Recording a live show over two hours - Anything I should be aware of?

I am concerned with something I recall about a 2 gig file size limit. One thought is to be sure instead of recording the keys in stereo I should record two mono tracks to help reduce the file size. Any truth to this supposition?
 
What happens when you hit the 2 gig limit. will it write to disc and resume with a presumable audio glitch, or fail altogether?
 
Would love to hear your thoughts on how to ensure I have no failures.

I recorded a 4 hour session into Sonar and hit no snags. I wasnt actually aware of a 2 gig limit?
 
I think my session hit in the 4.5 gb mark or thereabouts (really cant be sure but it was way over 2gb)....that was a drummer with 4 close mics and 2 x overheads. 2 x guitarists amp mic'd plus DI, a bass player and vox all on mono tracks.
 
Just make sure your hard drive is in good shape I guess....Also make sure your sound card is up to it.

My understanding on the limit was per file, thus per track.  And yes I will do the dead test thank you.  I have till Friday.

+1
 
This is top of my list of "things that I don't want to spend money on because its boring and no fun, but I really SHOULD spend the money"
 
Like any quality investment, the first time it saves your butt you will be a total zealot..
 
p.s. Power glitch 2 days ago, lost 4hrs of work.... nuff said.
 

Anderton
Three words:
 
Uninterruptible
Power
Supply

I do a similar method to stxx. I pre meditate the session and make a template with all the correct inputs assignments etc. 
I saved around 30 of these as CWP files each with a numerical value ( 01-Name, 02- Name  etc) . 
On the night of the performance I opened and minimized all 30 blank projects. They will line up along the bottom of the screen if you manipulate your window size correctly. You will be able to see the numbers and name. 
Open 01 Name- and start recording. when the song ends try and hit save. Now open 2 and carry on. This only takes about 15 seconds if your good with a mouse. 
If there isn't time between each song, just do the best you can as the show progresses. 
As far as I could tell Sonar lets you open dozens of projects at a time. 
 
Most important for this stuff is a 7200 RPM hard drive that is in good shape, de fragged and less than 50% full. I would think a USB 3.0 external would be up to it, but they never tell you the drive speed of those little buggers. I use a laptop that is optimized for recording, it's only XP 32 bit but the hard drive is newish and 7200 RPM with lots free space. 
 
And one other trick I use is I have a USB footpedal that controls Sonar's  transport. 
 
http://www.gearslutz.com/...ngineering-x-keys.html

Thanks very useful information, perhaps more pertinent in the future for me.  My laptop is xp  so I can't use X3 on it, hense the 8.5.  I don't know if xp supports NTFS, but I do see that the Fireface UFX usb recording requires FAT32 (using this for safety/redundency)
 
I agree Google can be a friend, but you guys are better :)

gswitz
 
If you're using a laptop with a battery, I can't imagine why you need a UPS. You've got a battery in the laptop.
 

Actually, this is an interesting point.  I use a laptop with a good battery.  When the power fails even momentarily,  the hiccup is enough to stop a Sonar recording, even though the computer has a battery, (at least on my system.) Don't know why this happens; it may be more related to the USB interface losing power.  Anyway, after seeing this happen a couple times, a UPS unit is on my list.

DigiCheck is very efficient for recording from RME Interfaces. It writes all the tracks to a single file (a big one). This means there is no issue with threading. When you record 20 tracks with Sonar, it creates and writes to 20 Wave files. 
 
When you record 20 tracks with DigiCheck it records to a single file (which it gives a wave extension). 
It saves as it goes so if you get interrupted (power failure) you don't lose it all.
After you hit stop, you hit Save to write the file to a new location. You cannot Start recording again until you clear the old recording. Don't clear the old recording before you've saved it under a new name.
When saving, after you select a file name, you can choose

• a multi-channel File - good for saving it off during the show. Say at set break. You don't care about splitting it yet, you just want it saved off.
• stereo files - good if you want stereo waves exported. I never use this.
• Single Channel Files - splits the multi channel file into separate Wave files (same mono waves you'd record with Sonar). You only choose one file name, but it appends numbers to the file names to keep them distinct.

 
DigiCheck is definitely the easiest on system resources. I can record substantially more data concurrently with DigiCheck using the same hard drive than I can with Sonar because it is more efficient to write all the data to a single file.
 
** I don't use DigiCheck's Global Record feature if I'm comping. Obviously, when working in a project where you are listening to synths from within Sonar, you need to be able to hear them. In some cases, I have used DigiCheck and recorded both with DigiCheck and with Sonar. I don't record Midi with DigiCheck (idk why, but I haven't found out how). I do sometimes mix in Sonar with Global Record if I'm doing some sort of performance. I can mix everything to a pair of outs and set them to Loopback and record them using DigiCheck. Then I can record a performance for a video-screen capture. I don't want my headphones on 10, so I don't record the headphones track. I make a separate track which I mix much like the headphones using the TRIM settings inside Total Mix.
 
Remember you have compressors and EQs you can use in your UFX. Make sure you have the latest drivers and versions of Total Mix and DigiCheck. The April version of Total Mix is really cool (see video in my signature).

Noel, is this true in Sonar 8.5 as well?  Windows xp 32 bit.

*dupe*

:) For the first time in my life I feel well informed on this aspect. Thank you all.