Moving/Installing Libraries

[askipper]

Hi, I am just waiting for my new Mac to arrive and I will then install my EWQL. I only have the Choirs right now but hope to purchase additional ones when finances allow!

Anyway - The Mac will be arriving with a normal 7200 HD installed but I also have an SSD 250gb installed too. My idea was that I would put the samples on 1 HD and ensure all software was on the other.

Q1 - Should I put the samples on the SSD for faster reading or the HD? And I am right in thinking that the software (Logic / PLAY etc) should be on the other one

Q2 - Can I specify when installing where to put the libraries and where to install the software (PLAY) or will I need to change this/move this later and reconfigure somehow?

Q3 - I currently have Logic and EWQL installed on my little MacBook Pro 13" which has been fine so far (if slow) but the new Mac will be the main workhorse going forward. I still want to keep everything on the MacBook but I intend to purchase SO Platinum and as it comes in at 200GB+ it won't fit on the MacBook - can I run an external HD with FW800 for this? I was thinking it would make a good back up for the samples anyways but could also be good for when mobile to just plug it into the MacBook - will it work having them installed on an external HD or will it just grind to a halt?

Thanks in advance

ps - while I'm sure there is a search feature on this forum I can't seem to find it - any clues? I'm sure most of my Q's will have been asked and answered in the past!

[Pietro]

Q1 - use the SSD for samples. It will guarantee great performance.
Q2 - the installer will ask you where to install software and library separately
Q3 - eSata would be better, but I believe FW800 will do just fine. Not hyper-awesome like internal SSD but quite fine. It would probably be better to move Platinum to the SSD and Choirs to the external FW then, or even better - both on the SSD.

Search option is right next to Log out and Quick Links on top of forum page .

- Piotr

[askipper]

Originally Posted by Pietro

Q1 - use the SSD for samples. It will guarantee great performance.
Q2 - the installer will ask you where to install software and library separately
Q3 - eSata would be better, but I believe FW800 will do just fine. Not hyper-awesome like internal SSD but quite fine. It would probably be better to move Platinum to the SSD and Choirs to the external FW then, or even better - both on the SSD.

Search option is right next to Log out and Quick Links on top of forum page .

- Piotr

Thanks for all that - much appreciated. Well, kind of blown the budget today and took the plunge and bought the Composers Bundle - can't wait - just hope the wife doesn't see the credit card statement!! Oh, hold on - I can make it online only

Re SSD/HD - the SSD is "only" 256GB on the new Mac but I guess I just have to decide which samples I'm going to use the most over time and move them to the SSD.

Therefore, can I (over time) move samples that become favourites onto the SSD? So, I may want 50gb from SO, 20GB from Choirs, 10GB from Gypsy, 5GB from RA, all of Voices of Passion - whatever, you get my drift - I know that you can build up favourites in PLAY so I am wondering if those can be on a different HD to the rest of the "pack" or whether they have to remain in the one position? So, maybe I could have SO Platinum and Gypsy on the SSD but everything else will have to sit on the internal SATA.

Can't wait though - just been trying to find all the manuals for them on the support site but they don't seem to be there - wanted to start reading up on them all now!

Thanks once again

[Redchurch]

If you keep "collecting" libraries you will run out of space pretty quick. My solution is an Icy Dock multi-bay enclosure with four 1.5TB drives, two drives for 3TB RAID 0 and the other two as 3TB for backup. I've installed the samples to the RAID and backed up the samples on the non-RAID. This allows me to install just the programs to any machine I want (I have 3 setups, Home, Work, and laptop) and just connect via eSATA for a large portable solution.

[askipper]

Good idea - not heard of esata until your post. They all need their own power though don't they? Was it hard to set up?

I will have a 1tb SATA HD and a 256gb SSD in the main Mac. But only have 250gb in Macbook Pro - the e-sata idea appeals,

What have you got? PC or Mac? I know that no macs have esata sockets yet :-(

[Redchurch]

http://www.icydock.com/goods.php?id=33

And from this site I found explanation of Mac:

http://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/faq-esata.php

"eSATA does not come as standard on any Mac at the time of writing, so to take advantage of this new protocol you will need to fit an eSATA host controller into a PCI/PCI-X, PCI Express or ExpressCard slot. This means that at present only the PowerMac, Mac Pro and MacBook Pro ranges of Macs can use eSATA devices."

Not unlike most PC laptops.

Both my home PC and work PC have host controllers on the motherboard that support what's known as "port multiplication." What this means is when I plug in eSATA, it's capable of seeing several drives as one unit (4 drives as 1 drive, or in my case, 2x2). My Win 7 laptop's eSATA port does NOT support port multiplication, so when I hooked up the Icy Dock to it, it didn't recognize all the drives, only one. I had to buy an ExpressCard 54 eSATA addon card to plug into the ExpressCard slot on my laptop. The unfortunate part is the cards that support port multiplication are $70, which after already spent like $500 on the Icy Dock + hard drives, isn't so bad it was just one more thing I had to wrangle in order to get the setup to work.

But I'm now toting around 1TB of fast streaming samples, with room to spare for collecting a few more of the East West packages, as well as sound libraries and video for other work that I do.

[Redchurch]

I should mention that LaCie makes products similar the one I built using the Icy Dock enclosure, but I have read mixed reviews and they are smaller capacity and more expensive than what I could build for myself using the Icy Dock enclosure, so I decided to roll my own setup. The advantage of the LaCie is you don't have to build anything, and there are other options like FireWire, though eSATA is the fastest.

http://www.lacie.com/

You would still need to figure out how to get an eSATA card/controller in your Mac that supports port multiplication.

[Pietro]

You can move your libraries how you want. They are separate products, so they arement to be treated as that, even if they came as a bundle.

Regarding Raid 0 solutions - I always advice against them. They only speed up sequential read speeds, which is not our greatest concern is sample streaming (seek time is). Using those 2 drives separately would guve you more boost than raid 0.

If you spread libraries between a couple of drives, they can be streamed simultanously. But then the external box is again not the best for it, I think.

- Piotr

[askipper]

Thanks everyone. Since my main Mac will have a 1tb HD and a 256gb SSD then that will be fine I'm sure.

I have a 1TB drive somewhere that has FW800 so I can use that to store copies of the samples for when I want to work on the MacBook Pro I think - sounds like the best cost effective solution.

My final question is can I split the samples in say SO and Choir and MOR as I wish? What I mean is, in Play I believe you can mark certain samples as favourites - can I store the favourites where I want? So, I am thinking that over time the 256gb SSD would be simply made up of samples that are my favourites only?

Thanks

[Pietro]

Originally Posted by askipper

My final question is can I split the samples in say SO and Choir and MOR as I wish? What I mean is, in Play I believe you can mark certain samples as favourites - can I store the favourites where I want? So, I am thinking that over time the 256gb SSD would be simply made up of samples that are my favourites only?

Thanks

User defined favorites are only links to existing instruments and sample files, not actual instruments or sample files and moving them is currently not possible. It also wouldn't improve a thing .

Moving actual instruments and samples is possible, but it would be VERY complicated to achieve, and after all it wouldn't be worth the hassle.

Better stay with the idea of moving whole libraries, instead of it's parts. That will make your SSD full, but will guarantee everything works as expected.

- Piotr