Pro Tools M-Powered Audio File Storage

Hard Drive Requirements with Windows XP

As with all Pro Tools systems, drive performance depends on a number of factors, including track count, edit density, and the use of crossfades or processing such as plug-ins.

Qualified Drives

IDE/ATA, SATA & FireWire Hard Drives

• Full 32 track, 24-bit, 44.1/48 kHz performance from one dedicated IDE/ATA, SATA, or FireWire audio drive is supported with Pro Tools M-Powered Systems
• Minimum drive speed of 7200 RPM
• FireWire Drives require Oxford 911 FireWire bridge chipset (check with the drive manufacturer to verify that their drive has the "Oxford 911" or comparable chipset & drive speed of 7200 rpm)
• FireWire 800 drives not tested

SCSI Hard Drives

SCSI drives have not been tested with Pro Tools M-Powered systems.

Transfer Drives — Not for Record or Playback

Drives of any speed with the following formatting can be used to transfer Pro Tools sessions (session files and audio files) from another system:

• Mac OS Extended (HFS+) formatted drives
• MacDrive 6 for Windows XP required and supported with HFS+ (transfer only)

Windows XP will be able to read those drives and allow you to transfer the files to a Windows NTFS or FAT32 audio drive for Record or Playback.

Additional Drive Requirements & Formatting

• Minimum speed of 7200 RPM & average seek time of less than 10.0 ms
• Boot drives may be used for audio tracks, however performance/track count may vary
• Recording to boot drive not recommended or supported
• For 24-32 tracks, drives must be dedicated for audio (internal or external)
• Each IDE drive must have DMA enabled in the "System" Control Panel. This can be changed in the "Settings" of each IDE drive on the "Device Manager" tab of the "System" Control Panel. For detailed instructions click here.
• Pro Tools only supports Basic drive Types (Dynamic drive types are not supported)
• Pro Tools does not support RAID technology. Please do not activate this feature on any Pro Tools recording drives.

Formatting

• NTFS or FAT32 file system for Windows XP
• Windows XP is unable to create a FAT32 partition on a drive that is larger than 32 GB. If your drive is larger than 32 GB, either use a partitioning application such as PartitionMagic® or use the NTFS file system.

Storage Guidelines

Notes

• Pro Tools has a single audio file size limit of 2048 MB. This equates to about 4.5 hours at 24-bit, 44.1 kHz.
• High Speed Drives require manufacturer-approved enclosure to ensure correct heat dissipation, required for sustained drive reliability.

Approximate Storage Consumption (Megabytes per Minute per Track)

Approximate Track Counts — IDE/ATA, SATA, or FireWire Drives with Pro Tools M-Powered Systems:

Music Production Toolkit Option — Maximum Track Count Information

The purchase of this option expands a Pro Tools M-Powered system from 32 total voiceable tracks to up to 48 mono or 48 stereo tracks at up to 96 kHz (interface permitting). Most desktops are capable of 48 stereo tracks at up to 96k, providing the system meets the following recommended requirements for maximum track count:

• 2GHz or higher processor
• 1GB total system RAM or more
• 2 or more hard drives dedicated for audio record and playback:
  • 1 internal IDE/ATA and 1 internal SATA drive
  • 2 internal SATA drives
  • 2 SCSI drives
  • 2 or more FireWire drives