seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

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seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by hooty2 »

Hello, in normal times i may have sought help from local tech' neighbours....however!

However, ...i'm aware that even some computer people seem to struggle with the demands of music-oriented software etc.

I'm going to upgrade the 'C' drive to a larger capacity SSD in my Scan 3XS system with a mirrored 'RAID' on 'E' (hope that's correct terminology?)
Ok, i can probably shift the two wires!
but reinstalling windows? The advice on-line always seems to vary in details.

Before the idea to do this, i was already thinking of asking a couple of particular users on this forum (PM), to offer remote access to look into my file system and advise, reorganise etc. I have a lot of sound-related software on 'C' and i know iv'e got .ddL's scattered about.
A lot of this is 'legacy ignorance'!
I recently cleared lots from 'downloads'...and then things didn't work properly...thank god for 'Reinstall' in recycle bin!

I'm running Windows 8.1..... i'm tempted for the install of W10 ( i did this on two W7 laptops...seems to work, if a bit noticeably slower...using the Microsoft on-line downloader)

I'm stuck about what order to do things and if i'm actually capable in understanding the reinstall of Windows OS...because, i'm sure some of my 'legacy ignorance' will corrupt the process!)

Advice or properly funded offers of help welcomed:)
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by uselessoldman »

First I would strongly recommend doing the upgrade to windows 10 if all your gear has proper windows 10 drivers.

Installing windows 10 is easy then its a case of preparing your system/hard drives for the apps you want to install. I would recommend a 1Tb SSD but what is your systems motherboard do you not have a M2 slot for NVMe drives?

Then when installing Windows make your C:\ boot drive 400Gb leaving 600Gb for another partition. You will not need 1Tb for your c:\drive.

You should sit down with some paper and map out what you want to install and where the files and folders need to be. You want to have your system ready before you start. You also want to understand what if anything is on the current drives you will want to keep, expansions presets ets. Most but not all should be in the public and your documents folder. Keeping a copy of both would be a good idea for now, you can delete them later.

Then it depends on what other drives you have or do you only have the one SSD?
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by Moroccomoose »

When I do a windows re-install, I set up a folder system on a different drive from the OS. Could be either a separate internal drive or external usb drive.

I set up the following folders and them with populate all the install files.

Firstly I install Windows a remove any bloat. Then work through the folders installing what I need

Folder 1 - drivers
Folder 2 - primary software (The main programs you use)
Folder 3- VST plugins and othe auxiliary files
Folder 4 - documents and project files.

I have these saved in a separate hard drive in a top level folder call 'setup files' and I just keep it up to date every so often when software updates. But it means I'm not starting from scratch each time, and I'm less likely to forget anything.

Stu.
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by uselessoldman »

That is good housekeeping Moroccomoose.

The default install for your documents is C:\users\UrName\Documents, first thing is use location in the right click properties and move them to another drive along with music\videos\pictures\downloads. That way any restore or reinstall will no change them.

Studio One for instance like to save all its work by default in your docs folder. Oh no you don't. I create its own folder and change the settings to the new location. Its best to be stored on M2 or SSD for access read speed.

Similarly I like or try and move all the presets\soundbanks from the documents folder elsewhere. I try and keep my docs folder as small as possible as I back it up in the cloud. That way it syncs between all my computers saving me looking for files on various computers.

I also have a VST Library of all the install files, its huge but I now only install those I want and use. That is why I love Native Instruments Waves etc and some others who are cloud based. I can log into my account and it just says do you want to install and does it all for me. no hassle. Then I move all the damn stuff it puts in my docs, cos usually its default no choice given. But also cos I have quite a few expansions, so I need to know where all the files are cos some expansions have files in quite a few different places since not all automatically install.
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by hooty2 »

Thank you for the time taken to reply, and for the detail offered.

my first response, after my head stopped spinning!...Education, Education, Education!

I'm currently googling all those terms used.

After looking at my original spec' for the 3XS, Scan suggested a 250GB or 500GB..basic Samsung 860 EVO, the pennies fund had the last word.
No matter, my needs are simple in many ways.

I will still get some remote support to browse my system to sort some basics out, and at the same time research the advice given here.
I looked up other threads from you guys who responded and that was very helpful & informative generally.

thanks again
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by The Elf »

Beware of under-speccing the system drive. My 500GB is creaking at the seams...
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by hooty2 »

order in haste....there's not so much leisure involved in repentance:(
250GB returned....500GB ordered.
cheers for caution advice Elf!
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by uselessoldman »

I would never advice anyone to buy less than 1Tb boot drive, considering what they cost its a good investment. Then as I have said before, split it into 2 drives/partitions, or possibly even more. My vst64 folder is just under 30Gb and I doubt many have more vsts plugins installed than I have I have this located on its own drive/partition/folder. v:\

C:\ should only be the basic install files minimum user files if any. Then if you use system restore or reinstall etc, you will not do any changes to files you need.
x:\ move all your personal folders to a custom location.

One really really useful tip is to get used to using symlinks to relocated data folders. Using them cheats apps and plugins to think your files are whether they want them to be not where you want them to be. I use a lot of them and they work really well. Especially useful for moving plugin presets and soundbanks
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by Eddy Deegan »

uselessoldman wrote: One really really useful tip is to get used to using symlinks to relocated data folders. Using them cheats apps and plugins to think your files are whether they want them to be not where you want them to be. I use a lot of them and they work really well. Especially useful for moving plugin presets and soundbanks

Additional note: symlinks on Windows should not be confused with shortcuts. A shortcut is a discrete file in and of itself whereas a symlink is an additional entry to a directory index for an existing file.

To create symlinks on windows, the command is mklink. More info on them here.

However, although symlinks are powerful and useful they can be confusing to the uninitiated and a little fiddly to keep track of over time. As such I'd not recommend using them unless you have a burning desire to master them or unless you really need to ;)
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by The Elf »

uselessoldman wrote:I would never advice anyone to buy less than 1Tb boot drive, considering what they cost its a good investment. Then as I have said before, split it into 2 drives/partitions, or possibly even more.

As I understand it (and I'm not an expert) partitioning SSDs gives no advantage now. Can anyone else confirm/deny?
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by uselessoldman »

Hi Elf, let me try and explain the advantage of 2 partitions especially when you have a laptop or its your only drive, or even if you have multiple drives installed. Its just common sense and good practice.

Windows has two types of files, system/apps files and your own personal data folders and files. By default you data is located in C:\users\username\FOLDERS.

If you try and restore windows or do a reinstall you change even delete all files on the C:\ system drive. Therefore having them stored on another drive/partition means they are safe. So I would recommend the first thing anyone should do is move them and hence why you should create a second drive/partition to put them in.

Its the system drive that usually gets the most hammer and potentially leads to failing so putting your data on another drive is even better. Usually it doesn't matter what speed your disks are for your data, but obviously for music production that can be different if you have samples multiple tracks etc then speed is your time.

I hope that helps explain why you should have your data stored and located somewhere else and not on the system drive
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Re: seeking help with order of my 'to do list'.....'C' drive upgrade

Post by The Elf »

Yep, that's all familiar territory to me. The image recovery advantage is a fair point, though I should point out that I definitely wasn't think in terms of having documents on the system drive. I always spec a second physical drive for documents - and another for samples and another for audio.
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