I want to move my Sonar Artist collection (Specifically Session Drummer 3) from the default install location (
C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins\Session Drummer 3) to an external drive. 
the installer ArtistInstrumentCollectionSetup_1.0.0.9 does not seem to have an option for install location 
 
I have tried copying the entire VstPlugIns folder to the external drive then updating the VST location path in Sonar Artist and performing a manual scan- but it keeps defaulting back to the default install location 

I would not recommend installing any portion of the DAW onto an external drive but if you must. consider moving just the "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits" or the folder above Kits to the external and create a directory junction for it. For example:
0) assume the external drive is E: and moving only the kits to a new folder called E:\Samples\SD3\Kits
1) open an Explorer window as administrator
2) Create E:\Samples\SD3
3) move "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits" to E:\Samples\SD3
4) open a Command Shell and type
mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Session Drummer 3\Contents\Kits" E:\Samples\SD3\Kits

thank you scook for your prompt response
 
your answer worked vey well. very useful technique
 
for my application I left the dll file (SessionDrummer x64.dll) in its original spot and moved the Contents folder to my external drive. in Sonar I left a VST Scan path to the original vstplugins folder and performed a manual scan to update Sonar. took a couple of tries to get the mklink string correct. 
 
This exercise has been an experiment to see what kind of performance hits I take for using an external  drive.
I am running from a decent Dell inspiron laptop with 16GB RAM and 250GB SSD drive. I was down to about 40GB on the SSD drive. Since I plan to continue adding larger libararies I wanted to explore my options
 
I am running Sonar Artist with Studio Instrument Colection and Artist Collection (including Studio Drummer 3), SampleTank3 Max with a lot of extra packs (51GB), Garritan Personal orchestra 5 (12GB). 
 
It helps quite a bit to offload some of the larger libraries. I realize SD3 is not a really large file but it is good to know I have options
 
So far I have not noticed any big performance hits. I am using a Seagate 1TB drive with USB3 connection and USB 3 port on my laptop
 
regards
Paul grant
 
PS Not sure how to mark this as a valid answer

All Cakewalk sample-based synths load all samples needed for a preset at once into memory. Moving the samples to a slower drive only affects project and preset loads. Third party samplers that stream from disk may not perform as well.
 
WRT

Paul D Grant
PS Not sure how to mark this as a valid answer

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