New PC Build – Seeking Advice

[Alan]

I’m building a new Music Production PC. I have been upgrading old my PC DAW system for well over ten years and have always cloned my drives for each of the many upgrades. The result is a very messy system with VSTs and sample libraries scattered over numerous drives, plus loads of outdated software.
It’s time for a fresh start and I’m looking for pitfalls to avoid and advice on best practices for migrating to a new system. Particularly, where to install VSTs, samples for virtual instruments, things like that. In my early days I chose default installations, which made for a mess.
My new system will have:
2TB SSD boot drive
2TB SSD audio drive
2TB SATA backup drive
I plan to keep the old PC available indefinitely
Any information would be appreciated

[Art Munson]

@Alan. Oh, I know the pain! I built a new computer a couple of years ago and still haven’t gotten all my software installed. But, early on I kept all my samples and libraries on a separate drive. VSTs I tried to keep all in one folder, separated by name of software. But, I missed some of those so my VSTs are a mess.

[Alan]

Thanks Art. My goal is to keep all my VSTs in one folder on the C: drive. I hope the iLok isn’t too much of a hassle. Although, I expect lots of headaches are in my future.

I think I remember you are a Cakewalk user. If so, have you tried to move the old third party Sonar VST instruments (Dimension Pro, Session Drummer, etc) to a new machine using Cakewalk by Bandlab? I would hate to lose those.

[jdstamper]

Here’s something that works well for me – I created my own “My Documents” folder. You could name it whatever, something like: “Alans Docs”

I use that one as the default location for files from all apps such as MS Office, etc.

The reason is because the Windows My Documents folder has become a default location that program apps often use. So now I consider it to be more of a Programs folder than it is a documents folder.

I don’t want all of that app data in ‘my filing cabinet’. This way I know where to find my folders & files and not mixed with program folders & files.

My system (1 year old) is very similar. I have 2 – 2TB SSD’s and an 8TB external back-up, and I’m running Cakewalk by Bandlab. I found that I need more space for VST / audio, and not so much space in a boot drive (for program files). So I’ve had to steal boot drive space for VST / audio too. This hasn’t been any trouble due to the speed of SSDs and the speed of modern processors. I also use Ilok, I converted from hardware to the software version now, not a problem.

I also had to have more RAM. I started with 16Gb but I soon upgraded to 64Gb which is the limit on my motherboard. It made a big difference, and RAM is cheap.

[Alan]

Thanks jdstamper. I’m currently copying my Cakewalk Projects folder from my old machine to an SSD drive, 7 hours to go. Here’s an update if any PC builders are interested.
I used this video to walk me through the build process:
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-build-a-pc-the-ultimate-beginners-guide
I found it very helpful without the time wasting chatter common to many YouTube videos.
It fired up on the first try, which was a joyous occasion for me.
Installing Windows was painless
Moving 10+ years of software licenses, VSTs, etc, etc, etc, was very painful. I’m sure I’ll discover some I missed.
VSTs – I thought I would be smart and create a master VST folder where I would put everything. Nope, MANY of my plugins did not give me installation options. Even when I checked custom install, location was not an option. So, my VSTs remain a mess.

[jdstamper]

Right, it took a very long time for me to re-install everything. It took 3 days (and nights) just to install my 6 East West products from the website. Moving to a new PC is painful!

I installed everything fresh using manufacturer routines and their defaults. I only copied a few items from the old PC where there is no longer a viable installation. I also abandoned as many 32 bit plug-ins as possible – ones that were never used, or I should be able to easily replace with a competing 64 bit plug-in. One example is the old Cakewalk Analyzer that I used on every project for years, but it’s been dropped ?, so I’m replacing with other analyzers when I open those projects.

[StevieBlunder]

I started looking at a new computer 1 year ago and talked to a lot of resources.I was lucky to find a builder Fundamental AV that delivered a 16 core 3.4ghz with64gb memory 4 ssd’s but the main thing was they installed all of my main software for me. The computer arrived with 90% of the software I use like Steinberg, N.I Komplete, IK, Waves all ready to go. This was truly an amazing experience, worth the extra money to me

[Author]

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