Appendix D: Hard Drive Configuration and Maintenance 159
Formatting Windows Audio Drives
For optimal performance, audio drives should
be formatted as NTFS.
To format an audio drive:
1 Right-click Computer (Windows Vista) or My
Computer (Windows XP) and choose Manage.
2 Under Storage, choose Disk Management.
3 If the volume is “Healthy,” do the following:
• In the Disk Management window, right-
click the hard drive you will use for audio
and choose Format.
• In the Format window, name the volume.
• Choose a file system. For optimum perfor-
mance, audio drives should be formatted as
NTFS.
• Select Perform a quick format.
• Make sure Enable file and folder compression
is not selected.
• Set the Allocation unit size to Default.
• Click OK.
4 If the volume is “Unallocated,” do the follow-
ing:
• In the Disk Management window, Right-
click the hard drive you will use for audio
and choose New Partition.
• In the New Partition Wizard window, click
Next.
• When prompted, select the partition type.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to select
a partition size and other partition settings.
• When prompted, choose a file system. For
optimum performance, audio drives
should be formatted as NTFS.
• Select Perform a quick format.
• Make sure Enable file and folder compression
is not selected.
• Set the Allocation unit size to Default.
• Click OK.
Partitioning Drives
Partitioning creates a logical volume or volumes
on a physical drive, almost as if you were creat-
ing virtual hard drives. Partitions can then be
formatted with the appropriate file system
(NTFS for Windows, HFS+ for Mac).
Pro Tools only supports Basic drive types.
Do not convert the drive to a Dynamic type.
Disk Management window (Windows XP)
Healthy volumes are volumes that have pre-
viously been partitioned and formatted.
Digidesign recommends using Primary par-
titions, instead of Extended partitions.
Windows XP allows drives formatted with
the NTFS file system to be seen as whole
volumes. Single Pro Tools audio files cannot
exceed 2048 MB in size.
Mac OS allows drives larger than 4096 MB
to be seen as whole volumes. Drives must be
initialized with a disk utility that recog-
nizes the 2 terabyte limit. Single Pro Tools
audio files cannot exceed 2048 MB in size.
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