ItsCharlie Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 So for quite a while now i've been experiencing the 'Disk too slow or System Overload' error. Now before you ask I have already tried virtually every fix I could find on the internet and have had no success. This issue occurs on every project I open, even if I load one instrument and record some midi and try to play it back it will bring up this message usually within 3-4 seconds of playback, I never used to get this problem and it has just randomly started occurring out of nowhere. I have tried changing the buffer size, closing every other program so it's just Logic running, totally reinstalling Logic, checking the Activity Monitor while the problem happens to see if the CPU is overloading or if its a RAM issue and nothing. I've asked friends and other producers about this and no one seems to be able to pin down why this is happening, I am at a total loss and physically can't produce music while I'm having this issue which is obviously very frustrating. If anyone has any fixes or tips I would be really grateful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Please add your system specs, it’s hard to know how to help without knowing what you are using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted March 30, 2020 Author Share Posted March 30, 2020 MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) 2.9 GHz Intel Core i7 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 And I have 460GB spare in my internal 750GB HDD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisherking Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 what version of logic, what OS? it could be a drive issue. have you run disk firs aid?and are you working from a custom template? what about other apps... do they run ok? have you reset the nvram, the smc? (google for details on these things). you could also try trashing the logic preferences, see if that helps. so many possibilities. but these are some things you could try... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted March 31, 2020 Author Share Posted March 31, 2020 Running Latest version of Logic and OS, I have run first aid multiple times and haven't found any issues. I'm not working from a custom template and reseting NVRAM or SMC hasn't helped. Other apps appear to work totally fine, depending on what I'm doing i can get the spinning wheel sometimes. I feel like maybe its a problem with the hard drive? I literally cannot think of what else it could be as there is no indication, I was even thinking of possibly swapping my HDD for an SSD and seeing if that changes things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 Your machine spec should be fine, albeit 8GB of RAM is a little tight for a modern Mac running a large application. When you get the overloads, what instruments are you playing? What do the CPU/disk meters display? Is it just instruments, or do you get the problem with audio tracks too? Does it also happen if you don't use your regular audio interface, and instead use the built-in audio on the Mac? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 I think on those 2012 MBP the spinning HD was only 5400 rpm. Maybe you should consider installing an SSD. When you double click the CPU monitor in Logic, is either the CPU or Drive I/O peaking when you get the overload message? Keep that performance meter open to watch next time you get one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted March 31, 2020 Author Share Posted March 31, 2020 It can happen with any instrument. I have checked the CPU and I/O monitor and sometimes the CPU peaks and sometimes the I/O peaks but other times it's neither. It does appear to happen more often with audio tracks which is suggesting to me that it may be a read and write issue with the drive when its trying to pull samples? Also I don't have an audio interface, I'm just running straight off my mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 A 5400 rpm drive will have a hard time reading samples, recording and playing back audio, even though Logic loads most of the info into Ram. If you see the I/O peak more often, then you have a drive issue. But don't forget you have a weak dual-core cpu, so if you change the drive to an SSD you will fix part of the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facej Posted March 31, 2020 Share Posted March 31, 2020 Simple test these days - for those using spinning hard drives as their system disks. Power down your Mac. Start a stopwatch running. Power up your Mac. How long does it take for your Mac to power up and get you to the login screen, or your auto-logged in user? An SSD-based Mac should get there in about 45-60 seconds. An HDD-based Mac will take upwards of 8-9 minutes. Spinning hard drives simply cannot do enough I/Os per second to handle even the smallest projects when using the system drive for everything. Moving projects to an external HDD might get you the ability to use 4-5 tracks of audio, but not much more. Replacing the original 750GB drive with a 500GB SSD should simply work, since you have enough room. Otherwise, drop in a 1TB SATA SSD - shouldn't be more than 30 minutes and about $150. I replaced the 750GB spinner in our 2012 MacBook Pro 13" - just like yours - with a 500GB SSD - brand-new machine. Right now OWC will sell you a 1TB SSD and tools and enclosure to put your 750GB disk in for $142. Toss in $85 for 16GB of memory and you should be ready to go. I highly recommend installing the SSD in the enclosure and using Carbon Copy Cloner to make a clone of the internal drive BEFORE doing the replacement. You find out if the SSD works, and you can boot right up and start working from the internal drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 Thanks for the advice. I timed how long it took from the point I pressed the power button to entering my password and actually getting to the desktop and it took 1 min 58 secs which isn't really too bad I guess. I am still confused as to why this is only now becoming a problem, I understand that the RAM and/or disk RPM is likely part of the issue but if thats the case then why did I used to be able to use Logic without any issues? Like I used to be able to have multiple audio/midi tracks, all with effects, automation and plugins, but over the past year or so I can no longer do this. I do fully understand that my Mac isn't recent and obviously technology slows as time goes on but I didnt think it would be this bad. I think I am going to go down the SSD route and see if that makes a difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Have you tried running Logic in a new, temporary user account to see whether this makes a difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 No I haven't, I'll give that a go now. Also I have done some more testing and I am seeing that now almost every time I get the message the CPU meter is peaking, there are 4 levels for the 'Processing Threads' and the one on the far left peaks every time I get the error message so I'm thinking now maybe its a CPU issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Just use a light CPU synth, say the ES2, in a blank template. Is your CPU meter peaking just playing this? (You'll always get one heavily loaded core when playing an instrument as this instrument and all it's channels are put into a high performance "live mode", all on one core. With heavy instruments and plugins, you can be asking more of one core than the CPU grunt you have.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redgreenblue Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 I can tell you that the 750 gig toshiba drives in those machines definitely slowed with age. swapping that out and adding ram will help with Logic. Also make sure you aren’t having an issue on your USB chain, that can cause slowness. Test with nothing attached if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 So I've tried using a temporary account and am still having the same issues. Also the CPU seems fine when using ES2, it seems to be when logic tries to playback audio files and other synths that I get the issue, but it's strange because not very often but sometimes I can load logic and It will work totally fine, usually for a very short period but once the message pops up it will keep doing it without fail after about 4-5 seconds of playback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisherking Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 fwiw, i have never seen an HD-equipped mac take '8 or 9 minutes' to boot. you could: reboot. make sure no apps are set to open. then, open only logic and work. since you only have 8g ram, you need as much 'workspace' as possible for logic (so don't open other apps). any better? but am thinking it is the drive; it's 8 years old, it may have damaged sectors. so, swapping in an SSD might help (& could be useful overall). if you can double your ram as well... that would help too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 So I've tried using a temporary account and am still having the same issues. Also the CPU seems fine when using ES2, it seems to be when logic tries to playback audio files and other synths that I get the issue, but it's strange because not very often but sometimes I can load logic and It will work totally fine, usually for a very short period but once the message pops up it will keep doing it without fail after about 4-5 seconds of playback. Audio file playback generally requires very little CPU, it's mostly a drain on the disk speed resources. If you are playing back, say a couple of audio tracks, and you are seeing high CPU use, that is definitely problematic and not normal behaviour. What audio interface are you using? Do you get the same behaviour on internal audio only? Is your audio interface USB based? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 So I've just loaded in 3 audio files in a 4 bar loop and can confirm that when I get to about the 2nd beat on the 4th bar I get the overload message every time without fail. I'm currently using the internal core audio and don't own an external audio interface to be able to test. At this point I'm thinking of just going for it and upgrading my RAM and change to an SSD but I need some advice, do you really think I need 16GB of RAM or would I be okay just getting one 8GB stick to add to my 4GB so I would have 12GB in total? Production is just a hobby for me at the moment and I don't push Logic to its limits by any means and obviously the less I can spend for the best performance the better. This is the SSD I'm thinking about getting - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX500-CT500MX500SSD1-NAND-Internal/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=S0FCAO3XZAA9&keywords=500gb%2Bssd%2B2.5%2Bmac&qid=1585744571&s=computers&sprefix=500gb%2Ccomputers%2C252&sr=1-1-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUE2NTBOUVJLTFZKM04mZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTAwMzMxMTkzMDFWUkdQUVpLUUVYJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA4NTM2NDUxNEozNUoyTFJBS1FLJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ&th=1 And this is the RAM I am looking at - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT102464BF160B-PC3L-12800-SODIMM-204-Pin/dp/B006YG8X9Y/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=16GB%2B(%2B2%2Bx%2B8GB%2B)%2C%2B204-pin%2BSODIMM%2C%2BDDR3%2BPC3L-12800%2Bmemory%2Bmodule&qid=1585744547&s=computers&sr=1-2&th=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Not too crazy about Crucial SSDs. Get a Samsung EVO or an OWC SSD if you can get them in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 How come? Is there that much difference between them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 How come? is there that much difference between them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Reliability is a crucial factor. (Pun intended). I just helped somebody reinstall their operating system on a 2012 laptop because their Crucial SSD crapped out after 2.5 years on a 5 year warranty. I've been using OWC SSDs for 5 years on a lot of computers now and it's been great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
des99 Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 I have had a Crucial MX500 for some years in my MBP (along with a regular spinning drive) and it's been great for me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 1, 2020 Author Share Posted April 1, 2020 Okay I'll do some research on the SSD, what are your thoughts on the RAM situation? Should I be fine just adding an 8GB stick to have 12GB? or would having two different sticks cause an issue? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplets Posted April 1, 2020 Share Posted April 1, 2020 Ideally you wanna have two sticks of the same size. Either 4x4 or 8x8. But 4x8 works I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsCharlie Posted April 22, 2020 Author Share Posted April 22, 2020 Just incase anyone had/has a similar issue, I have now upgraded to a 500GB SSD and have doubled my RAM all for around £140 and it had fixed all my issues, its even faster than when I first got it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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