I want to back up my STEAM folder but I’m wondering if it’s possible to use both at once, in case new preset packs come out and the other one needs to be installed to the backup folder, or in case I want to just choose one if I say, only take the new hard drive with me and leave the other one?

Or is it set up so I have to redirect Omnisphere and choose the other folder every time I change which library folder I use? I’m ok with only needing to use one but I just need a backup and if it’s possible to simply copy the whole thing and save it to the cloud too?

 

Have you asked the Spectrasonics Tech Support team?

• 888-870-4223 (toll free)
• 818-955-8444 (international)
• [email protected]

 

I don't believe so. Omnisphere, Trilian, & Keyscape have to be in STEAM folder on the same drive. You can move the STEAM folder to a different location if you need to. I've never done this sort of thing so I don't know of any tricks to bypass this requirement.

 

I don’t need to put some part like just keyscape or Omnisphere individually elsewhere, I’m backing up the entire STEAM folder with all spectrasonics and any extra preset packs added to it, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just as simple as “library not found, you want to search for it?” and do this when using the other folder back and forth

 

Spectrasonics is so hard to get working with just the one folder I can't imagine trying to deal with two. I feel like in principal it could work but in practicality it sounds like a nightmare.

 

There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to do this. It’s been quite awhile since I set it up, but I run my Steam folder off an SD Card on my MacBook Pro and it works just fine. I don’t recall whether Omnisphere allows you to specify a path in settings or not, but a symbolic link should work regardless. I use this technique for many apps that have large libraries (like Kontakt) and never had a problem doing so.

 

There is no place in Omnisphere to change it's default directories. You can use symlink, but also just make an Alias on MacOS will work too.

You could change the target of your Alias to a different folder on your external. Or you could make two of them, and stash one somewhere Omnisphere cannot see it. When you want to change default folders, you could just switch the alias. But long story short, you can't have separate folders seen by it at the same time.

 

I did this with a couple of libraries, using symlinks to make it work properly.

One important thing is to CREATE a folder WITHIN the library folder to hold the database file(s), so that they always remain with the library in use. Then create a SYMLINK in the original location that points to the original.

For Serum, as an example:
I have the location for presets in the default location: "Users\<username>\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets" folder.
But that "Serum Presets" is just a symlink whose target can be changed with a .bat file.
So, it points to a small library or my large library.
Now the target folders are both named "Serum Presets", but the paths are:
H:\Daw Lib 1 SSD\Xfer\- Serum Presets Folders\Serum Presets - SMALL\Serum Presets
H:\Daw Lib 1 SSD\Xfer\- Serum Presets Folders\Serum Presets - Big\Serum Presets


The Serum database file normally resides in: "...\AppData\Roaming\Xfer\"
I made a folder inside each "Serum Presets" folder called "- Database file".
Once Serum was done scanning, I moved the database file into that folder, then created a symlink into the "...\AppData\Roaming\Xfer\" folder.
So Serum is looking "through" the symlink into "Serum Presets\-Database file\" location and finding the database file.
And that actual location is within whichever "Serum Presets" folder is in use.

Now I make a symlink into my "Documents\Xfer\" folder from the "Serum Presets - SMALL\Serum Presets".
I rename THAT symlink to "Serum Presets - SMALL" (to make the batch file work as I wrote it).

Then I also add a symlink into my "Documents\Xfer\" folder from the Serum Presets - Big\Serum Presets".
I leave that one named "Serum Presets" as that will make the first run of my batch file work properly.

My "Serum Presets Folder Swap.bat" looks at the name of the extra folder (actually symlink) to determine what action to run.
Here is the batch file, and you can see it is important to have renamed the proper symlink BIG or SMALL to make it all work.
Whichever alternately named symlink it finds it will run the appropriate section.
I found it confusing to look at it again after all this time.

Spoiler

@echo off

goto ToggleSerumFolder

:ToggleSerumFolder
if exist "C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets - BIG" goto SwitchToBig
if exist "C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets - SMALL" goto SwitchToSMALL

rem Switch from SMALL to BIG Presets folder.
:SwitchToBIG
ren "C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets" "Serum Presets - SMALL"
ren "C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets - BIG" "Serum Presets"

ECHO Switched to BIG Serum Presets folder
cmd /k
GOTO END

rem Switch from LARGE to SMALL presets folder.
:SwitchToSMALL
ren "C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets" "Serum Presets - BIG"
ren "C:\Users\Phil\Documents\Xfer\Serum Presets - SMALL" "Serum Presets"

ECHO Switched to SMALL Serum Presets folder
cmd /k
GOTO END

END

A similar thing can be done with other libraries, but that's the only one I made a fast toggle for.

Spoiler

 

Last edited: Jun 12, 2025 at 7:44 AM

Do you need to close and re-open the DAW again to do this, or just the plugin? Symlinks confuse a lot of people,on both Windows and Mac. It's why I always use an Alias if I can. It's like a Windows shortcut to make, but you can move them anywhere you want and they will not break the correct location of the target. You can't move a symlink on Mac like that, or it breaks like a Windows shortcut.

The main way I see people screw up installing Omnisphere is to try installing the Steam folder directly to the external disk, instead of letting it go to the default location and then moving+linking it. All Spectrasonics plugins are like this. Legit Omnisphere will detect if you have [k]'d content from their other plugins in the Steam folder. Pretty funny, but obviously not that effective.

 

It's best to create a folder called my "STEAM Backup" and copy the entire "STEAM" folder there. Right-click and select "Copy to..."

! If you install new presets or sound banks, you'll need to delete your old backup and repeat the copy-and-save process.

 

After installing something new in your Primary steam folder, use fastcopy for copying to the backup folder. It will only copy the new files automatically. It is the best copy and backup utility I know, use it daily, works with files folders and whole drives!
It is the first google result when you search fastcopy and free.

 

Great idea using batch files to rename the folders etc. I never thought of doing that.

I'll be rebuilding my main PC soon and will look to using batch files.

At the moment I have just moved my folders from the 1TB system drive C:\ to a much bigger 6TB SSD drive S:\

Here's how I created the symlinks:

Press Win-R to run command prompt or use Win11 search box. Type "cmd" and choose 'Run as Administrator' in results window.
Then enter the following at the prompt to list existing symlinks to a text file for easy reading:

dir /AL/S c:\ > C:\sysmlinks.txt

By default the STEAM directory is here:

C:\ProgramData\Spectrasonics\STEAM

I moved my STEAM directory to my 6TB "Sounds" drive:

S:\Spectrasonics\STEAM

Let's create a hard symlink to redirect Windows, using a command in the form 'mklink /J Link Target'

Where

Link = "C:\ProgramData\Spectrasonics\STEAM"

and

Target = "S:\Spectrasonics\STEAM" ; change ddrive letter to the drive letter of your external drive.

Enter the following command at the command prompt in the resuting window.

mklink /J "C:\ProgramData\Spectrasonics\STEAM" "S:\Spectrasonics\STEAM"

You should get a Junction cretaed message:

C:\Windows\System32>mklink /J "C:\ProgramData\Spectrasonics\STEAM" "S:\Spectrasonics\STEAM"
Junction created for C:\ProgramData\Spectrasonics\STEAM <<===>> S:\Spectrasonics\STEAM

Do the same for the SAGE directory:

mklink /J "C:\ProgramData\Spectrasonics\SAGE" "S:\Spectrasonics\SAGE"

I also did the same for the Cubase & IK Multimedia content (found in the Public directory)

mklink /J "C:\ProgramData\Steinberg\Content" "S:\Steinberg\Content"
mklink /J "C:\Users\Public\Public Documents" "D:\Users\Public\Documents"

 

It only needs to close & reopen the plugin for Serum. If you leave an instance of Serum running and reopen it, it will want to rebuild the database again - always decline that - LOL

That batch file only renames the Symlinks, but of course Windows (and therefore Serum) treats it as if the folders are being renamed.
I should have mentioned that, for creating symlinks I use "Link Shell Extension":
https://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html
It adds to the context menu and makes it so easy...