Session Data Interchange Format—Your Suggestions Please

Charles Dye · 28th November 2002

Archiving PT session material for storage + later retrieval is an issue that has been discussed at great length on many forums. I'd like to discuss a related, but separate question:

When transferring a PT session from one studio to another (across town, country or planet) what formats would you like to see as standards?

I feel the formats should be as close as possible to universal. IOW, most PT systems should be able to load the data without having to deal with third party software or additional hardware other than their computer and hard drives.

My preferences are:

SCSI or Firewire Hard Drives—making going to work essentially plug + play.
CD's—Even a 64 track session when consolidated with unused files removed will easily fit on 4 CD's, and these days every computer has the ability to read the data.
In the future DVD's—in a couple of years when most computers have DVD drives this will be an excellent way to transfer sessions.

When I send a session in the first two formats I feel very confident that I am not creating any problems for the studio on the other end and that they will get everything I want them to. The goal here is: no phone calls.

What are your preferences?

groundcontrol · 29th November 2002

Pretty much like you.

Firewire is definitely the #1 standard for PT studios in town right now. We're starting to see more DVD action lately.

Cannon Fo So · 29th November 2002

DVD data though is such an unreliable format compared to the rest its failure rate is so much higher then CDS. I really like firewire drives. But even a bare drive with no enclosure as long as its one I can aprove and support is cool.

NYC Drew · 29th November 2002

Quote:

Originally posted by Cannon Fo So
DVD data though is such an unreliable format compared to the rest its failure rate is so much higher then CDS. I really like firewire drives. But even a bare drive with no enclosure as long as its one I can aprove and support is cool.

Guys, I've never seen a "bare" firewire drive - sans enclosure. Any links by chance?

NYC Drew

Cannon Fo So · 29th November 2002

dirt cheapdrives.com. Ill tell ya what I do. I own a couple OWC Mecury elites. In one of em I leave the case off and just keep buying Western Digital bare drives and replacing it from project to project to save bands $$$$.

Tim Glasgow · 30th November 2002

Quote:

Originally posted by NYC Drew
Guys, I've never seen a "bare" firewire drive - sans enclosure. Any links by chance?

Check out Wiebetech' FireWire DriveDock at http://www.wiebetech.com. i suspect we'll be seeing a lot of them…

--t
[london, canada & echo cañon, nyc]

Jules · 30th November 2002

Firewire Hot swap sounds cool to me!

I get 64 tracks + massive edit density of one SCSI hot swap drive..

Can I do that with firewire???

groundcontrol · 1st December 2002

From what I've experienced so far I'd say yes.

30th November 2002	#7
Jules Gearslutz.com admin Joined: Apr 2002 Location: A Yank in London, UK Posts: 17,805 1 Review written	Firewire Hot swap sounds cool to me! I get 64 tracks + massive edit density of one SCSI hot swap drive.. Can I do that with firewire??? __________________ Jules Add your reviews to the new reviews area! Gearslutz on Facebook Follow my GS picks on Twitter

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28th November 2002	#1
Charles Dye FX smörgåsbord user Joined: Oct 2002 Location: Hollywood, FL Posts: 881 Thread Starter	Session Data Interchange Format—Your Suggestions Please Archiving PT session material for storage + later retrieval is an issue that has been discussed at great length on many forums. I'd like to discuss a related, but separate question: When transferring a PT session from one studio to another (across town, country or planet) what formats would you like to see as standards? I feel the formats should be as close as possible to universal. IOW, most PT systems should be able to load the data without having to deal with third party software or additional hardware other than their computer and hard drives. My preferences are: SCSI or Firewire Hard Drives—making going to work essentially plug + play. CD's—Even a 64 track session when consolidated with unused files removed will easily fit on 4 CD's, and these days every computer has the ability to read the data. In the future DVD's—in a couple of years when most computers have DVD drives this will be an excellent way to transfer sessions. When I send a session in the first two formats I feel very confident that I am not creating any problems for the studio on the other end and that they will get everything I want them to. The goal here is: no phone calls. What are your preferences? __________________ Facebook \| MySpace \| Auraleo \| eSession

29th November 2002	#2
groundcontrol Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 504	Pretty much like you. Firewire is definitely the #1 standard for PT studios in town right now. We're starting to see more DVD action lately.

29th November 2002	#3
Cannon Fo So Gear Head Joined: Jun 2002 Location: Montclair,NJ Posts: 60	DVD data though is such an unreliable format compared to the rest its failure rate is so much higher then CDS. I really like firewire drives. But even a bare drive with no enclosure as long as its one I can aprove and support is cool.

1st December 2002	#8
groundcontrol Lives for gear Joined: Sep 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 504	From what I've experienced so far I'd say yes.