I would backup a copy of my current hosts file. I would also save and export my firewall rules. this is the kind of dumb stuff i will almost always end up with missing.

Does your DAW let you save and export custom keyboard commands you have setup? I would save and export that too.

Do your mouse and kb have special software they need to work? I would download the installers for them, if you aren't getting new ones included with the new machine.

 

Last edited: Dec 5, 2023

something else to put on my list! Thanks.

 

Any harm in just copying these whole directories or should I be selective?

 

How can people think without pen and paper?! Absolutely necessary for me to take notes, be it work or some creative stuff.

While I like things to be shared, like I keep a wiki for myself, but also for work documentation, if I'm working fullscreen I don't want to switch windows or put down my guitar to take some notes.

 

Another question... does it make sense to move things in appdata/programdata AFTER or BEFORE I reinstall the programs?

 

If the new computer has the same operating system, you could consider cloning it or also move the OS drive to the new computer.
I have done it several times and it always worked.

 

I'm not an expert so more from "user's" perspective. For me setting up a new PC/OS is a great opportunity to reflect on what is really important and get rid of all the things that I don't use (and their leftovers when uninstalling).

I would agree with making a copy of your main drive (maybe not all folders if you want to save space) and start from scratch. BTW, will you put the old drive into the new pc? If not you can just leave it like that.. Ideally, you'd have both systems running.

That way you can't really lose anything. Without knowing how you run your system and programs I don't think there is anyone able to give you a precise advice. You'll have to reinstall most of the stuff, your hardware IDs will change so you'll have to reauthorize things. Maybe you have things you have to de-authorize on the old system etc etc

Like others advised, make notes specially on what you're doing on the new build. Like, from BIOS settings to firewall, hosts. I make photos with my phone too.

Just pulling the drive out of the old comp and stick it in the new one also works... sometimes. I've done it. Long time ago..

 

I tend to go in %userprofile% and grab what I think might be important, plus where I might have stashed some stuff:
AppData
Desktop (not a great practice, but I sometimes have some folders with documentation I build in here)
Documents (sometimes presets or other things might be here - looking at you, default Serum)
Then I also grab %programdata%
Desktop+Documents may be of no use to you.

I'll put these on another drive and eventually rar it up and just leave it there until either I'm confident I don't need it, or until I need the space.

If you actually have the space, a full backup like @Nemanja504 said is a good idea, alternatively. Or if you're adding a drive, just leave stuff where it is, and copy over as you figure out what you need.


I've also tried to make life *slightly* simpler by trying to keep what I can on a non-system drive... so portable plugins (i.e. stuff that doesn't need to be installed), portable DAW, presets, symlinkable stuff, etc.. Then when I re-install windows, I don't have to redo all that stuff. I would just have to do some minor set up like re-set up some symlinks (which a batch file can be created to do, if so inclined). For example, I have loads of Serum presets.. they just sit on another drive, and when I re-do windows and reisntall Serum, I just have to symlink over to this other location.

 

Last edited: Dec 5, 2023

they contain hidden folders, so make sure everything is copied,
on new PC, you cannot simply paste those globally, since userID, groupIP, computerID, MacAddress etc... will be different, so not all things will be transferrable (for ex. most plugin licenses rely on onboard network interface mac address, which is always unique per motherboard/chip)

 

Wait...... there's an analog version of notepad.exe??

 

My experience is, however ive done after some years i end up with missing vsts or specific presets for certain projects, so i try to think about this directly when making new songs.

Labeling things as much as i can, and committing/rendering specially "odd" vsts, meaning vsts that i just use very rarely or just happen to be testing. I actually avoid using "test" vsts in projects, i choose similar existent sounds

Other-ways its going to be difficult to revisit 5, 6 year old projects whatever the type of backup

 

Last edited: Dec 6, 2023

with the cheaper prices of large drives, its a good idea to image your old drive with something like Macrium Reflect. If you partition your drives, into a system partition with program,. and a Library partition with samples and projects, you can choose to backup both partititions or just one or the other.

In any case, macrium lets you add notes to the backup when you do it, I always add the date of backup and a short explanation of whats on it, just for reference. I backup to (currently) a 4tb usb toshiba hdd. Once backed up, you can mount the backup volume thru Macrium and copy files off of it if you need something that has been deleted from your current system.

This has been handy when I need a copy of something I know longer have. You can also restore these volumes in case you system drive dies, onto to new ssd/hdd and you're up and running in minutes.

Its handy when upgrading systems, and you need to locate drivers etc..