Red on harddrive crashing my system

[Ryan McGregor]

I have been having problems working with Red files off any kind of external hard drives (Lacie eSATA and Firewire 800). For some reason, when color timing in Red Alert and especially when trying to export in RedRushes, Mac OS just crashes. But everything seems to run fine if I have the footage on my MacBook Pro's internal SSD... Anyone have some tips?

 

[Greg M]

are you connecting via USB?

 

[Ryan McGregor]

No, usually eSATA or firewire 800.

 

[Alex Carr]

Which expresscard are you using?

 

[Alexander Ibrahim]

RED footage works reliably over FW800 and eSATA. I've used it both ways with good results. That is not the issue.

You are most likely looking at a hardware issue or a driver issue, not a RED issue. You need to go trough a diagnosis of your computer hardware. Try eliminating potential problems one-by one, until you've found just the components that cause issues with your set up.

Sorry if some of my advice is redundant or obvious.. I learned in a previous life never to assume that even the obvious has been checked. (I can't tell you how many onsite consulting visits I've made because someone unplugged a computer. No joke.)

I suspect your drives or controller.

The easiest potential culprit to check is the eSATA controller- is it properly seated and installed?

Are you using a card for FW800, or the Macs internal FW controller? If its a card, check to make sure its seated properly. You should also try the Macs Internal FW800 with no card in the expresscard slot.

Are you using the same footage off the internal drive? There could be something wrong with the footage you are trying to work with, so you should try the same footage from different places. I don't suspect this because it wouldn't cause OS X to crash- just the application. You should still test for it.

Have you tried different drives on the external buses? Again the drive or the enclosure could be the issue.

OK... I can't really do a remote diagnosis for you.

Good luck

 

[Greg M]

I assume you tried a reboot?

check cables and esata card.

 

[Casey Schendel]

I have a Lacie 4big that would freeze my system once the drive mounted. Turned out it was the esata (fw800 worked fine), I haven't determined the cause yet because I don't feel like potentially harming my drives file structure again (long story) I've determined it's either my esata cable or drivers, although I have Lacie drivers for my esata card. Iv heard alot of people have had problems with esata freezing/crashing there system too.

 

[Ryan McGregor]

I think I have narrowed the issue down to new drivers for my eSATA card that I hadn't updated since I went to Snow Leopard. Anyway, it hasn't happened again and it's been a few weeks now.