Symbolic links (symlinks) and Sonar Platinum - Do they play well together?

scook has made many posts about this type of thing in the past so I'm going to say yes.
 
Do a google search of the forum using "mklink" and "scook" and I bet you'll find a pile of those (extremely helpful) posts.
 
I have yet to set up such a scheme but would like to at some point.
 
Cheers.

gustabo
Yes, I do it all the time without issues.
For example, I stick my most used Kontakt samples libraries on my boot SSD and create a junction to my sample drive.

OP is not talking about sample libs, but program files, which have a lot more interaction with the O.S.  One tiny thing goes wrong with, say, an update, and good luck trying to troubleshoot that with files spread out all over the place.
 
Besides, not sure why anyone would bother with moving program files, as you're not going to gain back a lot of space.  Have you offloaded/redirected all of the sound data from your C: drive?  Also, audio/project files, and Command Center DLs... all of these are quite easy to manage on another drive (without any redirecting).
 
If you've already offloaded what you can from your system drive and are still low on space, then it's time to get a bigger drive.  Whether or not you go SSD is up to you and your wallet, but playing musical chairs with individual programs is just not a good idea IMO.
 
 

It is true that junctions/symlinks are already an intrinsic part of the Windows system, and that they can be reliably set up by the user. But it is also true that, while the applications generally do not, the user needs to keep track of these tweaks and the custom locations they point to, especially if there is trouble. The easy way to install and maintain an application is to buy a big drive and just let the installer put everything in the default location. Most of us have twiddled the default file locations for reasons of improved performance without making maintenance a headache, and anyone who has researched symbolic links can probably handle the customization. 

JonD

gustabo
Yes, I do it all the time without issues.
For example, I stick my most used Kontakt samples libraries on my boot SSD and create a junction to my sample drive.

OP is not talking about sample libs, but program files, which have a lot more interaction with the O.S.  One tiny thing goes wrong with, say, an update, and good luck trying to troubleshoot that with files spread out all over the place.
 
Besides, not sure why anyone would bother with moving program files, as you're not going to gain back a lot of space.  Have you offloaded/redirected all of the sound data from your C: drive?  Also, audio/project files, and Command Center DLs... all of these are quite easy to manage on another drive (without any redirecting).
 
If you've already offloaded what you can from your system drive and are still low on space, then it's time to get a bigger drive.  Whether or not you go SSD is up to you and your wallet, but playing musical chairs with individual programs is just not a good idea IMO.
 
 

Sorry Jon your position seems based on fear rather than any specific knowledge about links.

For example: if I want to relocate all the data normally stored in the C:/ Cakewalk Content folder nothing really helps me when doing an installation or an update as Sonar will want to put a significant number of files into that folder tree. By using one link I can let Sonar continue to think that the folder is in its default location while the data (many many GB) is on another drive. The same works for plugins. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, my Sonar installation continues to appear as completely default (to Sonar) when in actuality it is anything but a default installation. No problems as all the files appear to be where they should be. This is actually what Windows does with many system folders.

I have aggressively offloaded what I can, and deleted redundant files. Nevertheless, here are the biggest Cakewalk-related directories remaining on C:
 
1) C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\ -- 686 MB
2) C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\ -- 152 MB
3) C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\ -- 374 MB
4) C:\Users\travis\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\ - 197 MB
 
TOTAL: 1.4 GB

Native Instruments has some even bigger directories, despite my offloading and deleting:
 
1) C:\Program Files\Native Instruments -- 1.08 GB
2) C:\Program Files\Common Files\Native Instruments\ -- 2.59 GB
3) C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Native Instruments\ -- 716 MB
 
TOTAL: 4.4 GB

If I could move just those 7 directories to a different disk, I'd free up 5.8 GB. I know that doesn't sound like much (compared to the three 3 TB drives that are installed in the same PC), but my system SSD is only 60 GB, and I've been struggling to keep 10% (6 GB) free over the years. To be able to almost double my free space on C would be awesome.
 
I've used symlinks to move other programs and user data, but haven't tried symlinks with Cakewalk or Native Instruments yet. I just want to make sure it works!
 

Yeah... I didn't realize we were talking about the program's guts. It does sound like an epicly bad idea when drives are so inexpensive these days. Make an image and toss it over to the new drive... then you can use the 60GB one for whatever... or just stick it in a closet as a back up you can pop in whenever you need.
 
I am not a tech though... but 60GB in this day and age is... not good. I've been pondering what to do with my 500GB C drive as it slowly gets more congested. But that's down to me being too preoccupied/lazy to clean it. lol

Back when I built this PC (about 5 years ago), 60 GB was pretty good for a system drive.  I later bought a 120 GB SSD for my samples.  In addition to those drives, the PC has three 3TB SATA drives.  So, 5 drives total.
 
I'd love a larger SSD, but don't have much experience cloning system drives.  I use this PC for work as well, so it's critical that I don't put it at risk.
 
What software would you recommend for cloning one SSD to a larger SSD?  I think the SSD currently has 2 partitions: a 100 MB partition at the beginning (not readable by Windows) and the rest is my C drive.  I'd need both partitions cloned on a new SSD, but of course the C partition would be larger.  Is this an easy/low-risk thing to do?

I can't see any obvious reason why using junctions to move applications elsewhere after installation wouldn't work. I've done it with games that insist of installing in their own directory on the C drive rather than in the program files hierarchy. As far as Windows is concerned a junction point is the original location, in the same way a Unix hard symbolic link works.

The amount of space saved by moving the Sonar executables etc. isn't a great deal though. The Cakewalk Content folder can be shifted without problems (can't this be pointed elsewhere in prefences? Not at DAW and can't remember...).

The contents of the hidden Program Data folder can also get pretty big, as can the user temp directories. Clearing out temp files can free up a lot of space, as can using the Windows disk cleanup tool to remove accumulated Windows update downloads that Windows doesn't delete after installing the update.

Junction points are the best/easiest way to shift the Rapture, Session Drummer and Dim Pro samples which take up quite a lot of space.

My DAW's My Documents folder is junction-linked to another drive as is the downloads directory, works without issues. Just be sure to keep a record of what you've moved and where it "really" is and be careful to know exactly what you are looking at when deleting things.

Tripecac
Back when I built this PC (about 5 years ago), 60 GB was pretty good for a system drive.  I later bought a 120 GB SSD for my samples.  In addition to those drives, the PC has three 3TB SATA drives.  So, 5 drives total.
 
I'd love a larger SSD, but don't have much experience cloning system drives.  I use this PC for work as well, so it's critical that I don't put it at risk.
 
What software would you recommend for cloning one SSD to a larger SSD?  I think the SSD currently has 2 partitions: a 100 MB partition at the beginning (not readable by Windows) and the rest is my C drive.  I'd need both partitions cloned on a new SSD, but of course the C partition would be larger.  Is this an easy/low-risk thing to do?

There are much smarter folks than I who can help with that (check the Computers sub forum here to see if Mr. Roseberry is around).
 
However Acronis is one of the top drive imaging programs. Windows has the capability of creating images since Win7 though... I'm just not sure how well it works in comparison to something like Acronis.
 
If you have work stuff on the current C drive then my siggestion would be to create a dual boot system. Essentially you'd leave your current drive completely as is for work (and you could even delete all the Sonar gack on it) then have a larger cloned drive for your Sonar stuff. Then you just boot into whichever one you need.
 
The bonus is on the cloned drive you could leave your work stuff on it if you want so if you need to get some work done but don't want to boot into the other drive you can BUT you don't lose your current work setup. Since you have so many storage drives attached sharing files between the partiions shuld be easy peasy.
 
Yeah?
 
Anyway... this would require enough drive bays in the tower or yanking one of the storage drives out and tossing it into a cage or something like that but that would be something I'd personally consider as opposed to taking the risk of mucking around on a 60gb drive that's dangerously close to getting overloaded.
 
Again... I am not a tech so as I said maybe check out the Computers sub forum here or maybe some of the other dudes already in this thread can elaborate.
 
Perhaps this "linking" scheme would work BUT since it's Sonar AND audio stuff AND you have work stuff going on as well... I just wouldn't trust it if you can afford a new drive.
 
Good luck.

Tripecac
 
What software would you recommend for cloning one SSD to a larger SSD?  I think the SSD currently has 2 partitions: a 100 MB partition at the beginning (not readable by Windows) and the rest is my C drive.  I'd need both partitions cloned on a new SSD, but of course the C partition would be larger.  Is this an easy/low-risk thing to do?

Yes, quite simple to do, even with a free utility like Aomei Backupper.  (The hidden partition gets imaged and backed up as well).  Paragon, EaseUS and Acronis also offer commercial versions that can do this and more. 
 
I like to create a bootable disk (even the free utilities have this functionality).  Boot from that, run the backup/image process and point to another drive to be backed up to.  To restore, boot from same disk, choose restore option, pick the image you made earlier, point to the new destination and press Go!  That's it, simplified.
 

Has anyone confirmed whether symlinks have any effect on latency or drop-outs?  Or any bad effects whatsoever on Sonar?
 
(I have a linux background, so am used to symlinks, but have only recently started using them in Windows, mostly as a way to get stuff off my C drive.  symlinks have no effect on server performance, but I haven't really considered whether they'd introduce a tiny bit of latency in regards to multimedia streaming.)

I prefer to use junctions and never had any latency issues introduced. The "redirection" is seemless for me.
I use Junction Link Magic on Win10Pro.

JonD

vanceen
 
I would much rather keep track of any symbolic links I've made and restore those after a fresh OS install than have to reload libraries.

Not following your logic here.  If the libraries are on a separate drive, you don't have to reload them.  Simply point Kontakt (or UVI or whatever) to their location.

That works fine for Kontakt, but some synths insist on loading onto C:.

Macrium would be my go-to for imaging/copying system drives.