Hi folks, I am new to Logic Pro as well as new to Apple Mac computers and their operating system and want to make sure I am doing things right. So some helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. I started recording a song with 18+ tracks and have been saving it to my macbook pro hard drive in the Logic folder. I hit file save after each track is recorded. I recently got and attached a Glyph 250 external hard drive to the laptop via firewire 800. Here are my questions: 1. What is the best way to copy the files in the logic folder and put them onto the external hard drive and have them as a backup on the external hard drive? Or is there a way to save files to both drives while working on them in Logic realtime? 2. Is it recommended to record directly to the external hard drive or simply use it for backup? 3. I had a recent short song which was saved on my desktop and I clicked file; copy; and then pasted it into the external hard drive. When I went to pull the song up on logic it came right up and I was able to hit play and all was fine. But then the firestudio control console which was already open on my screen just froze in place with the rainbow wheel turning while the song was playing in logic which resulted in no audio out of my monitors. I had to force quit the firestudio application. This has only happened with files I copied or saved into the external hard drive. Hence why I am trying to get some thoughts on all of this and to find out what I may have done wrong to begin with. I appreciate any help you might be able to give me with these matters. Thanks.

Hi Tumeninotes, 1-Just drag your Logic songs folder to your external HD from the Finder. It will copy all your projects to the new Firewire drive. 2-It is always best to record to an external HD and not on your system drive. 3-This problem is not necessarily related to your Glyph 250 external hard drive. Try to copy all your songs to your new drive and tell us if you're still having problems. Take care! Christian

Hi Christian, One last question, for now at least. I understand that once I drag the logic folder to the external HD all the files will be copied there. So when I need to work on a particular song, I would go to the external HD double click that particular song, it will pop up in logic and I can work on it. Now if I click file, save, while working on that song will it save directly into the external HD? Also, I will try your recommendations regarding question 3 later tonight and let you know how it goes. Oh and I should note that prior to shutting down my macbook pro I click on the external HD icon on my desktop and click "eject external HD" and then turn it off. In addition I unplug the firewire cable for both the external HD as well as the firestudio interface as needed when I have to take my laptop with me and then replug everything in prior to turning it on the next day to work on music projects. Will any of this affect normal operation, etc.. Thanks for all of your help, it is much appreciated. :) .

Hi, Yes, if you open a project from your external HD, Logic will save it to the same location. Is you select File > Save as... you will be able to save it to another location. When you shutdown your Mac, you don't need to eject your external drive. It is necessary to dismount the HD when you want to unplug the Firewire cable WITHOUT shutting down your Mac. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions! Take care!

Hi, So I copied my files to the external HD, in addition I started a new project which was saved directly to the external HD. All was going well with the firestudio control console on my desk top during recording, I then saved the project, closed it, went into the external HD folder, brought it back up on logic and hit play to listen back to it all. It played fine and the sound came thru the monitors, however, the control console sat idle with the rainbow wheel spinning. The firestudio control console was frozen in place but the audio was coming thru the monitors just fine, I was not however, able to adjust any of the mix levels thru the firestudio control console. I have the most recent drivers installed for the firestudio and it was working just fine over the last month or so and then just this past week it started to do this. Again this does not happen if I record and/or save to the macintosh HD. Any thoughts on this??? Thanks.

Hi tumeninotes There's a good maintenance procedure for mac's that might help in this case, but it great to do after installing new software anyway or on a regular basis. It's called repairing permissions. Go to: 1. Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility 2. Select your mac HD and click on "repair permissions" 3. Restart your computer. 4. Try again. Do you still get the spinning beach ball? Also, are you running Logic 8 or 8.0.1? Cheers Rounik

Hi Rounik, I am running Logic 8.0.1 and will reply back once I have tried the above procedure. Thanks.