Upgraded to Intels and DP6 - wont recognize old DP5 files

Indellable · Post by **Indellable** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 10:29 am

Hello -
I recently upgraded from a G5 PowerPC running DP5 to an iMac with intels running DP6. I am not able to load any of my old sessions. I'm assuming (hoping) there has to be a fix? On the intel it shows all my old session files as "Unix Executable Files" but if I open the same ones on my old G5 they show up as "Digital Performer Project Document". Any ideas?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 12:22 pm

How did you transfer the files to the new computer? If it was via any sort of media formatted for a windows machine you might have made the unrecognizable by DP. I can't remember the fix. You might need to recopy them from the original drive where they last opened properly.

You might also try renaming the file and adding ".perf" or ".prf" as the file extension. I vaguely recall that working sometimes.

synchro · Post by **synchro** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 2:45 pm

Is each one of your Digital Performer 5 projects coming over to your new iMac stored in folder for each project?

One trick I've done is store each project in an additional folder with the date and other info to further 'protect' the files from getting mixed up.

In doing this, I've been able to successfully open Digital Performer 5.13 projects in Digital Performer 7.01 (haven't upgraded to 7.1 yet) with no problems.

I hope you are eventually able to bring your files over and open them without issue.

Indellable · Post by **Indellable** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 4:26 pm

Thanks for the replies. I changed the extension to ".perf" on my templates and they opened fine. However, when I try this with an actual session file I get the following error:

"An error occured while reading from the disk. The file NAME.perf was not loaded. While reading audio file "10 Audio Track.aiff", MacOS error: Resource file was not found (-193)"

???

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 5:27 pm

Did you ever have the files on a disc that was formatted for Windows or another OS?

Indellable · Post by **Indellable** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 7:38 pm

Not knowingly - but maybe so b/c I just dragged them to an external drive that my wife uses on a PC.

Assuming this may be a problem? Should I just buy a new external drive, plug it in to the PowerPC and get the files again. Then transfer them to the iMac? Am I mising any steps? Really appreciate the help so far.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 7:53 pm

Indellable wrote:Not knowingly - but maybe so b/c I just dragged them to an external drive that my wife uses on a PC.

Assuming this may be a problem? Should I just buy a new external drive, plug it in to the PowerPC and get the files again. Then transfer them to the iMac? Am I mising any steps? Really appreciate the help so far.

That's probably the issue right there. The drive was formatted to be read by a Windows machine but you probably lost the resource forks for the files. It's a Mac-specific thing and it's being phased out, but that's probably what you're dealing with.

You could buy another drive and then format it from a Mac for Mac OS. Or if your wife doesn't need what's on the drive, format it from your Mac, then use it, then format it again from your wife's PC so she can use it again.

Also, there might be a way to network the two machines together to transfer the files?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Sun Dec 05, 2010 8:32 pm

Ahhhh... Just thought of one thing you can do. Archive your projects folders into ZIP archives before transferring to the Windows-formatted drive. Then transfer to your new Mac's drive and then expand them.

Compressing your files into ZIP archives will preserve the resource forks while on the Windows format drive.

Indellable · Post by **Indellable** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:50 am

Thanks so much James - I'm dying to try this as soon as I can get back in.

James - as an update - zipping the files worked like a charm. Great advice. Thank you so much!

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