# Sample Libraries: HOW TO guides to migrate to a new computer [UPDATED]



## Guy Rowland (Feb 23, 2014)

The last time I did this was three years ago, and I've paid all my therapy bills now and ready to go through it all again. I always figured there should be a sticky for this particular subject, maybe this thread could be one if we all pool resources? I'll update this OP as info comes in.

My own situation - a new crate is on order. I'm swapping over all the sample and data drives, but will need to reinstall all apps and vsts from scratch. Same OS - Win 7 64 bit pro.

*DISCLAIMER - none of this is officially sanctioned, it's just what I found works. Try at your own risk!*

*KONTAKT*

This always was the easiest - ironically for everything except the factory library. Simply install the program and dlls from disk (no other content), run updates, then use Add Library to point at all your 3rd party libraries and add your licenses either via Kontakt or Service Center (which I find more reliable for this task). Remember to copy across any scripts / multiscripts - you'll find them in your documents folder /native instruments/kontakt 5 / presets / scrpts OR multiscripts. *LASS* owners - you'll also need to reinstall the ARC - this is one click via the Audiobro downloader.

The *Factory Library* in K5 is another matter. Here's what you need to do.

1. Make sure you have 25gb of free space somewhere for temporary use only (it can be an external drive)

2. Run the Komplete installer (or Kontakt 5 presumably), and check ONLY the Kontakt 5 Factory Content.

3. When prompted, navigate the content folder to your spare drive (the first option is for the standalone app - normally you'd keep that on your C drive as it is very small).

4. Install the library

5. When done, go your temporary drive, and navigate to the factory folder / Samples. Delete the 6 subfolders in there of the main content (Band, Choir etc) but you must leave Kontakt Factory Library1.nkc and Kontakt Factory Library1.nkr.

6. If you have installed this on a temporary drive, you can now cut and paste it to where you really want it - it is only 134mb in size, as opposed to over 23gb!

7. Open Kontakt 5 - hopefully there is a new library tab for Kontakt 5. If not, go through the install library routine, pointing at the location of the Kontakt 5 library.

8. Go to Files / Batch Resave, and ignore the warnings!

9. Navigate the browser to your NEW Kontakt 5 library.

10. It will then check for missing samples - might take a while.

11. You then have various options to find the missing samples (around 45,000 of them). Click manually find folder, and point to your Kontakt 4 installation.

12. Press go. Again, it might take a little while - on my system it was actually pretty quick pointing at an SSD.

13. Viola! You now have Kontakt 4 exactly as it was with all old projects unaffected, and Kontakt 5 is equally pristine - but saving nearly 25gb of space on the way.

The only other thing to remember is to install any legacy versions of Kontakt you may have used so old projects will still work, in my case K3 and K4.

*VSL*

I've had some issues in the past, but all went very smoothly this time. Install latest versions of all your VSL software, the elcienser (and plug it in of course) then run directory manager. Add your locations, and that was it.

3 years ago I had a hiccup here, that the files for my Woods SE didn't appear normally in Patches, but did in Matrix Manager.

Don't forget to copy your custom data folder with your metaframes etc.

*PLAY*

Oh boy. In the past if you get this wrong, you pay. Three years ago, this fully had me at the brink of madness. Piotr guided me through the sheer horror of it all (which involved at least 50 install attempts). Full details on what eventually worked here - http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/show ... hp?t=35599

Piotr now tells me that in Play 4 things are MUCH better. You should be able to just add libraries via the browser's favourites box. First install iLok manager and driver to the latest version (and make sure your iLok is connected). Then install Play 4 (latest version) and tick all your libraries. Then just right click in the favourites pane to add your libraries one by one. This worked great for me on SD2.

I can also vouch for this following method, which Piotr says isn't necessary any more, but to be ultra cautious its another option:

If you own any version of Symphonic Orchestra, INSTALL THIS FIRST from DVD. If not, pick any library for which you have an expansion (such as Symphonic Choirs or SD2). Otherwise just pick any random library.

Assuming you have all the samples on your Desired Hard Drive Folder (DHDF), make a copy of your sample folder to somewhere with some space, then delete on your DHDF. Next, install SO FROM THE DVD. When you choose the location of your sample library, pick your DHDF and make sure you have AN IDENTICAL PATH NAME to your original samples. When you get to the part when the library samples themselves start copying (after a minute or so), a new window will open labelled "installing". At this point you are safe to CANCEL the install. Ignore any warnings. Now delete your new partial install folder (with just a few files in it, since you interrupted it). Now copy back your original full folder. Voila, all should now work.

The best thing then is to rinse and repeat for all sample libraries, then update Play to the latest version, ticking ALL the libraries you own. This worked for me without a hitch, however, I'd mislaid my SD2 disks. Fortunately, installing this via the favourites pane in Play worked fine.

ADDED INFO FROM member dbh, who had installed from the add library method:

_In my situation (Cubase on W7) when I tried opening existing projects it wasn't able to find the samples. The reason for this seemed to be that when you use the right click "Add Another Product Library" method it only stores the sample folder path in the CURRENT_USER section of the registry. It seems that when you open projects it looks in the LOCAL_MACHINE part of the registry for the product directories and can't find them. 

The solution is to recreate the same registry entries from CURRENT_USER in the LOCAL_MACHINE section. WARNING: Only do this if you're comfortable updating the registry. 
1. Windows start > Run > regedit. 
2. Locate the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\EastWest\Play\ProductInstallDirs key. 
3. Export it using right click export. 
4. Open the exported file in Notepad. 
5. Replace HKEY_CURRENT_USER with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and save. 
6. Double click exported file to import new registry entries. 

Now all libraries should be installed and working fine, also with existing projects. _

*ENGINE*

Very straightforward. Install latest version of Engine, then (standalone) Preferences / Libraries / Add Library. Close, re-open. First time you load a patch you'll get a "can't find sample" box and an authorization notice. Follow the Challenge / Response procedure, close the dialogs, than you're set.

*SPECTRASONICS*

*Omnisphere / Trilian*

Install the plugins, which appear first on your DVD installers. Then Cancel out when the installer starts on the STEAM data part of the process. Update the software to the latest version, then run the soundsource and patch updates (this will overwrite your custom settings like star ratings unfortunately - not sure if there's a workaround?)

Run the plugin, authorize, then close and run again. It will ask you for the location of your Steam folder - point it in the right place. Close and restart - done.

NB - no need to reinstall the Moog library if you have it, when re-installing Omnisphere it seems to pick it up automatically.

*Stylus RMX*

A similar procedure to above failed for me. What ended up working was installing fully from disc (fortunately its only 2 discs), updating to latest versions of software and data then copying all my extra user files and folders into the correct locations.

*ReFx*

Nexus 2 - straightforward. Make sure the elicenser is in, then just install the latest software and on launch point at the content folder.

*Toontrack*

I haven't been able to find any shortcuts that work, unfortunately. It's all installs from scratch I'm afraid.


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## Richard Bowling (Feb 23, 2014)

I just recently did this for a new OS (Mavericks) and then on a new PC slave - On the Mavericks side it was double trouble due to Mavericks being newly released and Play 4 also new. I only updated so that Mavericks would see all 128 gigs of Ram (Mountain Lion OS down only sees 96 gigs of RAM). On the PC side I also stayed with Win7 and things went smooth though it is not yet fully "road tested". Side note I do wish every developer was as solid as VSL stuff.


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## Guy Rowland (Feb 24, 2014)

Thanks Richard - any specific tips for Mac or PC?


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## DynamicK (Feb 24, 2014)

Guy Rowland @ Mon Feb 24 said:


> Thanks Richard - any specific tips for Mac or PC?


 Just migrated to Win 7 from XP x64. I remembered everything except my *VSL custom data folder* that had all my vframes and metaframes in. So that was a day lost in re-creating them :evil:


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## chillbot (Feb 24, 2014)

*Re: Sample Libraries: migrating computers*

I just did this myself. Think you covered everything. For spectrasonics, log in to their site and download all the latest software AND updates, it's kind of a drag. But once it's installed then just copy your old STEAM and SAGE folders and libraries, etc, over from your old drive to the new drive and everything worked fine for me.

Makes you really appreciate Kontakt stuff. You are correct that service center works much better for activations. You probably also know this (I didn't) but when you log in to the NI site there is a list of every product and all your serial numbers. Takes a while to copy and paste but so nice to have it all in one place. As a bonus, there was software listed I totally forgot I owned! So now I have new (old) sounds to play with as well.

I had issues with the Heavocity stuff, they only allow a certain number of activations. But an email to the company with an explanation and they were quite nice about providing more activations.

The Engine stuff was a total drag... but I find everything about that product to be awkward. Installation/activation was hard enough before, now they changed ownership and it was a total mess depending on which products you own. Sorry can't help, good luck.


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## Guy Rowland (Feb 24, 2014)

*Re: Sample Libraries: migrating computers*

Thanks DynamicK (tip added to the OP) and Chillbot. I'm trying to remember with Spectrasonics - when you install the basic programs, does it create the empty STEAM / SAGE folders, and then you just skip the library install part and then copy / paste?

One other tip for stuff like this where it only likes to have its folders in a certain place is to create aliases, where you point the new system at your existing folder within the OS itself. I use dirlinker - http://dirlinker.codeplex.com/ - its a piece of cake to use. When you browse in Windows Explorer into a linked folder, it immediately jumps to the new location seamlessly, so the programs simply believe they are where they should be, even though physically they aren't.

Dreading Engine now! I might install those libs from scratch if I get any hint of a problem... I have to be honest I don't use the libraries I have on there very much, but I know if I don't do it I'll need some medieval instruments tomorrow or something. Ditto Play stuff really, they're out of the template now, but I occasionally need to load up a patch or two from RA or something.


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## chillbot (Feb 24, 2014)

*Re: Sample Libraries: migrating computers*



Guy Rowland @ Mon Feb 24 said:


> Thanks DynamicK (tip added to the OP) and Chillbot. I'm trying to remember with Spectrasonics - when you install the basic programs, does it create the empty STEAM / SAGE folders, and then you just skip the library install part and then copy / paste?
> 
> One other tip for stuff like this where it only likes to have its folders in a certain place is to create aliases, where you point the new system at your existing folder within the OS itself. I use dirlinker - http://dirlinker.codeplex.com/ - its a piece of cake to use. When you browse in Windows Explorer into a linked folder, it immediately jumps to the new location seamlessly, so the programs simply believe they are where they should be, even though physically they aren't.
> 
> Dreading Engine now! I might install those libs from scratch if I get any hint of a problem... I have to be honest I don't use the libraries I have on there very much, but I know if I don't do it I'll need some medieval instruments tomorrow or something. Ditto Play stuff really, they're out of the template now, but I occasionally need to load up a patch or two from RA or something.



Yes that's exactly what I did for spectrasonics.

Didn't mean to scare you about Engine, you'll probably be fine. I bought Independence at the same time which was a bitch to install and activate. I don't think I had any huge issues copying over Synthwerk, Titan, and Forgotton Kingdom. I just remember it was confusing... the old owners had the download but the new owners had the activation...? Ever since I bought Yellow Tools Majestic 10+ years ago I have absolutely hated their activation/protection schemes. At one point I just had to give up on Majestic even though I owned it I couldn't use it, thank god for Trillian. I guess I could use it now because it's included in Independence...


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## kitekrazy (Feb 24, 2014)

*Re: Sample Libraries: migrating computers*

With NI stuff I always uninstall the software and run Service Center so the licenses are removed from the machines. I never had any activation problems with NI. If anyone doesn't know Komplete allows up to 3 machines.


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 15, 2014)

OP massively updated after 3 days of setting up the new system.


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## Ed (Mar 15, 2014)

Would be great if someone could come up with a good system for Spectrasonics stuff if you dont have the discs but have all the data.


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 15, 2014)

Ed @ Sat Mar 15 said:


> Would be great if someone could come up with a good system for Spectrasonics stuff if you dont have the discs but have all the data.



Read the OP


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## Ed (Mar 16, 2014)

Guy Rowland @ Sat Mar 15 said:


> Ed @ Sat Mar 15 said:
> 
> 
> > Would be great if someone could come up with a good system for Spectrasonics stuff if you dont have the discs but have all the data.
> ...



... but in the OP you said install from discs?


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 16, 2014)

Ed @ Sun Mar 16 said:


> Guy Rowland @ Sat Mar 15 said:
> 
> 
> > Ed @ Sat Mar 15 said:
> ...



You only need the discs for the first 20s of the install, after that you can link to your existing data. But if you've lost the discs completely, then yeah you'd need to contact Spectrasonics.


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## dgburns (Mar 16, 2014)

Guy Rowland @ Sun Mar 16 said:


> Ed @ Sun Mar 16 said:
> 
> 
> > Guy Rowland @ Sat Mar 15 said:
> ...



so why not just copy the omni data folder "steam" to the new computer and point to that after install? on the mac side you copy an alias (sans the word alias btw) to the location omni wants to find it and your done.i think it's the same for pc.

as for k5 lib,it is not the same as k4,in fact i actually prefer the studio drums from the earlier k4 lib,so in my case,copied the k4 lib to a new location,then just did a fresh komplete 5 install ,then added the k4 lib after.they are not the same drum sounds.actually did all this during a project,and got screwed,so found out the hard way that they changed the lib somewhere just before k5 came out.since then i just don't trust that the libs are the same when updating,so keep the old just in case.
as to keeping older versions of kontakt,i remember Eastwest Lurker stating the new feature which is that k5 will be loaded if a session is saved with an older version of kontakt.worked for me,so i blew off the older kontakt 4 and earlier.obviously,try first by moving the k4 and older dll's out of the plugin folder and see what happens for you.this is of course if you don't need the old stock library sounds.

caveat emptor as always


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## Jetzer (Mar 16, 2014)

Maybe good for a sticky? I had to do all this just last week. A guide like this is helpful.
And we can share our problems and troubles in one topic.


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 16, 2014)

dgburns @ Sun Mar 16 said:


> so why not just copy the omni data folder "steam" to the new computer and point to that after install? on the mac side you copy an alias (sans the word alias btw) to the location omni wants to find it and your done.i think it's the same for pc.
> 
> as for k5 lib,it is not the same as k4,in fact i actually prefer the studio drums from the earlier k4 lib,so in my case,copied the k4 lib to a new location,then just did a fresh komplete 5 install ,then added the k4 lib after.they are not the same drum sounds.actually did all this during a project,and got screwed,so found out the hard way that they changed the lib somewhere just before k5 came out.since then i just don't trust that the libs are the same when updating,so keep the old just in case.
> as to keeping older versions of kontakt,i remember Eastwest Lurker stating the new feature which is that k5 will be loaded if a session is saved with an older version of kontakt.worked for me,so i blew off the older kontakt 4 and earlier.obviously,try first by moving the k4 and older dll's out of the plugin folder and see what happens for you.this is of course if you don't need the old stock library sounds.
> ...



On the STEAM folder - that's exactly my method. You just need the discs for the initial plugin installation, then you just point at the folder when you first run it.

AFAIK there's no content difference between the factory library in K4 and K5 though I think there was a GUI overhaul. As for loading K5 when there's an older version of the plugin, that's a mac-only thing, sadly for us PC types.

JH - I agree.


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## dgburns (Mar 16, 2014)

ok,good to know bout the pc side of things...will not tempt fate removing k4 from the pc's.thanks for that info!

however ,i must insist that there was a change in libs content,I had to re-install the earlier k4 lib that shipped with komplete 8 as the drums were not the same.NI were the ones who informed me of the content change when i queried them on the subject.
as a result,i keep the older komplete 8 k4 lib around,but i access it using the quick list,not the library method as normal.i have no idea what other things may or may not be the same.i suspect most of the content is in fact identical.

not trying to be a piss ant,but of this i am clear.


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 17, 2014)

dgburns @ Mon Mar 17 said:


> ok,good to know bout the pc side of things...will not tempt fate removing k4 from the pc's.thanks for that info!
> 
> however ,i must insist that there was a change in libs content,I had to re-install the earlier k4 lib that shipped with komplete 8 as the drums were not the same.NI were the ones who informed me of the content change when i queried them on the subject.
> as a result,i keep the older komplete 8 k4 lib around,but i access it using the quick list,not the library method as normal.i have no idea what other things may or may not be the same.i suspect most of the content is in fact identical.
> ...



Komplete 8 shipped with K5, not K4? I read about stuff like IR changes and probably more FX tweaks, but no sample changes, but hey who knows. I know that, once referenced, all the K5 library patches I've found load fine pointed at K4 samples. (and of course for drums there have been many updates to the Studio Drummer and Abbey Road series that are in Komplete).


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## dgburns (Mar 17, 2014)

yes,you are quite correct.I post that I am in error.Komplete 8= K5

(hang head in shame) what the hell has happened to my brain? :shock: 

sorry for the possible confusion.my entries should go in a new thread called "how to try and have backwards compatibility with komplete line" which I have realized may be difficult.

thanks for all the info Guy.


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## Pietro (Mar 18, 2014)

Today, migrating is pretty straightforward. Best and quickiest way to do it is by just copying the libraries to and then from an external hard drive. 

Then just install latest software update and:
PLAY - add instruments to the favorites list (it will then know where to search for samples when opening older projects). Make sure you select your instruments when installing PLAY.
Kontakt - add libraries, add your other samples folders to the database. Too bad you have to install Komplete software from DVD, and can't just go for the latest update straight.
VSL - use the directory tool to add libraries folders.

- Piotr


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## Mike Marino (Mar 18, 2014)

Super helpful thread. I'm about to go through this myself so it's nice to have all of this information to move in and out of.

- Mike


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 18, 2014)

Hi Piotr - does that mean that all the hellish registry issues around installs from SO etc are definitely a thing of the past in Play 4? I added SD2 from the browser and that went great, but there again that worked before in Play 3 for me while SO caused me all that grief.


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## Pietro (Mar 18, 2014)

Yes, I had to reinstall Windows twice last week, and PLAY was one of the easiest to setup.

Komplete I had to install from DVD, becuase the updates required initial installation. And from DVD, not hard drive copy of it, because it said it HAS to be from DVD. Then downloading all of the updates and installing them.

- Piotr


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## TeamLeader (Mar 18, 2014)

How do I transfer the Kontakt 'quick load' layout to the new machine, so that I don't have to rebuild it all?


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 18, 2014)

Piotr - cool, will update the OP.

Team Leader - it's in a rather obscure place:

C:/users/(your user profile name)/app data/local/native instruments/kontakt 5/QuickLoad . Copy and paste those 3 folders into your new location.


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## TeamLeader (Mar 18, 2014)

Thanks Guy. I appreciate it. 

We are on all macs though.


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 18, 2014)

TeamLeader @ Tue Mar 18 said:


> Thanks Guy. I appreciate it.
> 
> We are on all macs though.



Ah. Perhaps do a search for QuickLoad on your C drive, that's the root folder for all the three categories.

If anyone has mac reinstalling tips, I'd be glad to add them to the OP.


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## newtonbach (Mar 18, 2014)

I recently wanted to move my quickload from K4 to K5, on a mac it's in a hidden folder - go to your USER folder in finder, then click "Go" from the top bar, then select "Go To Folder" and type in "Library", this will unveil the hidden Library folder. After that it's Application Support/Native Instruments/ and Quickload is a folder with 3 subfolders.


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## Pietro (Mar 18, 2014)

Guy Rowland @ Tue Mar 18 said:


> C:/users/(your user profile name)/app data/local/native instruments/kontakt 5/QuickLoad . Copy and paste those 3 folders into your new location.



And this only works when your drive letters are EXACTLY the same as on previous machine. Otherwise you will get bald trying to figure out what makes your projects freeze before they open :D. At least in Cubase.

- Piotr


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 19, 2014)

Pietro @ Tue Mar 18 said:


> Guy Rowland @ Tue Mar 18 said:
> 
> 
> > C:/users/(your user profile name)/app data/local/native instruments/kontakt 5/QuickLoad . Copy and paste those 3 folders into your new location.
> ...



Hey is that what your woes were? Interesting. I've just copied mine across with no issues, but thus far I've been super careful to keep drive letters and paths the same. Are you up and running again for now?


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## Pietro (Mar 19, 2014)

Nope. My computer died eventually last friday. Most likely motherboard. I hope my bad luck ends now. Withing 3 weeks: broken SSD, broken graphics card, a few days later nothing turns on anymore. I'm glad I have understanding clients.

But the Kontakt problem was most likely the quick load list. I'll be reinstalling everything on my new machine, hopefuly this weekend.

- Piotr


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 19, 2014)

Pietro @ Wed Mar 19 said:


> Nope. My computer died eventually last friday. Most likely motherboard. I hope my bad luck ends now. Withing 3 weeks: broken SSD, broken graphics card, a few days later nothing turns on anymore. I'm glad I have understanding clients.
> 
> But the Kontakt problem was most likely the quick load list. I'll be reinstalling everything on my new machine, hopefuly this weekend.
> 
> - Piotr



Aaargh! What a mare - good luck with the replacements, you deserve a break at this point....


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## Marius Masalar (Mar 21, 2014)

I just finished going through this sort of process. 

I had been updating my computer in place for 5-6 years and ended up doing some messy symlink MacGuyvering and other weird things along the way...needless to say, performance was not great and I was getting lots of random misbehaviour. After stacking that many OS installs, it's not surprising.

This week, I booked off two days, checked my backups, nuked the whole system from orbit and re-installed everything from the ground up starting from a fresh OS install.

Just wanted to chime in with a few random thoughts now that I've finished:

- Running SSDs near capacity destroys their performance
- I own too many plugins that I don't use; culling the herd was very cathartic
- Conversely, I find that I work better when using good hardware instruments/controllers. Got an Ableton Push and have fallen completely in love with it
- Make detailed notes about settings, applications, plugins, locations, etc. before doing something like this and it takes a lot of the stress out of it
- It was much easier than I expected to re-install everything
- Kontakt, PLAY, and Omnisphere all made it dead simple to re-install just the plugin and just point to the samples. No hassle, no workarounds, no errors, no complications—very happy
- Running Hollywood Strings off an SSD is magical; patches that used to load in 2 minutes are now ready to go in seven seconds flat

All in all I'm just glad it all went so smoothly. Spring cleaning applies to computers too!

Guy, just wanted to say thanks for putting this thread together—it was handy to have as a reference while I was preparing


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## dbh (Mar 22, 2014)

I did this a month ago on a Windows machine and have something to add if it helps others- 

*Play
*As Piotr said, this was actually quite easy ... 
1. Copy your sample folders directly to the new location. 
2. Install the latest Play selecting all the products you have. 
3. In Play go to the browser and then right click the Favorites tab, select "Add Another Product Library". 
5. Navigate to the newly copied sample folder and choose the Instruments folder. 
6. Repeat until you've added all the libraries. 

The libraries are ready to be used, HOWEVER, in my situation (Cubase on W7) when I tried opening existing projects it wasn't able to find the samples. The reason for this seemed to be that when you use the right click "Add Another Product Library" method it only stores the sample folder path in the CURRENT_USER section of the registry. It seems that when you open projects it looks in the LOCAL_MACHINE part of the registry for the product directories and can't find them. 

The solution is to recreate the same registry entries from CURRENT_USER in the LOCAL_MACHINE section. WARNING: Only do this if you're comfortable updating the registry. 
1. Windows start > Run > regedit. 
2. Locate the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\EastWest\Play\ProductInstallDirs key.
3. Export it using right click export. 
4. Open the exported file in Notepad. 
5. Replace HKEY_CURRENT_USER with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and save.
6. Double click exported file to import new registry entries. 

Now all libraries should be installed and working fine, also with existing projects. 

This sounds like a hassle but if you know what to do it's very quick and saves loads of time.

Cheers,
dbh


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## Guy Rowland (Mar 22, 2014)

Thanks Marius, glad it was helpful.



Mathazzar @ Fri Mar 21 said:


> - Running SSDs near capacity destroys their performance



I remember asking around on this point a couple of years ago. The consensus then was "it doesn't matter - fill it up to the brim". Since then I've had one drive very close to maxed out (4gb left out of 240gb) and I have to say it's behaved perfectly. I'd be interested to know if others have ever had problems - maybe it varies depending on the model / other circumstances?

Thanks too dbh and welcome to the forum - that sounds very useful, I'll add the registry part to the OP.


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## TeamLeader (Mar 22, 2014)

Mathazzar @ Fri Mar 21 said:


> I just finished going through this sort of process.
> 
> - Running SSDs near capacity destroys their performance



Marius, Congrats on smooth setup.

What is the basis for your above quote above SSDs losing performance if full? The folks at OWC said we could fill them to the brim with no ill side effects? Perhaps your experience differs???


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## Marius Masalar (Mar 22, 2014)

I should clarify that it depends a little on the drive in question—if your drive has plenty of over-provisioning set aside from the get-go (the average is 7% of capacity) then by all means fill it to the brim of the available space and you'll be fine.

Even so, just owing to the nature of how data is stored and read on SSDs vs HDDs (very different), it's prudent to leave as much breathing room as possible on SSDs.

In other words, if you have a good SSD you shouldn't need to worry too much. I wrote an entire article about SSDs and TRIM and all that jazz in February that goes over this sort of thing and the research was valuable for my own understanding of the way this stuff works. 

In terms of user-facing effects it might be subtle, as the sluggishness is still comparatively faster than any HDD. Instead of "performance", I should have used the word "health" or "lifespan".

As a visual aid, here's a look at the SMART status scores of two of my SSDs—one of which was run at near capacity for a year and a half. You can probably guess which is which:

http://d.pr/i/sQY8

Granted, SMART scores are kind of weird to read as some of the values are pretty arbitrary, but the Program Fail and Erase Fail counts are concerning.

Anyway, I didn't mean to make it sound like things were exploding and people were dying, but it is an important consideration for the health of your drive if you plan to keep it for several years.


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## zvenx (Dec 21, 2015)

I am now seeing this thread from two other thread deferrals. What for me works faultlessly.
On both Mac and PC:
1. Keep all samples on hard drives other than your main hard drives (on Mac I have external, on PC another internal)
To migrate on Mac, I use Migrate Assistant that comes with every mac...has worked for me without issues (unless of course the original hard drive/computer had issues)
2. On PC I use Acronis True Image which now has the feature (Universal Restore) to migrate across different chipsets. Yes you will have the drivers from your older computer migrate as well but these I have found are usually harmless and can be deleted.


rsp


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## rap_ferr (Dec 21, 2015)

May I ask one question?

How do you handle licensing when migrating computers specially with Native Instruments?

I have a pc and I'm using it as a slave now (specially LASS, Cinematic Strings and some CineSamples). It was my main computer, but now my daws and plugins are in a macbook pro. I bought Komplete and installed it in my macbook. But I plan to buy a mac pro in the future to replace the macbook and I'm scared to license NI stuff, LASS, Cinematic Strings and Cinesamples twice and end up not being able to license them in the mac pro later. After I buy the mac pro, I think I won't need the licenses in the macbook pro.


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