External Hard Drive Uses?

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bobbyswamp
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2014/01/11 12:47:08 (permalink)

External Hard Drive Uses?

I have researched the threads here and just bought an external hard drive to help alleviate the burden on my C drive, which still has room, but is filling up fast...
 
It's a 500 GB, 7200 RPM drive, and I named her Elizabeth.
 
So, I guess I'll change the folder path in preferences to route the audio data folders over to her?
 
Should I bother to move ALL my old song file/bundles from my C drive over to Lizzie? Or just start directing new songs over there by clicking "Save As..."? 
 
Any other stuff you guys use your external drives for?
 
 
 

https://www.reverbnation.com/thegalaxies
 
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#1

7 Replies Related Threads

    Cactus Music
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 13:01:29 (permalink)
    You should always have backups, and they should always be on a different drive. So having the second drive will still not take the storage problem away from your C drive. You will need 3 drives if you want to start deleting files. In other words, you should have 3 copies of each project.
     
    With and external  or internal second drive you can do 2 things. Each gives a different result. 
     
    "save as" with copy all audio checked will create a back up and remove all unused audio from the project. This is a good way to clean up the files.
    But there is a small danger you might leave behind something you want later down the line.
    So the second method, a Drag and drop of your entire Sonar Project folder, makes a solid back up with all data kept. If your new drive is a 2 TB then why worry about space.
     
    My set up: 
    C drive is partitioned with 2nd partition "E" Then a second drive is "H" 
    C = 100 Gig.-is OS and programs files,, very little data is stored here
    E = 850 G is where all projects stream to all Data stored here. 
    H = 1000 G is Back up # 1 
    External drive 2 TB back up #2. 
     
    At random as I work I'll do a "save as" to the "H" drive. 
    I always do this before I shut down. 
    I will do a drag and drop of "E" drive to the external drive at least once a week if I have been doing a lot. It depends on the importance of the files. 
     
    post edited by Cactus Music - 2014/01/11 13:18:49

    Johnny V  
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     http://www.cactusmusic.ca/
     
     
    #2
    bobbyswamp
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 13:15:08 (permalink)
    Great advice! Thanks, Johnny...

    https://www.reverbnation.com/thegalaxies
     
    Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by BandLab, Windows 10
    #3
    pagec
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 13:30:56 (permalink)
    I call my hard drive Phillip. Maybe we should let them defrag together and have a little hard drive. We can call it Charlie.
     
    The Palace
    #4
    Fred Holmes
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 13:37:10 (permalink)
    External drive for backup and another one for all my sample libraries.
    (No fancy names  thouhg)
    Fred
    #5
    jscomposer
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 13:42:50 (permalink)
    bobbyswamp
     
    It's a 500 GB, 7200 RPM drive, and I named her Elizabeth.
     
     
     




    What port did you attach the drive to?
    #6
    dwardzala
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 14:14:08 (permalink)
    I use an external drive for sort of a back up - really to store download files and various other bits.  I also manually back up projects to it.
     
    I would recommend against partitioning any drives.  I don't think there is a real benefit and once you do it, the only way to undo it is to re-format (I made this mistake on my custom build about 6 years ago and finally undid it when I went to Win 7 last year).  If you need more discrete drives, by more drives - they are cheap and if you aren't putting audio or video stuff on them they don't need to be super fast/high cache ones (otherwise known as black).

    Dave
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    #7
    Maarkr
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    Re: External Hard Drive Uses? 2014/01/11 14:25:49 (permalink)
    I just did a major storage and OS rebuild.  Bought a 240Gb SSD for the C drive with programs and Win7-64.  Use the old C (now D) for doc/project/file storage and an E drive for samples and important backups.... and an external H drive for backups running automatic backup software.  You prob want your docs/projects/samples on an internal SATA instead of a USB drive for speed.
    ...and I've seen it hundreds of times over many years from people... BACKUP YOUR FILES!  It can and DOES happen.

    Maarkr
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