off on this occasion.

But I do also carry my install discs and serial numbers as well. I just can't afford to fail on the kind of projects I do.

Cheers

Stephen

[edwinh]

Never had it happen to me either. Ever. Did you change time zones on the computer? Sometimes that will cause it.

As Site Admin I'd caution you on making statements encouraging the use of cracked software. Regardless of your incentive it is not justified.

Thanks for the warning, James. You are absolutely correct and I would never advocate using cracked software, nor would I in reality use it myself. I hope you can sympathize with my 3AM frustration. It is possible that the time zones got shifted. I am wondering if booting into bootcamp might have caused it. I will be doing some experiments with that.

Stephen, I prepared for such a thing with an external drive from which to boot, but my older MBP with an expresscard slot went down for the third time and last month, Apple got tired of fixing it and gave me a brand new i5 MBP with no express card slot. I am skeptical if I could get away with running off an external FW drive and have bandwidth for my Metric Halo interfaces plus a recording drive. So, I didn't bring that drive with me.

Newrigel: I don't think the new MBPs will run on Leo. I loved my previous MBP for its versatility and miss the expresscard slot, but given the flakiness (3 motherboard failures in less than 3 years?!), I'm hoping that the move to a newer one will be a good thing. I thought about getting another used one of that vintage, but this way I didn't have to open my wallet and I can get Apple Care and be covered for another 3 years. I certainly do understand that things can go south at any time, and if it is mission critical work, I do have backups.

Luckily this was a project that didn't really incur and financial loss or permanent ire of the band when DP failed (Metric Halo's record panel is my first choice for audio capture anyway), but it made the logistics much more challenging. If I am away from home for more than a night, I usually do bring install discs, but things should just work from day to day. Oh, wait, these are computers. Right. Oh well, it's a new day and DP is once again up and running. Happy fourth, everyone!

[FMiguelez]

.

This has never ever happened to me with DP, but things like Recycle were pretty notorious for doing it at the least convenient moment possible. VERY annoying.

So all these copy protection schemes are yet ANOTHER thing we must thank those stupid pirates and thieves for. In a perfect world, where everyone's honest and pays for what one uses, these measures wouldn't be necessary.

Thank you pirates! I hope you burn!

Anyway, I always thought that those of you who perform live with computers always, as a rule, had a backup computer running in tandem in the background in such a way that if the first one messes up, then the second one would kick in seamlessly?

An iLok protection scheme for DP would probably solve this. That's why I've always thought it would be great that MOTU adopts it (or eLicenser). Really. It's a breeze to deal with those things. Just take care of your key, and these problems should go. Well.... at least in theory...

[newrigel]

What will you do when your HD takes a dump?
I always have a backup drive with an image of my HD on it. Just part of the territory.

If you read the op's message you'll find he's on a laptop. If he's got other stuff hung off the lone FW port there might not be enough bandwidth to handle the external boot drive and whatever's on there.

No what you do is take everything off and re-image the drive... you'll still need DP install disc to authorize but a DP serial is pretty easy to remember and there's ways of having it handy especially if your mission critical. I keep mine at all times if on location. And there is NOTHING wrong with making a backup CD of your purchased software... nothing!
And another thing... iloks have issues too so nothing is bullet proof in this game and, if he's wanting ilok then he has an open USB port to push an image from a backup drive...
he can either:
A) re-image the drive if it's corrupt or
B) just have a backup drive (CCC'd clone) and drop it in.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I have had this happen to me but only after some alteration to the system. Cold comfort.

[n2mpujack]

What will you do when your HD takes a dump?
I always have a backup drive with an image of my HD on it. Just part of the territory.

If you read the op's message you'll find he's on a laptop. If he's got other stuff hung off the lone FW port there might not be enough bandwidth to handle the external boot drive and whatever's on there.

No what you do is take everything off and re-image the drive... you'll still need DP install disc to authorize but a DP serial is pretty easy to remember and there's ways of having it handy especially if your mission critical. I keep mine at all times if on location. And there is NOTHING wrong with making a backup CD of your purchased software... nothing!
And another thing... iloks have issues too so nothing is bullet proof in this game and, if he's wanting ilok then he has an open USB port to push an image from a backup drive...
he can either:
A) re-image the drive if it's corrupt or
B) just have a backup drive (CCC'd clone) and drop it in.

Once again you manage to not answer what's in a post. If you wanted to make a general response there is/was no need to quote my post. What you posted has NO relation to what I posted.

[newrigel]

If you think iLok is the best thing for DP, you MUST have a spare USB port. So then hook a bootable USB drive to your laptop and get on with it.

[newrigel]

Once again you manage to not answer what's in a post.

And you did? Things break so get ready for it.