Pro Tools LE 5.3.x Audio File Storage Requirements for Windows XP

IDE/ATA:

Mbox, Digi 001, and Audiomedia III/ToolBox Systems

• Full 32 track, 24 bit, 48 KHz performance from just one dedicated IDE/ATA audio drive is supported.

Digi 002 Systems

• Full 32 track, 24 bit, 48 KHz performance from just one dedicated IDE/ATA audio drive is supported.
• Full 32 track, 24 bit, 96 KHz performance from two dedicated IDE/ATA audio drives is supported.

SCSI: Using a dedicated SCSI drive and SCSI HBA (Host Bus Adapter) card will, in general, provide the same performance as an IDE/ATA drive, with the exception that IDE/ATA drives may take a couple seconds longer than SCSI drives to start recording 32 tracks.

When using an ATTO SCSI HBA (Host Bus Adapter), ATTO driver and firmware v1.66 is required. Before upgrading to ATTO 1.66 driver and firmware, disconnect all drives connected to the ATTO SCSI controller card. ATTO driver and firmware updates are available from www.attotech.com/software

FireWire Hard Drives

The DigiDrive FireWire 80 has been qualified with all Pro Tools LE systems for the following @ 500ms edit density:

• Qualified for up to 32 tracks of 24-bit/48 kHz audio with 1 DigiDrive® FireWire drive

The DigiDrive FireWire 80 has been qualified with Digi 002 systems for the following @ 500ms edit density:

• Qualified for up to 32 tracks of 24-bit/48 kHz audio with 1 DigiDrive® FireWire drive
• Qualified for up to 24 tracks of 24-bit/96 kHz audio with 1 DigiDrive® FireWire drive
• Qualified for up to 32 tracks of 24-bit/96 kHz audio with 2 DigiDrive® FireWire drives

For more information and specific requirements for FireWire drives, see FireWire Drive Requirements

For more information on using FireWire drives with the Digi 002, see the Pro Tools LE 5.3.2 Read Me and the Getting Started with 002 guide. (included with Digi 002 systems, or download the 2.3 MB Acrobat PDF)

Additional Drive Requirements — All Audio Drives:

• Minimum speed of 7200 RPM & average seek time of less than 10.0 ms
• FAT32 or NTFS file system for Windows XP
• HFS & HFS+ supported when using MacOpener version 6.05
• For 32 tracks, drives must be dedicated for audio (internal or external)
• Using boot drives for audio tracks is not supported
• 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)

Hard drive families from the following manufacturers are recommended:

* First generation DigiDrives are not supported in LVD mode

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.
• 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

Approximate Storage Consumption (Megabytes per Minute per Track)

Approximate Track Counts — SCSI, IDE/ATA or FireWire Drives:

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. For sessions with high edit density, we recommend the following configurations. Testing has been conducted using Digidesign's DigiDrives. Performance with other drives may vary.