File Organization on Hard Disk.... got, tips, tricks, techniques or warnings?

maestrom45
Do you guys have any tips or methods for organizing the files associated with your DAW?

The most common setup seems to be one drive for Windows and applications, a second drive for projects and a third drive for samples and loops if you use lots of them. The Windows drive definitely benefits from being an SSD, the others not so much, maybe the sample drive more than the projects one if you use big orchesteal instruments with thousands of samples.

maestrom45
Should I watch out about moving certain things and leave some things alone?

Yes, you should watch out. Moving things in Windows is not always straightforward, and moving something incorrectly can cause all kinds of problems from software not working to Windows not booting. Windows also expects to find applications in the 'program files' and 'program files (x86)' directories and can get very confused if things get mixed up.

So don't move anything after it's installed unless you're sure it's safe to move it and know everything necessary to move it, including any Windows registry edits that may be needed.

Sonar's preferences include a lot of paths, which can be altered without problems so long as the data is moved to match the paths. Once you start thinking of moving plugins, they have to be in a directory that is in Sonar's plugin manager VST path. In general,the default works well and is where plugins with half decent installers will put the plugs anyway.
 
Dimension Pro and Rapture put a bunch of samples in their installation directories. Those samples can be moved using Windows symbolic links, also known as junction points. Whether it's worth doing at all is a different matter.

maestrom45
Oh and does anyone reorganize their loops for easier lookup and use (i.e. by tempo, style, instruments)?

Seems a sensible approach to me.

maestrom45
I'm not having any big problems with my computer or the DAW but I'm just thinking from an efficiency point of view.

While I agree with everything tlw and Johnny say above, be aware that's it's quite a bit of work to design and implement a personal scheme to organize your folders.  A once things are set up to your liking, you have to constantly remember what you did, and why, and watch installers with an eagle's eye to prevent them from sticking stuff outsite your carefully crafted kingdom.  There will always be installers that will give you the finger and do whatever they feel like and you then have to dig them up and replant them where you want them to be.  At some point you'll also screw up, or an installer or uninstaller will fail, and then you'll have to dive into the registry and mop up the mess.
 
Unless you like spending a lot of your time doing stuff like this, or you're so set in your ways like me that you'll do anything to preserve them, it's a whole lot easier just to let the installers put things where they want to.  Updating, upgrading and uninstalling will probably all work smoothly and you can spend your time making music instead of beating your head against the wall for hours at a time.  Just make sure you have a big C: partition, preferably on an SSD.  And have your Sonar projects somewhere else on a hard drive.
 

maestrom45 Additionally when I add a plug in or a Virtual Synth I haven't paid much attention to where it is stored on my hard drive. Is there a benefit to locating all the needed files and plugins to one dedicated folder on my hard drive (and/or backup hard drive?)

my tip is to keep your VSTs outside the Program Files hive to avoid permission/security issues; i use c:\VST32 and c:\VST64 but only have the 32 version because some plugins insist on installing a 32 bit version (grr)
 
(ironically, the storage/save/location paradigm has pretty much moved to "search" - i.e.,  it doesn't matter where it is, windows has indexed it and all you need to do is, er, search... this helps avoid sticking at the first help-desk question "where did you save the file?" ;-) )