Logic Pro: Disk too slow

[gdoubleyou]

Strange, that's an error message for a laptop.

Quite sure a Mac pro doesn't have a motion sensor.

Disk to slow usually happens when running sessions from a system disk.

Since you have a Mac Pro I assume you have your sessions on another drive.

[PapaSon]

Originally Posted by gdoubleyou

Strange, that's an error message for a laptop.

Quite sure a Mac pro doesn't have a motion sensor.

Disk to slow usually happens when running sessions from a system disk.

Since you have a Mac Pro I assume you have your sessions on another drive.

No. I am running from the system disk. Guess I should stop?

[gdoubleyou]

Originally Posted by PapaSon

No. I am running from the system disk. Guess I should stop?

That's your bottleneck, OSX will always use the system disk for virtual memory.

[PapaSon]

Originally Posted by gdoubleyou

That's your bottleneck, OSX will always use the system disk for virtual memory.

OK, so I am competing with virtual memory for disk access? Switching to a different disk for recording and playback!

[Alex Aliferis]

If you continue getting this error, there's a setting under preferences which sets whether or not this message gets displayed and playback is stopped when such a situation comes up. This can be a very good thing to turn off to avoid interrupting playback in front of clients and to also avoid irritating yourself.

[PapaSon]

Originally Posted by Alex Aliferis

If you continue getting this error, there's a setting under preferences which sets whether or not this message gets displayed and playback is stopped when such a situation comes up. This can be a very good thing to turn off to avoid interrupting playback in front of clients and to also avoid irritating yourself.

Thanks! Just realized I have a lot of samples streaming from system disk as well. May be a pain to change all that. Anyone know if there is a preference to determine which disk is used for virtual memory?

[SergioMartins]

I only have one disk im my macbook pro, if i split in two partitions will i get a better performance in logic? (using the second partition for projects)

[J F K]

Negative. Get an xternal

[Manfrensengensen]

Originally Posted by SergioMartins

I only have one disk im my macbook pro, if i split in two partitions will i get a better performance in logic? (using the second partition for projects)

No, it may be 2 partitions but they cannot be read simultaneously.
Get a 7200 rpm ext FW800/400 HD.

[SergioMartins]

Thanks for the advise! What about changing my cd in laptop for a second disk? I heard that it's possible to change it... with SSD disks or something.
Cheers.

[robot:.]

Putting my sessions on the drive in the CD bay using the OWC Data Doubler got rid of that error for me.

[aTelecine-Lex]

Originally Posted by Alex Aliferis

If you continue getting this error, there's a setting under preferences which sets whether or not this message gets displayed and playback is stopped when such a situation comes up. This can be a very good thing to turn off to avoid interrupting playback in front of clients and to also avoid irritating yourself.

***THIS***

That was nearly what my exact reply would have been - You beat me to it =)

To the OP: If possible an external FW800 drive will give you much better performance (w/Logic in particular) in this area.

OSX does indeed use a very large amount of the system HD for "virtual memory" or a "Swap-File"

[dero]

I get this message sometimes when running My projects from a 7200 ext drive.

Logic (and plugs) on the system disc, project files and audio files are on ext disc.

Any thoughts?

[aTelecine-Lex]

Originally Posted by dero

I get this message sometimes when running My projects from a 7200 ext drive.

Logic (and plugs) on the system disc, project files and audio files are on ext disc.

Any thoughts?

Could be a few things I can think of

1. Do you have a FireWire External? If so is it 400 or 800? And if you have either does it have it's own FW port? If not is it connected to another FireWire device in the recommended order?

2, Filesystem? What's the File
System of you External? (This shouldn't matter too much)

2. Cable (may be faulty)

3. Available Space on the Drive?

4. Size of the largest continuous section of Free Space on the external?

5. Possible fragmentation (Not likely though)

6. Possible "spotlight indexing" enabled (I set this to off -> SYSTEM PREFERENCES -> "SPOTLIGHT" -> OPTION -> PRIVACY -> SELECT the "+" (to ADD the EXT DRIVE to the "PRIVATE" List)

Those are just the top of my head - other things may be at issue.

Though it's a somewhat personal sort of task thing - I do the following (May or May not help)

I keep a spare Single Terabyte drive on hand and when I have time I do this

TRANSFER ALL FILES -> Spare Drive -> ERASE the main EXTERNAL choosing OPTION ERASE FREE SPACE & WRITE ALL ZEROS across the whole DRIVE (you can do this in the DISK UTILITY App) -> COMPLETE PROCESS --> PLACE ALL FODERS BACK TO PRIMARY EXT DRIVE.

You shouldn't have to do the above very often MAYBE once every 3 months or so.

Can't really lose it's a fresh start for your drive.

Best,
Alexa

[PapaSon]

Originally Posted by Manfrensengensen

Get a 7200 rpm ext FW800/400 HD.

Why firewire and not a new bay drive?

[aTelecine-Lex]

Originally Posted by PapaSon

Why firewire and not a new bay drive?

I am sorry I may have misread the question -

I was under the impression you were using an External Drive.

A new Internal or (Bay) Drive would be adequate as well.

Although - Drive SPECS could be an issue (model dependent of course) with an internal drive

For example, a 5400 RPM internal drive would not be as optimal as a external 7200 RPM FW 400/800

Also I have found better performance on some systems using an External FW 400/(Esp)800 If it's on an independent bus.

They seem to provide more fluid input w/ some configurations and also keep internal temperature down making for less fan activity.

Overall I would add a smaller capacity HD internal or external is a good idea. When optimized less disk surface area to seek data from and makes Back-Up time minimal.

I usually keep only current projects on the my "project drive" - Almost like a "tape machine" after I finish working on a project I offload it to a separate drive until the next session.

Works well, for me - and keeps things organized - it's somewhat of a personal habit habit though.