User Manual

Chapter 4: Configuring Your Pro Tools System 25
Backing Up your System
Configuration
After configuring your system and Pro Tools,
you should save an image of your system drive
using a backup utility such as Bombich Carbon
Copy Cloner or Time Machine (Mac) or Acronis
True Image or Norton Ghost (Windows). By do-
ing this, you can quickly restore your system
configuration and settings if you encounter any
problems.
Optimizing a Mac System for
Pro Tools
To ensure optimum performance with
Pro Tools, configure your computer before using
Pro Tools hardware and software.
Before configuring your computer, make sure
you are logged in as an Administrator for the ac-
count where you want to install Pro Tools. For
details on Administrator privileges in Mac OS X,
see your Apple OS X documentation.
Turning Off Software Update
To turn off the Software Update feature:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Software Update.
2 Click the Scheduled Check tab.
3 Deselect “Check for Updates.”
Turning Off Energy Saver
To turn off the Energy Saver feature:
1 Choose System Preferences from the Apple
menu and click Energy Saver.
2 Do the following:
• Set the computer sleep setting to Never.
• Set the display sleep setting to Never.
• Deselect “Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when
possible.”
Disable or Reassign Mac Keyboard
Shortcuts Used by Pro Tools
To have the full complement of Pro Tools key-
board shortcuts, you need to disable or reassign
any conflicting Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts in
the Apple System Preferences, including the fol-
lowing:
• “Show Help menu”
• Under “Keyboard Navigation”
• “Move focus to the window drawer”
• Under “Dock, Exposé, and Dashboard”
• “Automatically hide and show the Dock”
•“All windows”
• “Application windows”
•“Desktop”
• “Dashboard”
• “Spaces”
• Under “Spotlight”
• “Show Spotlight search field”
• “Show Spotlight window”
Do not use the Mac OS X automatic
Software Update feature, as it may upgrade
your system to a version of Mac OS that has
not yet been qualified for Pro Tools. For
details on qualified versions of Mac OS,
visit www.avid.com/compatibility.
For a complete list of Pro Tools keyboard
shortcuts, see the Keyboard Shortcuts Guide
(Help > Keyboard Shortcuts).