# Going from Mac to PC! Need some tips and advice.



## musiccorner (Nov 9, 2020)

Hello everybody!

I’m moving from a Mac Mini 2012 (late 2012, i7 - 3rd gen, 16gb ram, with 3 SSDs - 2 inside and one external) to a notebook (i7 - 10th gen, 64gb ram, 2 SSDs m.2 and one SSD Sata III).

The essential purpose is to optmize my workflow, getting rid of constant track freezes, bounces in place and some crashes with large projects and take advantage of the freedom that a portable computer can give to me (i like to travel a lot).

I know that sounds silly, but i’m a really fan of Apple and Logic is my DAW today so, as you can see, lots of changes for me one the horizon.

I’ve already purchased the notebook mentioned above so.... too late for regrets.

My question is: any advice for someone like me?

Anything will help: DAW to choose, applications to install, workflow tips, best practices, etc.

Your opinion will mean a lot to me because we’re on the same line of work. 😅

Thank you!!


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## synergy543 (Nov 9, 2020)

Been there, done that. Google is your friend - shortcuts, tips, tricks, its all there. Get used to googling every question you have and you'll find answers quickly that way. The good news is that today the Mac and PC are not so different (at least once you're working inside the apps). Backing up and file installation and removal are probably the biggest differences. I don't have specific answers as my PC turned into a Hacintosh so while I'm on a Dell, I'm still living in the Mac world! (but also use a PC laptop). I would suggest you check out Acronis for backup and Cubase as a DAW solution. And get used to MS updates suddenly interrupting your workflow and rebooting your computer (anyone find a solution for that yet?) - enjoy taking coffee breaks! Cheers.


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## synergy543 (Nov 9, 2020)

Also, when you're back at home, assuming you still have your Mac, you can still work in the Mac environment (with Logic) and use your PC as a slave with VE Pro. And Goggle drive and docs is a great way to share docs and files between machines.


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## Technostica (Nov 9, 2020)

The SoundonSound forums have a sub forum for Windows. 
Having access to a number of forums will be useful as you will get a wider input. 
Good luck as I would feel a bit daunted if I was going the other way.


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## musiccorner (Nov 9, 2020)

Thank you for the inputs, @synergy543 @Technostica . I’ll check those out!!


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## Nate Johnson (Nov 9, 2020)

musiccorner said:


> Hello everybody!
> 
> I’m moving from a Mac Mini 2012 (late 2012, i7 - 3rd gen, 16gb ram, with 3 SSDs - 2 inside and one external) to a notebook (i7 - 10th gen, 64gb ram, 2 SSDs m.2 and one SSD Sata III).



So what laptop did you get exactly? Just curious.


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## musiccorner (Nov 9, 2020)

Nate Johnson said:


> So what laptop did you get exactly? Just curious.



Its a brazilian company called “Avell”.

They do a good job over here and have good prices.

The exact model is this one (maxed out): https://avell.com.br/avell-a62-liv-1650


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## MartinH. (Nov 9, 2020)

musiccorner said:


> Anything will help: DAW to choose, applications to install, workflow tips, best practices, etc.



Check out Reaper as a DAW and Autohotkey as an allround productivity enhancer. It's great for creating application-specific keyboard macros. For example I have one that uploads a file via ftp to my webspace and puts the URL of the file into the clipboard (while automatically converting blanks to underscores in filenames). Or I have a shortcut that types the current date in yyyy-mm-dd format. Handy for naming files when you're lazy but still want to stick to a naming convention.


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## ADRIA (Nov 9, 2020)

Hi, musiccorner.

I was a Logic user from 2007 to 2016. I love everything about it. Unfortunately, I can't keep up with the Apple hardware upgrade price. 

So, I decided to move to Windows. I love building PC and choose the best value components.

Then, I have to choose DAW for Windows. I choose Cubase because I'm love composing music for film. I did the right thing without any regret.

This is what I think of DAW:
1. Cubase: easier for film scoring. But it needs a physical dongle for the pro version. I don't know if it will suitable for you.
2. Studio One: easier for mixing, song. I love version 5 because of easy gain editing. I did lots of mixing. Second DAW I'll buy it if got money.
3. Ableton: easier for live performance and electronic-based music. But I'm no performer at all so I don't see any benefits for me.
4. Reaper: easier for customization at cheaper prices. But I don't like the interface. I'm spoiled with Logic's beautiful environment.
5. Etc more or less similar to above. Choose based on what you will do. But don't expect DAW more beautiful and full of useful content than Logic.

Applications to install for me:
1. OBS
2. Davinci Resolve
3. Audio and video converter
4. VLC, AIMP, iTunes
5. Only install what you need.

Workflow/best practice tips:
1. Always Ctrl+S. Save! Never know what will happen. Not responding sometimes just happens.
2. I use a buffer size of 256 when composing and 512/1024 when mixing.
3. Check ASIO driver updates for your audio interface. Mac does not need this like Windows.
4. Just restart if something unusual occurred. 
5. Keep everything simple and clean for Windows stuff, go complicated and dirty for music work. 

Sorry if it's too common. I think you already know about those. Wish you all the best bro.


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## musiccorner (Nov 10, 2020)

MartinH. said:


> Check out Reaper as a DAW and Autohotkey as an allround productivity enhancer. It's great for creating application-specific keyboard macros. For example I have one that uploads a file via ftp to my webspace and puts the URL of the file into the clipboard (while automatically converting blanks to underscores in filenames). Or I have a shortcut that types the current date in yyyy-mm-dd format. Handy for naming files when you're lazy but still want to stick to a naming convention.



Thank you! Nice to hear about Autohotkey. I´ll check that for sure.

I´m currently with my eyes on Reaper and S1, but looks to me that Reaper, as powerful as it is, needs lots of extensions and scripting to optimize its workflow. Is that true or just an impression?


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## musiccorner (Nov 10, 2020)

ADRIA said:


> Sorry if it's too common. I think you already know about those. Wish you all the best bro.



Not common at all. Lots of useful tips here! Thanks!!


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## MartinH. (Nov 10, 2020)

musiccorner said:


> I´m currently with my eyes on Reaper and S1, but looks to me that Reaper, as powerful as it is, needs lots of extensions and scripting to optimize its workflow. Is that true or just an impression?



I've mostly changed some shortcuts and use a very small number of custom actions, but I don't have many extensions or scripts installed. I'd rather have that possibility if I need it than not. I like Reaper's workflow, but I can't tell you anything about Studio One or other DAWs. I've seen some midi editing features in Cubase that I miss in Reaper, but I never missed them enough to look for a script to introduce them to Reaper. There probably is one already. In general, if you can think of it, someone has probably made a script for it already, you just have to find it. It's so cool that Reaper has its own package manager to search and download such things. Plus it's rather stable and CPU efficient. I'd say just download trial versions for S1 and Reaper and see which you like better after a month.


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## topaz (Nov 11, 2021)

A year later and I am in the same situation, Mac > Pc 

Does anyone have any tips on moving data across from Mac Journaled and APFS ?

I have quite a few drives.


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## Paulogic (Nov 11, 2021)

Do you mean copying data from Mac-formatted drives to PC (NTFS) formatted drives or vice versa?

A Mac cannot natively do this, but there are tools : eg - https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

The same for Windows, there are tools : eg - https://www.paragon-software.com/home/apfs-windows/

ps : no affiliation at all with Paragon, just good software...


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## topaz (Nov 11, 2021)

Paulogic said:


> Do you mean copying data from Mac-formatted drives to PC (NTFS) formatted drives or vice versa?
> 
> A Mac cannot natively do this, but there are tools : eg - https://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/
> 
> ...


yep, cheers. bit pricey that ;-(


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## Paulogic (Nov 11, 2021)

For the mac it is affordable, I think : 20 €​For windows it is a little more expensive, I know but 50 euro's if you need to transfer a lot​of data... maybe worth it.​​If you only want to copy files from a Mac drive to a Windows drive, than Apple has native​support for the older ExFAT Windows File system. Maybe you can use a drive (temporally)​as transfer disk and format it with ExFAT. Transfer all files needed from Mac to this drive,​and then use a Windows machine to copy them to a NTFS formatted drive. If more files​then space on the ExFat drive, move in several instances.​


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## topaz (Nov 11, 2021)

Paulogic said:


> For the mac it is affordable, I think : 20 €​For windows it is a little more expensive, I know but 50 euro's if you need to transfer a lot​of data... maybe worth it.​​If you only want to copy files from a Mac drive to a Windows drive, than Apple has native​support for the older ExFAT Windows File system. Maybe you can use a drive (temporally)​as transfer disk and format it with ExFAT. Transfer all files needed from Mac to this drive,​and then use a Windows machine to copy them to a NTFS formatted drive. If more files​then space on the ExFat drive, move in several instances.​


I just found a neat way to do this, doesn't work for APFS but for the HFS it does 





__





Catacombae - HFSExplorer






www.catacombae.org





Also thinking network may be a way (SSH)


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## Paulogic (Nov 11, 2021)

Network will work, I'm doing this al the time. I'm a Mac user but have 2 Win machines for testing
and resolving Win problems for customers and this works fine but sometimes slow if there are
a lot of files. Especially when there are some big ones, they seem to slow down the process.
The tool you found is nice and it is a pitty they don't have APFS support.


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