How hard is it to put a bigger hard drive in your computer? I need a bigger C drive.

Well, not very difficult using a "drive copy" program, but the bigger issue is will all your installed apps/VSTs etc. balk (i.e. not work) because of the new hardware ID of the new drive. I've had this happen. Many VSTs (especially) tie the install to the ID of the hard drive.

That's the layman term for it (drive ID). I'm sure it's far more technical than that but in essence were talking a protection scheme so you don't clone your drive and give it away to friends etc.

hmm... Ghosting with the right software should be pretty simple but are you sure you actually need a bigger C drive? Your OS and main programs should live quite comfortably on something smallish. If it's for samples, storage, VSTs, etc... it would be way easier to just snag an extra drive and move/install stuff like that onto the new drive and leave the C as is. Sorry if I am missing something. I'm assuming this is for your DAW. More details would be good. Cheers.

I agree with Beep, ADD the larger drive and move all of your DATA files to it (you could also consider assigning temporary directories to the newer drive).  Then keep your OS on your C drive and you'll see some faster drive access as well!

Yeah.... 2 things.

1. I cloned a hard drive once... It was the C drive and it had started to be a bit flakey on boot up so I bought a larger one and using the cloning software it came with I did the deed. It took about 15 minutes to clone it and swap the cables. I booted up on the new cloned drive and everything ran perfect with one minor issue. I had to reinstall from disk only one of my programs. Note: this was not a DAW. 


2. Install the new drive as a drive other than C and use it to increase storage. You can move the folders on the C drive to it and simply tell the apps where the new folders are located. When you open the apps they won't be able to find the folders and will ask you to search. Do this once and you're done. 

Unless the C drive is giving problems, I would let it stay as is..... the old expression about letting sleeping dogs lay...... and ...... if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.... both come to mind here. 

Hmmm... The current C drive is a160 GB and I only have 43% of it left unused. In drive properties, it lists the capacity of the drive as 133 GB. Something flakey there. The D drive is a 250 GB and shows the proper capacity. Could the OS being on the C drive change the capacity listed? 
I want to add X1 Pro. expanded to the C drive along with 8.5.3 Pro, both with all the softsynths and the VS700 System. All things considered, wouldn't it easier to do a reinstall of the OS, Sonar ( both versions), the rest of the system software on a new larger drive plugged into the C slot?

No drive EVER reports the capacity listed on the box. It's a "format" thing. 43% is not bad. It's when you get near or under 20% of the OS drive that you should be concerned.

One thing about moving folders; if you have EZDrummer (not Superior) and you've installed the samples to your C: drive you cannot move that samples folder. You MUST uninstall EZDrummer and select the option of where to install the samples. This is true of EVERY EZDrummer add on pack. Big bummer, but that is the way it is.

Crg


I want to add X1 Pro. expanded to the C drive along with 8.5.3 Pro, both with all the softsynths and the VS700 System. All things considered, wouldn't it easier to do a reinstall of the OS, Sonar ( both versions), the rest of the system software on a new larger drive plugged into the C slot?

Well that certainly would insure a clean install, and then as Jonbouy says, image that baby so you always have a clean restart point.

For the record X1Pro Expanded will not take that much room (i.e. any significant portion of your available 43%).

Yeah... 160GB is a little on the small side. If you fill it up to a certain capacity it may affect performance. Do you know how fast it is? These days for DAW stuff you want to be going for 7200rpm. Here is the drive I bought for my programs http://www.newegg.ca/Prod...x?Item=N82E16822136795 The Caviar Blacks seem to bee what everyone is using as far as mechanical drives on their audio systems. You could look at SSDs which are way faster (no moving parts) but they are considerably more expensive and the tech is still kind of new so they have a higher failure rate (or at least they did until very recently) so personally I avoided them. As far as your capacity question 133GB is probably the "formatted" size of the drive. When you format a drive (which has to be done when you install one) it gobbles up a certain amount of space. I think that's for the info it needs to communicate with the OS and your hardware but I'm not sure. Then when it is showing you the capacity it starts from the formatted number (in your case 133GB). That does seem a bit high for just formatting though but I'm no expert. It think with an OS/program drive you want to keep half the drive free to keep things running smoothly. IMO you should get another drive. However now you have to figure out what kind of drive you are currently using and what your system will take. If it's an older computer using IDE you're gonna have a hard time finding a suitable replacement. If you system can handle SATA drives then snag the Caviar Black I listed above. Then it comes down to how you are going to create your system image. You could use Win7 but I've heard that is not ideal. I've had Norton Ghost recommended to me but there are a couple of other softwares out ther that work well too. In fact I think craigb recommended one of the better ones to me but I forget the name. If you aren't quite sure what you are doing you might be better off taking it to a shop and getting them to do it. It is pretty simple in theory but you know computers... if something can screw up it likely will. Anyway, as I said I am no pro but I had to learn all this crap when I was building my system so I figured I'd offer some of what I learned. Cheers and good luck.

@bapu... Wouldn't a DAW be better off with more than the usual 20% seeing as how much more info it might be handling at one time? Like leaving TONS of room for caching and stuff makes things easier on the system?