Hi Everyone -

So I'm taking the leap. My OS X has some issues the engineers at Apple can't solve. I kid you not. (iMessage isn't working for some reason). I've spent days troubleshooting the issue with the fellows in Cupertino* and a completely fresh install -- wiping everything and starting over -- might be the only solution.

I've acquired quite a few plug-ins over the years, many without licenses. Say a copy of Waves here or some Plug-in Alliance there. I use Logic Pro X. Which brings me to my questions...

TL;DR: wiping my drive clean, reinstalling a fresh OS X Sierra. Questions:

1. How do I copy and place these plugins in a new OS X set-up?
2. Can I simply copy and paste the AU/VST/etc files?
3. Do all the settings for each song remain?

Thanks guys!


*I've been elevated all the way to Cupertino by Apple Care. They keep saying they'll get back to em and return wiht more troubleshooting that doesn't work. If anyone can help, something with firewalls and pf.conf

 

If you do a clean install, clean install everything. Don't do some copy paste shit. That almost never works out because of licenses being stored somewhere else and such, so they will be missing. Also, it's a source for plugins and DAWs crashing.

Just find out, where your personal Presets are stored, back them up and copy those back once everything is installed again. Usually they are located in a User > Documents > Vendor Name and/or Users > Shared > Vendor Name. But not all plugins handle presets this way. Some are stored under Library > Audio > Presets. Some are located under Library > Application Support. You've gotta check how the Plugins manage presets.

Logic Pro usually stores all plugin settings within the Project File.

 

CCC ....Carbon Copy Cloner.Clone your existing hard drive to an external hard drive.Check CCC on the net for details.That's what I did.I didn't lose anything.Maybe someone over here could give you a better idea on how to go about it.

 

plugin settings are saved in each song, so you won't lose them
What you lose is all your own presets (in case you saved them using them in other songs)

Steezo's right. If you need to wipe out everything, just perform a clean install. If you perform a CCC as Beetroot suggests, you'll get your iMessage broken again, as CCC CLONES your hard drive with all its settings and - in your case - problems.

What I suggest you is to copy your user folder and after that format your computer and do a clean install.
From your user folder you can reload all your settings and data (mail, music, photos, videos, documents etc)
If you need to restore your audio plugins settings or virtual instruments patches (I mean the one you saved), you'll find them in Users/<yourusername>/Music/Audio Music Apps, in /Library/Audio/Presets and in ~/Library/Audio/Presets (the user one)

 

Thanks guys. Quick questions.

So you're saying that Logic stores all settings specific for that song. So, for example, in the logic file, it has that I set Fab-Pro Q in XXXX on whatever track. Etc with each track/plugin. So that as long on a new install, it can find those plugins, I'm good.

Do all plug-ins work such that I can copy and paste the AU/VST files?

I see what you're saying with the plug-in settings. To BE honest, I mostly save personalized channel settings in Logic. I guess I need to find out where those are saved.

I agree to be careful with CCC, but also that it isn't a bad idea for a fail safe. Also, it's good to have an exact replica I could possibly boot from in a virtual machine if I need a file

Thanks!

Other thoughts?

 

You could also just identify the location where each plugin saves its presets and copy them to the new clean install.
Some Plugins lets you choose the location where to store data , some not :/

I recently tried to sync to computers using mega.co.nz / mega sync but its still in progress

 

>So that as long on a new install, it can find those plugins, I'm good.
Jip any DAW stores the Plugin State

 

Everything 's been said clearly except maybe that you HAVE to re-install also the AU/VST plugins,

it seems you insist on copy/paste them but it usually won't work that way, just follow the instructions provided with each of the releases you use (you know : nfo, readme or txt files).

Also it's not sure your plugins are fully compatible with Sierra did you checked that too ?,

still on Yosemite for me.

 

dude if iMessage its not working forget about it,its a pain in the ass to reisntall everything,if you still want to fix iMessage do a youtube search.,always advice people to wait a few months before they update to a new system but they never listen and what happen?they start getting issues with their systems

 

Clone your existing drive to a new one (preferably, one in a chassis with a USB, FW or TB connection). Wipe the existing drive as you were planning on doing. Execute your clean install and migrate from your cloned drive while doing so. All your personal stuff, including plug settings, etc., will get installed in place along with your clean OS.

I recently installed two new hard drives in my MBP and used the Time Machine trick. Instead of installing a fresh OS, I just had an El Capitan bootable installer on a thumb drive, booted from that and restored my last full Time Machine backup to the new system drive. I had to reauthorize a few things, but probably a lot less than if I'd cloned my old drive to my new drive.

 

I'm a big advocate of the clean install with the problems you seem to be encountering... this is what I would do:


1.. Buy a 7200 spinner the size of my boot drive (around 30$)
2. Clone my existing system drive with CCC. (This way, if you need to "go back" to either see anything, or recover an old project, etc...you CAN. do NOT NOT do this. It's only $30. You have wasted more in your life.
3. Wipe drive and install whatever OSX you want.
4. Slowly start the process of migrating the plugs/daw's etc you USE.

I know it's a pita, and will take sometimes days, and to tell you the truth, I am LoOOONG due to do this process myself (been more then a few years, although my system is working just fine)..

This way you have both a new snappier uncluttered system without bringing any legacy problems over, but you also have the ability to go back in time if need be... (sure iMessage won't work on that old system, big whup, but there are gonna be some things that you will never get back otherwise...)

 

So I'm giving Apple this week. The other day they sent me some App that I ran for about 3 minutes while Messages wasn't working and it created a 250 mb file that I sent to them. Hopefully, from this, they will see the answer to the issue.

But, generally, I think you guys are right. It had been my plan to reinstall after I cleared the next hurdle in my life (personal thing) and hopefully Apple will provide me with an excuse to put this off a bit longer -- but if not, I'll CCC and stuff.

That wouldn't be a bad idea for an App (freeware) -- a tool to help copy all your DAW settings for a fresh install or whatever.

Thanks!

 

Dude, just make a clean install. Re-install all your plugins. Some gives the ability to the user to choose their presets destination folder. But keep in mind that a fresh clean install is tons better than a clone buggy install.
Cheers

 

yeah, I'm doing a clean install on a laptop right now.... takes a long time, but will be happier when it is done!