Hi,

Upgrading my laptop and doing the inevitable and tedious migration. I've done this quite a few times, but I always miss something, in terms of audio stuff... could be a plugin preset group, custom settings, kontakt snapshots, all those little things that go in various places as you install and use them.

Going to obviously grab the Documents folder, Common FilesVST3 folder and other VST'S. What else is hiding out there? Are there some things buried in the ProgramData folder? What other Windows folders/files need to get moved over to keep things as simple as possible in terms of not losing stuff?

Thank you.

 

Good question. Following.
About to embark on the same journey myself

 

Your custom presets. Unfortunately depending on the plugin that could live anywhere.

 

Create a full backup on an external hard drive just in case.
Get rid of it one week after you are 100% satisfied with your new setup.

 

winget list

 

For me, I just back up the important bits like VST presets, ProgramData files for UVI, East West Play, and so on into external drive so I have them to restore once fees install is done.

I have more recently started to use hardlink shell junctions. This means I have my presets on a non system C: drive permanently and then whenever I fresh install I just need to recreate the junctions using Hardlink Shell Extension app.

 

ensure you deactivate any iLok plugins in iLok manager on your old PC first, so you dont lose any activations.

 

%appdata%
%localappdata%
%programdata%

you can't really grab registry, so don't expect smooth transfer

 

This, but keep it as long as you can. There may be something you don't realize you need, even after you are 100% satisfied.

 

i agree with Nemanja, that way i know ill have any crucial stuff but most of the times i get rid of 80%, i tend to use every such transition to reinstall, update, clean up and reduce the baggage. So at the most i keep a list of vsts and save presets, but most of the time i start clean.

i think its some kind of mania i have, i need to have order and tidy as much as possible

 

Well, I'd backup

Code:

C:\Users\<username\
C:\Users\Public\ (optional, but some software install to and use their settings from here)
C:\ProgramData\

My preference would be to make a wholesale copy of the C:\ drive, snapshot/checkpoint/image if it you need fast resetup (optional)

If you've got more external storage (USB/NAS/cloud whatever), then I would recheck all attached local drives as well, just to make sure you can bring everything back online without a hitch. Silent bitrot kills.

Then just get the freshest copy, install as plain as possible and only reinstall what you need. For stuff that's not critical, say plugins for toy projects, I only install if it's something I really want to continue NOW, not something I might like in the future.

So Nthing others here really, backup as much as you can, keep it as long as you can, and install as clean a system as you can. Then install updates, drivers, and basic tools you need and take it from there. If you're not in a rush, one component/app at a time. If you're feeling feisty, you can snapshot etc. a clean system as a reset point.

 

True, the only way I've found to deal with this is to create a "install/uninstall" pair of registry edits per tweak I do, but it's only doable as you go along. So on a new system, this is a handy way to make note of system changes and save them + document them somewhere.

Stuff like disabling stuff in explorer that has no configuration item anymore (recent views and what have you)

 

having done IT work for a living for a number of years, I like a paper notebook. It works offline and when the computer isn't working the notebook still works.

for a machine that is important to me, I will make the 1$ investment in a dedicated notebook just for that computer. I mark the computer with a unique id# and record the id# in the notebook. Having done this, I log all software installs, the date and any notes regarding version number, problems or anything else I think will be important. I do this while installing software, many packages give me lots of minutes to take notes while I wait for them to finish.

days, months or years late, I have a pretty good idea of whats installed, and why, and any problems I might expect. I can use this as a guide for recreating a similar working environment on any other computer. Keep the notebook next to the computer, or under the monitor. and you have your own reference work to guide you.

i also note any hardware upgrades in this book and notes including price of upgrades and results of upgrades.

 

I generally do this, I'm hoping to not have to use it.

 

It's amazing how much shit one accumulates. I also find that I will have tons of plugins that I never, ever use.

 

That's an inexpensive idea. Like it, thanks.

 

Thanks, I am definitely going to be much more selective as to what I reinstall.

 

Okay, so definitely those three. Thanks.

 

I work with trial & error. I make sure I still have access to my old system, run my DAW simultaneously on both systems, open my projects one by one and wait for the new system to start whining about missing plugins and presets. Then resolve the issues one by one until all your projects load without trouble on the new system and Bob's your uncle. Tedious and time consuming, but foolproof.

 

I'm hoping it won't come to this, but I am going to have a lot of backed-up stuff easily accessible.