I recently had a power cut when I was not at home. Even though my PC was hooked up to a UPS, as I was not at home the batteries drained. This meant the PC also cut off. Even though it was in sleeplace mode the power cut killed my OS SSD. Luckily I save most of my data on other drives that were unharmed.

Now I'm about to reinstall everything, I'm wondering if there is an optimised way to reinstall DAWs and plugins? For example, is it possible to install the on a secondary SSD so that if the primary OS SSD dies or needs reinstalling, it can just pick up the plugins from the other SSD without having to reinstall everything again. I know this is awkward due to registry entries etc (yes, I'm using Windows) but wondering if anything like this is possible?

Another solution I have considered is to just clone.my primary SSD to the secondary one, basically using it as a duplicated drive backinformation the primary drive. However, I'd rather have both drives usable if possible instead of having a redundant secondary drive for backing up.

Any ideas?

 

I created directory junctions (symlinks) for all of my plugins Program Files folders after moving them onto an external drive.
I did the same for large libraries like the Omnisphere and Trilian STEAM folder. This is so that after formatting I can just install the VST and create a new symlink pointing to the library as opposed to installing the entire library again. I made it easier on myself by consistently installing factory presets and whatnot to the same place and creating a symlink for the Documents folder. Some plugins spread their stuff out over your Program Files\Common Files and your AppData folders so just be aware of those.
The added benefit of this is I can plug my external into different computers and by creating a shortcut or symlink on the local drive that points to the external, I can usually run most plugins without installing.

I recommend using this method for your factory libraries and content but if you're on a fresh OS install it's a better idea to install the plugin itself to avoid any conflicts.

With Kontakt you can export the registry hive and import it onto a new OS install as long as you maintain the exact directory structure using the same drive paths you had when originally installed. You can use Disk Management to rename drives to match if needed. If you keep your libraries on an external they will all appear intact and installed, ready to use.

 

why clone it to a second one?
just save the clone image file on a couple of external drives so its available to re-image with ,if the main drive fails.
(after installing everything for the main os on the main drive that is)

i do it this way and it takes about 5 minutes to re-image my entire setup back if/when something goes wrong.
i install all of my plugin libraries on other drives (which i also have several backups of)

and yes, have several copies of the main drive image on several drives, ideally with at least one of those not connected and stored elsewhere (in case of flood/fire/thieves/grapefruit attack, etc etc)

backup and disaster recovery is a bit of build how you want it really, i had no issues paying for 3x as much storage as i use just so i can keep more than 1 backup. (after 3 disasters through the 20 odd years i have been using computers, i learned my lesson)

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2017

I'm not expert and won't pretend to be to be one, I have had quite a few hard drives die on me/fail on me loosing Terra Bytes worth of stuff including projects/sessions/work that I just will never get back. The first one was a RAID configuration of two internal drives going on me, I'm pretty vigilant about backing up my stuff to at least two separate devices but yet and still I've been caught with my trousers down Bunford FWIW. Sorry to hear that through no fault of your own that it has happened to you, I hope that nothing extremely important went with it honestly as I know that feeling of sickness and despair.

I can not help you with regards to your first enquiry about having all DAW and Plug-In stuff on a drive which isn't the C/System drive, Although I do use a very mild variation on that theme with the various libraries which I use that only need software to be told where they are.

Personally for the same sort of task you're asking about I use a program which just creates an image of my C/System drive which takes not very long to do so and also not very long when I've needed or wanted to use one of the backup image's to for example clear away stuff that I'd been testing but had accumulated to much to go through and uninstall manually...It's just a lot simpler and faster to just "restore" an earlier image.

I create one of just the computer without any audio software on it optimized/how I like it which is a very small sized job, Then I install my absolute essentials and go to applications and plug-ins audio software wise then create an image of the system in that state. If I stumble across something that becomes a staple part of my workflow when trying/demoing stuff then what I do is just make notes, Do as said with the image of my system with all my essentials and go to bits on it then create an updated image to reflect what I've added to the arsenal or replaced.

There probably is a much more efficient way that some good soul will come along and layout, If they do then I might learn a new method of backing up also. All the best your way and to all as always

Dean

I can and am wiling to learn new tricks from any of you elder out there