HELP! (with new hard drive)

[DDW]

After completely hogging the primary hard drive with all of my music stuff (leaving no room for my poor wife!!), I just installed a second hard drive on my main computer. I actually did this myself, and it's up and running great after tracking down some downloads online to make it functional; I have sent this information on to the Vatican for "official miracle" consideration.

Here are my couple of questions: I'm going to move all of my music files (Sonar, etc.) onto that drive, wiping them of my primary drive (they're backed up externally). Should I also reinstall my music apps there (Sonar, my Garritan stuff, Kontakt, etc.)?

One more: Should I partition the drive?

I'm not much of a computer guy, so I tremendously appreciate the help from those of you who are!! Thanks in advance...:)

Danny

[Pat Azzarello]

After completely hogging the primary hard drive with all of my music stuff (leaving no room for my poor wife!!), I just installed a second hard drive on my main computer. I actually did this myself, and it's up and running great after tracking down some downloads online to make it functional; I have sent this information on to the Vatican for "official miracle" consideration.

Here are my couple of questions: I'm going to move all of my music files (Sonar, etc.) onto that drive, wiping them of my primary drive (they're backed up externally). Should I also reinstall my music apps there (Sonar, my Garritan stuff, Kontakt, etc.)?
Danny
I would move the content of your music programs to the new drive, but not the actual programs themselves (i.e., Sonar). You want content and programs on different drives. If you had three physical drives, I'd recommend:
1:\ OS and programs (including DAW, sampler, soft synths, etc.)
2:\ DAW data (audio, project files, etc)
3:\ Sampler Content (i.e., GPO content, Atmosphere, etc.)

I have a fourth driver that I use to backup projects from the second physical drive until I get around to putting them on CD/DVD (in case the physical drive goes bad). Note that in the above example, only the second drive is irreplaceable should the machine get trashed (i.e., you can always reinstall everything from the original distribution disks that's on 1 and 3).

Within both Sonar and GPO (and just about any other program) you can change the default location of various things (like Sonar projects, soft synths, etc).


One more: Should I partition the drive?
Danny
I do, but it's for specific reasons. Partitioning has advantages and disadvantages:
1. Partition Size: Smaller partitions give you faster defrag times, etc. Also, if the partition goes bad (not the physical media), you only lose what you have on that partition. Also, there are folks who have relatively small partitions for their data, organizing them by project (i.e., one album project per partition). They use them, back them up, then reformat them and get a "clean" slate.
2. Physical access: Having two partitions on one physical drive is not nearly as efficient as two physical drives. It helps organize things better, but one of the performance problems people have comes down to the time it takes the head on the disk drive to physically move from one place to another.



I'm not much of a computer guy, so I tremendously appreciate the help from those of you who are!! Thanks in advance...:)
Danny
Neither am I :)

[Nickie Fønshauge]

Keep your applications in their default folders on the main drive and move either your music files or your samples to the new drive. I would recommend moving the samples, if you use DFD streaming.

[C J Pro]

Assuming that you are using Windows, keep your programs on your primary drive. This is due to the fact that on Windows, the programs typically spread themselves over multiple folders in your computer and may also depend on the registry (ex: serial numbers).

[DDW]

Assuming that you are using Windows, keep your programs on your primary drive. This is due to the fact that on Windows, the programs typically spread themselves over multiple folders in your computer and may also depend on the registry (ex: serial numbers).
Keep your applications in their default folders on the main drive and move either your music files or your samples to the new drive. I would recommend moving the samples, if you use DFD streaming.
Thanks very much for the advice from both of you:D. It was definitely helpful.

Danny

[bachrock]

don't forget to back up your new drive! i saw an external 300G backup drive for about a $100 bucks in the paper this weekend. you've already taken the first step towards an easy to maintain backup system which is to separate your applications from your user data. Nickie Fønshauge and C J Pro are spot on advising you leave your programs alone and on the C drive. even if your computer borks itself or your primary drive dies a horrible death, your music on the 2nd drive will live on.

most external drives come with ridiculously easy to use backup software that you can set & forget. let me know if you need help with a backup solution and i, and i'm sure the others here, would be happy to offer help :)
-bachrock

[DDW]

let me know if you need help with a backup solution and i, and i'm sure the others here, would be happy to offer help :)
-bachrock
Thanks very much, Bachrock. I know I can count on guys such as you CJ and Nickie to help those of us less computer-savvy. My new drive is actually a second internal one, and I also back up to an external as well as to usb memory sticks (to take back and forth between home and work). How about partitioning the new internal -- should I???

[LFO]

Hello DDW,
I don't see a motivating factor for you to partition your drive. Usually partitions are added if:

1) You are installing a seperate operating system
2) You are using a FAT based file system that has partition size limitations
3) You have some file organization reason to do so. (Backing up up to a seperate partition on the same drive is not a great idea. If the drive goes bad you will probably lose that partition also.)

Otherwise, don't bother.

I'm glad you are backup up to two different sources. :) Life is sooo much happier when it is data loss free!

-Kevin

[Pat Azzarello]

Separate partitions can have advantages, but disadvantages as well. I have some smaller partitions because it makes defraging the disk (or formatting) easier.

I've also heard of some people creating multiple partitions so that they can keep specific projects segregated on their machines, back them up, and then wipe the drives to use again later.

I think this has been stated numerous times: Haveing separate partitions does not equate to getting better performance (in most cases). Hard drive performance can be affected by how far the drive heads have to move. Having separate partitions generally means that (if you are accessing data on two partitions - i.e., audio data on one and streaming samples on the other) the head generally has to move much further. For this reason I have three physicalhard drives:
1. OS
2. Audio (project) data
3. Sample library data

Pat
[BTW - Tried to post this same answer yesterday and the site said I posted, but they never showed up :( ).

[Nickie Fønshauge]

[BTW - Tried to post this same answer yesterday and the site said I posted, but they never showed up :( ).
Computers ~| :rolleyes:

[ohernie]

I see partitioning as a non-issue as long as you remember that physical drives that handle audio should not handle anything else.

I partition my non-audio drives by task. It makes searching and backing up a lot easier.

Ernie

[Paul Stutt]

Definately keep your apps on the same hard drive as your OS and move all your project files (cubase speak), soundfonts, samples, etc, etc. to the other drive

DEFRAG BOTH DRIVES REGULARLY!!!! especially after installing or uninstalling large software (usually uninsinstalling after finding the stuff doesn't work!)