Hi mates,

First post here. I've seen a loooot of very useful threads here and there, about VST's or even about Windows itself (s/o to the recent "What's the best free tools for Windows", a gold mine) and it leads me to a very old reflexion of mine.
Many years ago I started to build my gigantic collection of VSTs, Sample packs, Presets etc. The thing is, as you may know, VSTs for most of them gets installed as a software for the PC. So if I format my PC, even with the very useful option for format without wasting data, it saves documents and all, but purge the PC of all the installed softs. That's a basic, and that what I fear.
I mean, I know one day I'll have to format my PC, even just for its own health, formating is useful, but loosing all my apps and having to reinstall each VST one by one is a matter of months for me. And in the best situation, I'll do it, but not sure I'll remember of every VST I used. It's almost a phobia. Also I'll soon get a desktop for my more serious home studio, I'll have to reinstall all my VST because I'll produce on the big desktop and not on the laptop after this... that's a big issue for me.
So I know the question of my plugin management is legit, knowing if I really need all of them but that's my habit of collection.

So here we are, the question.
What is for you the best way to backup or completly clone a PC ?
I didn't think it was really possible back in the years but until now, I've seen many soft meant to save or backup your system, and most of all, in the "What's the best free tools for Windows" thread, I've seen some tools apparently meant to clone the PC to copy it on another PC.
(Windows ADK, if I'm not wrong)
But as this forum is full of smart and experienced people about many many subjects, can someone tells me what is for them the best solution if I want to backup/clone my entire PC, softwares included ?
Maybe a combination of more than one program, I guess everyone has its own habit of doing this, more or less efficient/safe or whatever.

Thanks al ot in advance my friends, you'll solve a very old issue and probably save me hundreds of hours of installing each app !
Wish you the best day !

 

https://www.acronis.com/en-us/products/true-image/

 

Two different things.
A clone involves it being bootable; a backup doesn't, necessarily.
Which do you want?

This is the PC forum, so I'm not so sure! hehe.
But I'm sure some PC users are smart and experienced!

With a bootable clone, yes, from my experience.

 

Last edited: Dec 16, 2021

I only backup what's important, like recording projects, mixing projects and the original files, soundbanks and vsts are re-downloadable...

 

I used (free) AOMEI Backupper to backup an image of my basic DAW setup and it worked to my satisfaction, although there may be better options out there.

 

Last edited: Dec 16, 2021

hello,
I backup the base of my system, that is to say the daw and the plugins that I use and that I like, if there are "important" updates I re-backup everything, I make sure to keep my audio environment as sober as possible, an optimized OS, updated drivers, no "wild" installations, the tests I do on another pc!
I know Acronis, Aomei, there is information on the forum of the site, made by competent people!

 

Backing up with Acronis too.
There is so much work on getting a good DAW System with your favortite VSTs to run stable.
In the last week i got this virus Emulator DSP56300 to run.
With all this midi routing it was a bit of work.
After That: BACKUP

Try Acronis.
It will backup your complete operating system AND your Data partition with your presets and samples if you want.
You can restore it everytime on your pc.
Even on a another different hardware.
Only the licenses from the softwares could be deactivated because of different HardwareID.

licences can be found for few bucks in the net.

PS:
manually Backing up Project files is a good idea too.
When i finished a project i will zip the whole Project folder with all samples, files and presets and move them to another HDD or pc.

 

Unless it's a bootable clone, those VSTs will only work without being re-licensed if it is used with a machine with the same MAC ID; IE the same hardware.

WILL be deactivated. Well, the majority of plugins, anyway..
Machine ID is paramount.

 

I had also used Acronis once, but when I wanted to restore the entire hard disk due to a virus attack, Acronis simply stopped restoring in the middle of the full backup. I then had to reinstall Windows. Then I installed "O&O DiskImage Professional" and I hope that in an emergency it will back up my entire hard drive C: /.

O&O DiskImage Professional www.oo-software.com/en/diskimage-backup-your-data

 

Last edited: Dec 16, 2021

I'm in a similar position, my current 240Gb M.2 is full and I have a new 2Tb one to replace it. I'm contemplating whether to clone or start from scratch (having carefully rendered all of my project stems - itself a major decision because the plan would be to commit to the VSTi of each track so I can truely start again with hopefully fewer plugins next time). I've installed Macrium Reflect and hopefully that will get the job done - but I still need to decide my strategy. I am really tired of having too many plugins but realistically I'm probably only going to repeat myself and install a great deal of new shiny plugins again so I'm not sure what to do. Also, this version of Windows 10 is about five years old now so the sensible method would be to start again...

 

Is it a laptop? I recently installed a 2TB SSD for data & samples, and I have a 1TB M.2 for the OS & programs/VST, etc. It works much better like this.

 

Drive Snapshot allows you to clone your system drive while the system is running:
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/index.htm

I've also heard good things of Macrium Reflect which offers a free version:
https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

I should also say that if you want to make a backup like this, you should only restore it on exactly that system. There's no point in attempting to restore it onto a different system with a different hardware configuration, because the drivers will be different.

 

Well yeah.
For the last 20 years we've been keeping a scratch disc and samples disc separate to the OS disc.
Standard practice.

As will the MAC ID!
Unless you make a bootable clone and use on the same hardware.

 

Depends on the laptop though, my last one couldn't do it, so I made the ability to install two hardrives a purchase priority. It's also very simple to reset the OS, which is a bonus

 

Studios don't run on laptops! lol
Actually, I bet some do in the present day! hehe. Cheapskates!
Sooo...you have a Macbook Pro and you took out the Superdrive and replaced it with an SSD?

 

I only like to "clone" or "image" machines when it is for IT work purposes. If someone breaks a machine, you will replace it with a nearly identical one. If you are doing 10 or 50 at a time, etc this is absolutely the way to go.

For a DAW computer? nope. Now you get a chance to reinstall everything Sequentially, so OS, then Drivers, then DAW, then Audio Editor, then Plugins, etc. This is a basis for the stability of the machine, not a bunch of haphazardly or installed-in-no-real-order software, and all the update versions used to get there. You can also leave all your rarely used plugins off the machine, and then only install them when needed to open a project where you actually used it. That by itself, will get rid of 3/4 of your junk VSTs.

 

Best go to that thread and ask...
Oh, you are sorted now.

 

Asus & Windows

 

Are these two different things?
I mean, I know there can be a clone...and a bootable clone...
But isn't an "image" just that? An image.
It's surely not a clone, in the term I know of.