“Lost” or “missing” files can be a frustrating situation many Pro Tools users, particularly newer users, encounter when they take their Pro Tools sessions to a studio or another location for further tracking, mixing or mastering. Digidesign offers this helpful tip.
If you’ve brought your session to another computer, only to find that many of the media files are missing, remember this: since each audio track in Pro Tools can be assigned to record to a separate hard drive (see “Disk Allocation” in the Pro Tools reference guide), it can be a challenge when you need to move your session to a different system. Use the “Save Session Copy In” option from the File menu to automatically find all of the media files that are referenced within a session and to copy them to a separate location such as an external FireWire drive or a directory that can be burned to CD or DVD. This way all related media files live in one location. By the way, “Save Session Copy In” can also convert your session’s sample rate and bit depth, and it can even make a Mac-only session Windows-compatible. Since it only saves the referenced media files, it is a great archival tool because all the unreferenced takes will not be copied over.
And, this is the point at which we remind you that Sweetwater has sold and installed more Pro Tools systems, from the simplest Mbox setups to full-blown studios using the ICON System and the state-of-the-art D-Control console. So whatever your Pro Tools question might be, give us a call.