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Hey KVRians! Mac newbie here. Setting up a new Mac and wondering how to organize my folders. It comes with a 512 GB internal SSD. Should I use that for projects or for sample library?

One idea is to leave my PC as is, set up a new SSD for samples one for projects, which is what I did for my PC. Maybe even use my PC as a slave.

What’s your drive/folder structure like? Any external must-have accessories for the Mac?

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I have a 2016 MBP (w/touchbar). It has a 256 GB internal drive.

I got a Samsung EVO 860 1TB ssd drive which I put in a thunderbolt enclosure. I keep all Logic Pro X sounds on it, as well as the entire Komplete 11 installation.

I also have a 2TB Western digital external drive 5400 rpm) for backups, archived project files etc.
My Soundcloud Too many pieces of music finish far too long after the end. - Stravinsky

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Get a bigger drive.

The whole thing of organizing a drive the old ways is not necessary anymore with the new SSDs. I don't do anything, it's all on the one system drive.
The ideas from spinning drives, where to place, are pointless with a solid state drive. It's all the same access.

But I regret not getting 2TB or more, I'm out of space from samples libraries.

I'm talking about the new 2018 MBP. My performance, with a pretty large project, is excellent. I don't have any audio breakup and I'm able to make the notes land in time. I have far, far better performance than I did using multiple drives, caring about all that, on a Mac Pro, and with less cores. I have their fastest 6 core.



I have a 7200RPM for backup, and I use Time Machine.

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I have a 2012 Mac Mini (quad i7 2.3 -> 3.2 GHz), added 16 GB Ram but no SSD (yet) still a beast, using many instances of Spire, Dune 2 and various effect plugins. Using my Virus TI as a plugin as well, it gives me a lot of freedom not affecting CPU power

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I swear by one of these, depending on what model your Macbook is...

https://shop.baseqi.com/products/macboo ... 0379211073

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Late 2015 iMac, 2TB Fusion drive, 4ghz, 32gb RAM. Logic Pro X, RME Fireface 802, Really Nice Compressor, Really Nice Pre. The only external HDD I have is for Time Machine.
“The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information.”
-Henry A. Wallace

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jancivil wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 6:08 pmGet a bigger drive.... I regret not getting 2TB or more, I'm out of space from samples libraries.
Are you saying the workflow improvement from having it all on one 2-5 TB system drive is worth the high cost vs. an external Thunderbolt SSD?
d o n 't
w a n t
m o r e

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I wouldn't know, if I'd see a difference.

I regret the decision because since then I've acquired some real space-eating libraries is all.
I will say this, I imagine the i9 2.9gHz with the Turbo boost is part of my happy experience with this machine. But after that and the 32GB RAM added up I chose 1TB, 300 more or whatever it was, I'm out. But I imagine the sitch you describe is good enough. If I absolutely have to have more space, I'm not getting inside this and paying Apple prices.

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My set is a Mac Pro (the cinerary urn) with 64 GB Ram and 10-cores (custom modified) but only a 256 GB SSD. I place all my libraries on an external 1 TB SSD, which also holds a VMware Windows...
Whenever a plug-in insists on placing their libraries into the start-up drive, I fool it with symbolic links to the external drive. If I travel I can take this SSD and connect it to my 11" MB Air and have all the sounds ready on the go as well...
Time machine is my safety net. Still running Sierra...

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For my sample libraries - I purchased a https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-1TB-Extr ... ve+extreme and a short usb cable. I then velcro the drive to the back of my monitor and plug it in. It's super light and actually looks really slick. It's like a permanent extra tb of data. I put of of my sample libraries on it. I record locally in a google drive folder so it auto backsup to the web - I've lost too much to risk losing project files.

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I use my internal drives for everything right now.

My iMac 12,2 has a spinning 2TB drive with one terabyte dedicated to Snow Leopard and one terabyte dedicated to the current OS (well, not current anymore; Apple left this model behind when they published Mojave). I wish it had an SSD, but I don’t have the money for a 2TB SSD and I don’t ever want to open this damn iMac again. Not ever. It’s a Nightmare design from an idiot Apple product manager.

My MacBook Pro 5,5 has a mostly identical configuration (two volumes, two OS versions) but its storage hardware is a 1 terabyte aftermarket SSD I installed myself from OWC/MacSales.com (easy, decent price, and well worth it).

I’m slowly transitioning all my music work to Logic X on the newer OS volume, but will probably continue to use the Snow Leopard volume as a fallback for unsupported older software/hardware (hello Kore and various editors), AND for storage of samples and other content. I don’t have the same libraries installed on multiple volumes because that would be a waste.

I have a manual backup process right now where I duplicate projects between the two computers, but I used to use time machine for an easier backup experience. Haven’t bought the necessary external drives to start a fresh time machine volume and haven’t repurposed any existing drives from my PC yet because I need external drive enclosures I haven’t prioritized money toward just yet (I’m wanting to spend money on something fun, like a few analog desktop semi modular synths, not on boring storage devices).
- dysamoria.com
my music @ SoundCloud

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Jace-BeOS wrote: Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:05 pm I don’t ever want to open this damn iMac again. Not ever. It’s a Nightmare design from an idiot Apple product manager.
Compared to the new ones its dead simple...; - )
Done that several times - iFixit is your friend...

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Tj Shredder wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 11:55 am
Jace-BeOS wrote: Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:05 pm I don’t ever want to open this damn iMac again. Not ever. It’s a Nightmare design from an idiot Apple product manager.
Compared to the new ones its dead simple...; - )
Done that several times - iFixit is your friend...
Really? I heard they improved it by combining the LCD and the front glass, so that you’re not constantly messing with the glass and the LCD (getting dust and hair between them). It’s an utter nightmare, and my studio isn’t even that dirty.
- dysamoria.com
my music @ SoundCloud

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I have a 2009 5,1 3.46GHz 12-core MacPro with 32GB of memory. A 1500GB SSD boot drive and a 1TB SSD samples drive which reside on a Sonnet dual PCIe card. A 1TB HHD Audio Drive, a 2TB utility HDD and three HDD Backup drives. My displays are a Dell U3014 2560x1600 and a Asus 27” 2560x1440. My monitors are Event TR-8s and AKG 271 MkII headphones. My keyboard controllers are a Kawai MP7 digital piano and an Axiom 49 2nd gen.

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I have a 512GB SSD internally where I install software and libraries. All projects, samples, junk, etc. I store on an external 1TB SSD
Sweet child in time...

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