So I recently got a lenovo 5 legion 5 PC. It only has 425 GB but I'm planning on getting a 1TB SSD for it. I want to use this PC mostly for music and light gaming but mostly creating music. On my old Dell pc i had 345 plugins....go ahead, judge. Most of these I never used, so i boiled it down to 58 plugins I'm transferring over.

However, I don't know how to go about this. Lenovo has a migration assistant service to transfer all the files over to my new pc, but i couldn't find program files x86 or program files, which is where the fl studio files are. Also, I'm not sure if i should wait until i get the 1TB for the lenovo before this file transfer. I was never organized with the old pc... all the files are scattered in downloads, vsts some in program files, others in x86... .dll files in other spots too but all my plugins work. Would it be better to just redownload the 58 plugins on the new pc instead of transferring them over?

If so, is there a way to find my old project files and place them on the new pc? I figured out the soundpacks and samples and have those set up on the new pc. And finally, is there an app to organize messy files, and once i have everything transferred from fl studio to the new pc (with fl studio already set up there), will i have to move all the plugins and project files to the external SSD im planning to buy?

Sorry this is a ton of info dump, but I've never got a new PC and don't know how to go about this without it getting disorganized like the old one, I want this one to be organized and plugins to run smoothly (especially ominsphere to make @thepirate proud :P)

 

I would recommend:
1) 250G or 500G for OS drive
I put my DLLs into OS drive folders named: 32vst, 32vst-hold, 64vst , 64vst-hold, 64vst- For MM.
The "hold" folders are where i put DLLs before deleting, or for any problematic ones, or for alternate skins embedded in the DLL, etc.
The "64vst-for MM" is where I put symlinks for use in audio editors and video editors if I do not want the program scanning the whole vst folder. You could put copies of the DLLs but it is worth it to learn to use symlinks.
Just a spoiler about symlinks-->

Spoiler

Symlinks are shortcuts that make the OS think the shortcut is the real folder.
Most VSTs let you put the libraries where you want these days, but I let installers put them in default locations and then symlink.
I do the same with many preset folders, because I have many customized with 3rd party add-ons, and do not want to have to rebuild them if I need to reinstall or restore the OS.
So, almost all my libraries and presets are on other drives. (Many presets are in vendor folders within the user "Documents" folder.
A few are originally placed with the DLLs by the installer, so I find them and move them, too.
I do keep the VST DLL folders on the OS drive, because that should match with the registry, and what is in the "Program Data" folder and in "Program Files\Common Files\VST3" .

Presets and Libraries, on the other hand, are more independent of the VST itself and the OS.
So I move those and use symlinks

But there is lots of program stuff i don't care about and don't want independent copies. That stuff just belongs with the installed program/setup. There are also plenty of VSTs that i do not have 3rd party stuff for, and if I do save personal presets, I just make a folder for them on my personal "Studio" drive and symlink from there.
But for those that I have 3rd party presets, I always move them to another drive and symlink them.

When I do an update or need to reinstall,etc, i just rename my whole "Daw Lib 1" folder to "Daw Lib 1.x" and then any presets etc will get placed in the default real location in "Documents" or whatever, and I have saved my preset setup from getting messed up.
After install I check the newly installed presets, and if it is just the normal factory, i delete it. If anything is added of course i will grab that

 

Last edited: Dec 18, 2020

Sorry, I had cut and pasted wrong in my reply.
The symlinking deal is something to not worry about right off...part of the beauty is that it can be done later.
My original reply was mostly about drives and setup and the symlink stuff i intended to be in what we call a "spoiler"

Spoiler

Like this

So...
1) When you say it has a 425G drive ... is that an SSD or HDD?

2) On your old PC, you should be able to find all the folders just using windows explorer of browsing within various programs.
Maybe it was the fact that you were looking from within the Migration Assistant program that you could not see them.

3) I would personally not try to use the migration assistant if your system was disorganized...
I would install things fresh and make backups along the way.

That way if you mess things up, you can start from point "D" instead of having to start from point "A" all over.
The first backups especially should be fast and not take up too much room.
Maybe it is possible to use a drive from the old PC as a backup drive?
(Maybe via external dock or adapter?)
(I have used EASEUS TODO backup free many times and use the paid version for about 20 years.
It is one of the easiest to understand to me.)

4) It seems like the most important thing is going to be your FL Studio project files.
The default location may be C:\Users\[user name]\Documents\Image-Line\FL Studio\Projects,
but it may depend on the version.
What version of FL Studio are you using?

 

Last edited: Dec 18, 2020

It's an SSD that's 425 GB and quickly shrinking thanks to installing some of my soundpacks, samples, etc on the new PC. It's why I was thinking it may be smart to buy an external 1tb SSD on top of the 425 GB... I think like you said, I'll only use the migration assistant for the old project files and transport them to the new PC and reinstall 58 plugins tonight (along with backing up my old pc with EASUS). I still use the old PC (such as right now even though the new one is lightening speed). I'm using FL studio 20.7. The only pain with reinstalling stuff is omnisphere or say nexus packs (nexus is barely used though). And hoping the project files will open on the new pc.

 

Some vsts need registry entries and will not work without fresh install but ya projects /sliced beats/packs/presets/ can be dragged over depending on version of FL..when opening projects it should say whats missing in that project

 

Well, great that it is an SSD in the laptop.
You should have enough room (at least at first) to make backups to a folder on the new external SSD.
(I like to name backup folders like: "z-Backup" so they are at the bottom of the folder list on a drive.
That keeps them out of the way when browsing.

The project files will open and tell you what plugins are missing from the project if you happen to forget some.
As @Direct drive mentioned, some vsts will work with just the DLL in a place that is scanned.
But more often they will place presets and other data in folders on the OS drive, so it is best to just install them.

FL Studio project files will also look for the audio in the same place it was.
(I always make an "Audio" subfolder in each project folder, so the FL Project can find it.)
If you save audio in other places you'll need to figure that out.

With most plugins these days you can move the libraries and the plugin will ask for the location, and for those that don't you can use symlinks. You can also move all the big stuff off the internal drive to make backups small...
There are 3 ways of doing backups with Todo.
1)'System backup': Backs up the OS, but (with the free version at least) i don't think you can 'uncheck' folders on the drive...
2)'Drive backup': I do it this way but with the free version you can not custom exclude folders, either.
3) 'Partition backup': I do not use this way often these days, because you have to make sure to select the OS partition and the 'boot' partition.
When I first used Todo, I had 500G HDD partitioned in half (OS on one half and my personal stuff on the other half) and did it this way.

 

Default location for VST2 can be set in registry at :
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VST\
The string is named: VSTPluginsPath
Change that value to whatever location you want.

If there is no Key named "VST" in "Software", right-click and select "New > Key.
Name it VST, then right click and choose "New > String Value"
Name the new string value "VSTPluginsPath" and set the value to whatever location you want.

You still need to create vendor folders on installs.
Some installers may do this do this for you, but many don't...
It is no big deal if they do ... it will just create one redundant subfolder level.

I like "C:\64vst" because it makes it fast to have it at the top of the folder list when installing stuff.

 

cosign on symlinks.

finding flp files is easy , just search .flp.

i like to use a free app called 'everthing' makes life so much easier

 

googledrive just set up a privite link and send them to there takes a while but at least there there as a full backup. just save them as project bones in a zip and upload them to google drive you can even makeit in fruity to save them via a weblink so it saves space on your system.

 

Last edited: Dec 20, 2020

Yeah - it is always good to have an "offsite" backup of things you spend time working on.

 

Also cantn you just put your old hard drive in your new system there will be extra mobo portsfor it. Just look for the sata connections useally at the bottom left of the mobo disconnect it from the pc unscrew it out if its scrwed in and put it in the new pc, takes seconds.

 

I know it says "lenovo 5 legion 5 PC", but i'm pretty sure the lenovo 5 legion 5 is a laptop.
(So a drive from his PC ...probably 3.5" won't work internally.)