Hey everyone,

I'm curious how you all keep your drives tidy (if at all ). My external SSD is starting to look like a total mess with random folders, project backups everywhere, sample packs mixed in and half-finished Logic sessions… it’s chaos.

Do you have a system for it? Like do you make a main folder called Logic Pro and then have subfolders like Finished, Unfinished, Ideas, etc.? Or maybe you separate by artist/client/project type?

I’ve realised the lack of organisation is really starting to mess with my workflow and creativity...I’ll go looking for a project or a sample, can’t find it, then end up losing the idea altogether. Just feels like I’m spending more time searching than actually making music lately.

Would love to see how others are structuring theirs. Screenshots or folder trees welcome if you’re brave enough

 

I have top level folders called Drum Samples Packs, Vocal samples, bass sample packs, instrument sample packs, and FX/Foley sample packs, which I only put full sample packs of those types in. If a pack has a large number of those in it; I will put them in there and then rename the folder so I still can know where they came from. But it has to be enough to make stripping them out of the original pack worth the effort. Aside from those "type" top level folders, I have genre labelled top level folders also. Those folders are where I put well rounded packs with no changes, except bloat removal.

I have each of those top level folders as sidebar shortcuts in the Mac Finder. I have the same top level folders structure setup in my Loopcloud library.

I have my current Logic projects (actual WIP) on my internal SSD in the default location. When I finish something, I put it on my external disk. This way I have any benefit of speed because they are on the internal disk; but get them off of there as soon as I can, so they take up less valuable storage space.

 

My structures look something like this..

System drive: DAW Projects Folder - connected to cloud backup, everything in this folder is on auto backup when change is detected.

>>finished - final project state saved to this folder
>>>each song dir holds all used tracks, samples, vst preset and sysex backups, notes etc

>>works in progress - expanded starter ideas, project saved here from 'starter ideas' if needed, used samples copied here.
>>>starter ideas - doodles, riffs, go nowheres, fuck arounds, etc, all in one folder nested in wip

Samples stored on three hard drives.

Drive A - Large HDD for oneshot's and vst and sysex files and local Projects backup - drive write/read speed isn't important for these.
Drive B - NVME for multisample drums and saved presets regardless if multi or one shot in nature (a one shot drum rack can still have 1000 samples if its a selector kit or something)
Drive C - NVME for multisample anything else - uvi, kontakt, etc

Drive's are first organized by Manufacturer. If 'manufacturer > product' doesn't make sense for whatever it is then I have broad descriptive folders to use as catch alls... texture, speech, foley, etc.

Sample managers are where I can create more detailed non-volatile organization changes. Changing not how or where the files are stored but how the manger displays and sorts them for you. I use Loopcloud, Xo, and Sononym.

Three drives is mostly overkill. But I have them.. so might as well use them.

 

Even though Kontakt, UVI, Steinberg, Nexus5,XLN, etc. all have large amounts of sample content in them; I don't treat them like samples. Their libraries are on other external disk, but they are not included in my sidebar shortcuts, Loopcloud, or anything else. They are just one big folder each.

One other organization setup thing is that I also have those top level folders, like Loopcloud; they all have alias created to them so they are included in Logic's loop browser as "untagged loops". You make the alias by right clicking the folder on the external drive, and then moving the alias file to /Users/YOUR USERNAME/Music/Audio Music Apps/Untagged Loops. (info for later readers, I know @OP, you already know where that alias goes). This is the only way to get all your .wav format samples into Logic's loop browser easily. Those "untagged loops" actual location is done instead of symlinks, because that is where Logic creates them if you do it manually.

 

Do I?

I have looked and there is no folder called "untagged loops"

 

Imagine yourself in your supermarket and you'll notice that there's a certain order to make things easier to find. Vegetables, fruit, meat, canned goods, etc. Another example is the library, where books are organized by subject, always alphabetically. Imagine yourself in your supermarket and you'll notice that there's a certain order to it to make things easier.

My Logic Pro
- In Progress (subfolder with name and date)
- Ideas (subfolder with 01, 02, 03, 04...)
- Backup Finished Sounds (subfolder with name and date)

My Samples
- Kontakt
- WAV (subfolder Rock, Pop, etc.)

The hyphen or -01 moves the files to the top.

Sit down and think about what you've already done and what you still want to do. Take two or three sheets of paper and make a plan. Give yourself two or three days to think and plan. Then, put it into practice and create a completely new folder structure.

Then open two File Explorer windows side by side and move your files into the corresponding folders. Try to compress any old files with WinRAR. Make sure the filenames aren't too long, otherwise not everything will be copied.

Take your time and don't overwhelm yourself, otherwise, it will become stressful and faulty. One thing at a time.

I wish you success.