Chapter 2: Windows Configuration 11
Hard Drive Configuration and
Maintenance
It is recommended that you start with a newly
initialized audio drive. You should also periodi-
cally defragment your audio drive to ensure
continued system performance.
Avoid Recording to the System Drive
Recording to your system drive is not recom-
mended. Recording and playback on a system
drive may result in lower track counts, or fewer
plug-ins.
Formatting an Audio Drive
For optimum performance, audio drives should
be formatted as FAT32 or NTFS.
To format an audio drive:
1 Right-click My Computer and choose Man-
age.
2 Under Storage, choose Disk Management.
3 In the Disk Management window, right-click
the hard drive you will use for audio and choose
Format.
4 Do one of the following:
• Select the Quick Format option. Quick op-
tion should be sufficient for qualified
mechanisms.
– or –
• For optimal disk performance, you can se-
lect 32K from the Allocation unit size pop-
up menu (make sure Quick Format is not
selected). Though this option takes longer
to complete, it can increase efficiency of
drive recording and playback.
5 Click Start, and follow the on-screen instruc-
tions.
6 When formatting is complete, close the For-
mat window.
Audio Drives and Disk Cleanup
The process of recording and editing can quickly
decrease overall drive performance. It is sug-
gested that you regularly use Disk Cleanup (or
an equivalent utility) to assess the condition of
drives and, if necessary, delete temporary files
and other unused data.
To use Disk Cleanup:
1 Choose Start > Control Panel.
2 Double-click Administrative Tools.
3 Double-click Computer Management.
4 Double-click Storage.
5 Double-click Disk Management.
Always back up any important data on
your drive before initializing it, as it will
erase all data on the drive.
Disk Management window (Windows XP)
Pro Tools only supports Basic drive Types.
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