# Library Installation/Back-up Methods Best Practices



## Mr_Fromage (Dec 9, 2022)

So I'm fairly new to all of this and want to get myself a bit more organised before anything further goes awry.

I have a very light Mac system and had a problem with the Fusion drive. This resulted in an unfortunate loss of some libraries. I'm not sure if I can get them all back, as I wanted to make sure I can back things up properly to avoid further issues in the future.

I am looking for some guidance for a MacOS specifically, but am happy for Windows users to give advice for that OS, too, as long as it's clear if it's a peculiarity of either or applicable to both (since the thread might be useful for other newbies too).

I have Kontakt 6 (Full), SINE and the Spitfire Audio Player currently. I'd even be interested in other less common systems, too, in case I'm drawn to them eventually?

My understanding is if I download a Kontakt Library through Native Access (I think I have version 1.something), that I need to basically have double the amount of space required for the library and then it's probably good to batch resave it? I've yet to do a batch resave as I've been too scared to break anything. Does Kontakt 7 change any of these requirements or is it too soon to know?

For a Kontakt Player library, it could then be moved to another HD and the locate tool in Native Access used to direct it to the samples?

I'm guessing the Spitfire Audio and Orchestral Tools ones might be less complicated?

So then an SSD with the libraries on for general usage, and another HD (perhaps less expensive) as a backup?

Am I way off base?

Thanks for any help!


----------



## Daren Audio (Dec 9, 2022)

Mr_Fromage said:


> So I'm fairly new to all of this and want to get myself a bit more organised before anything further goes awry.
> 
> I have a very light Mac system and had a problem with the Fusion drive. This resulted in an unfortunate loss of some libraries. I'm not sure if I can get them all back, as I wanted to make sure I can back things up properly to avoid further issues in the future.


1). Do a Time Machine backup above onto an HDD. 
If you're internal drive eventually fails, you can set it to run the MacOS externally on an SSD which will be 10-40x faster giving new life to the old mac. 

Here's a link:






Use an external SSD as your startup disk … - Apple Community







discussions.apple.com







Mr_Fromage said:


> I am looking for some guidance for a MacOS specifically, but am happy for Windows users to give advice for that OS, too, as long as it's clear if it's a peculiarity of either or applicable to both (since the thread might be useful for other newbies too).
> 
> I have Kontakt 6 (Full), SINE and the Spitfire Audio Player currently. I'd even be interested in other less common systems, too, in case I'm drawn to them eventually?
> 
> My understanding is if I download a Kontakt Library through Native Access (I think I have version 1.something), that I need to basically have double the amount of space required for the library



I usually leave a lot of space available on my MacOS drive for the sole purpose of downloading.



Mr_Fromage said:


> and then it's probably good to batch resave it? I've yet to do a batch resave as I've been too scared to break anything. Does Kontakt 7 change any of these requirements or is it too soon to know?


Batch re-save will just save that library to load faster with the current Kontakt 6.x you're using so you won't be able to open those libraries with an older version of Kontakt. 

Kontakt 7 is a completely separate app from Kontakt 6 and will not over-ride Kontakt 6.
I would recommend if you're downloading say a new Kontakt 7 library, rename the folder and add "Kontakt 7" in the end just so you can tell which library runs with K7 or K6. 

The transition period with Kontakt 6.xx and Kontakt 7 will take some time with developers so you're going to be using both K6 and K7 for awhile.

I noticed that Komplete Kontrol opens Kontakt 7 by default and not Kontakt 6 so it breaks some of my custom presets patches made in Kontakt 6.


Mr_Fromage said:


> For a Kontakt Player library, it could then be moved to another HD and the locate tool in Native Access used to direct it to the samples?
> I'm guessing the Spitfire Audio and Orchestral Tools ones might be less complicated?


You can re-locate Native Instrument libraries and re-link them easily. Same with OT.
However, Spitfire Audio can be finicky when you move it around and may have to repair (and re-download the libraries which can be a pain.




Mr_Fromage said:


> So then an SSD with the libraries on for general usage, and another HD (perhaps less expensive) as a backup?
> 
> Am I way off base?
> 
> Thanks for any help!


Yes, use SSD for your sample libraries (Samsung T5 & T7 are popular) and use HDDs for your time machine backups.

I also have an exact copy of my sample library SSD in case the primary one fails I can just plug in the backup and be up and running in no time.


----------



## Mr_Fromage (Dec 9, 2022)

Thanks for the tips! 

My Time Machine backup stopped the worst of the loss, but I don’t get a chance to do enough with it all currently that I had a completely up to date backup, alas.

My plan is to use one of those Samsung drives to run the libraries. Just wanted to make sure I was doing things properly as I rebuild.


----------

