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[reidc]

I would like to hear from anyone who uses DAW's in their day to day work (most on this forum, I'm guessing)- doesn't matter which DAW (ProTools, Nuendo, Fairlight, Macs, PCs, anything else)- on the subject of audio or media (including video) file corruption. What have you found to be the causes, how does the corruption manifest itself and how have you cured the problems? I'd also like to hear from steady users of standalone devices on the same topic (MX-2424, MMR8, etc.).

Reid Caulfield

ps just joined the forum & am working my way through the posts. Awesome resource!

[Ethan Winer]

Reid,

> the subject of audio or media (including video) file corruption <

Wow, what a great subject.

I use Sonar and I never have a problem with corruption. Sonar has an option to bundle up all the files and project settings into a single file. But I use that for backup only, in conjunction with a normal "save" that keeps all Wave files separate. In case of total disaster I can still piece a project together again from the source Wave files. Fortunately, that's never happened!

Here's more advice: Always back up to at least two separate physical drives, and always alternate the backups. That is, back up to Drive 1 today, then next time back up to Drive 2, then to Drive 1 again. If something corrupts the original project while saving and you copy that corrupted project over your only backup, you'll have a rude surprise the next time you open the project and find it and the backup are both hosed. If you alternate backups, even if your current project and backup are hosed, you still have a recent backup from last time.

I take this paranoia one step further. After I save a project (not just audio, but Word docs and everything else) I open it again to prove it was not corrupted while saving. That's when corruption problems usually happen. Once I know the file can be opened, then I copy it to the next alternating backup in sequence.

There's a famous computer saying: "Unless your data exists in at least three places, it doesn't exist at all."

--Ethan

[Fifthcircle]

Reid-

Nice to see you here.  I work primarily with Sequoia here so you know where I'm coming from.  I also get projects through that began their lives on MX-2424 recorders, Mackie HDR recorders, and Pro Tools.  (occasionally cubase files, etc... as well, but that is rare).

I've found that Sequoia is pretty adept at dealing with corrupted files.  I find the most common cause of files getting corrupted is they began on some mac format that was transferred to a PC.  When that is done resource forks are stripped and there is no "." extension to tell me what it is.

My work arounds have ranged from opening the files on the mac to manually opening files in Sequoia.  The unfortunate part of loosing the resource fork is when rebuilding a session all the time stamp information is lost and it can be a royal pain to rebuild things.  Bringing files in off of stand alone hard disc recorders isn't usually an issue, either.  For the 2424, I use the cuibonosoft EDL Convert Pro and I mount the HFS+ formatted disc on my PC using MacDrive.  EDL Convert then translates all the SDII files to broadcast waves and makes an EDL that Sequoia can read.

--Ben