Reason 11 content on external hard drive

[jackson881]

I'm thinking about getting into Reason 11.

It looks like it comes with a lot of content, but I can't seem to confirm whether or not it can be installed on an external drive. Does anyone know if this this something that the installer offers by default or does using an external hard drive require workarounds?

Thanks!

[THE INTRANCER]

As long as the spin speed of the external hard drive is at least 7200 RPM, any less than that then you'll likiley have issues with playback of audio. I've been using secondary internal and external hard drives since 2001, because using audio applications and regular writing and storing of sample data from DAWs, increases fragmentation, and wearing out of the drive and because I feel important data is better stored there and if necessary duplicated for important data. Both Reason the program and all data and as well as my current DAW Studio One is stored and run from external hard drives. My main operating system hard drive, a 500 Gig internal Hitachi 7200 RPM' type is almost 10 years old and still works as well as when I first bought it. It's always been properly cooled so that's more than likely attributed to it's life span. My current Reason folder is around 50 Gig's in size with all the Refills and samples I have in addition to the Reason versions / upgrades, so I'd advise that if you're using an external drive, then to get one big enough.

Reason uses a scratch disk for storing data... I've always assigned an external hard drive for this. So to answer your question, yes, Reason will work fine from an external drive, at least from my experience on the Windows platform.

[ShawnG]

you can install the reason program anywhere, but the content from RE's/factory soundbanks and the like can only be installed on the c drive. you still can move that to another drive, but you will have to do that on your own with make link commands or an equivalent windows utility. refills and samples you can store anywhere, and just point the Reason browser to it. As Mr Intrancer says, slow external drives do not generally make for happy music making, so try to put it on a fast modern USB2+ or eSATA external HDD with at least 7200 rpm if you can.

I so wish companies would stop forcing data to the c drive, I guess its considered a windows best practice, but a lot of folks have tiny/speedy ssd's with the OS and can't cram that much there.

[Psuper]

I so wish companies would stop forcing data to the c drive, I guess its considered a windows best practice, but a lot of folks have tiny/speedy ssd's with the OS and can't cram that much there.

Its pure laziness these days (and the last 20 or so years that unified installer have been around), unacceptable in my book my biggest pet peeve by miles. Won't stop me from buying something I want, symbolic links work, but highly annoying -- takes and an extra 10 minutes of work on the developer end and instead they choose to highly inconvenience everyone else.

[jackson881]

you can install the reason program anywhere, but the content from RE's/factory soundbanks and the like can only be installed on the c drive.

That's what I was afraid of. It really annoys me when companies do not give the option to install large libraries to an external drive during the installation process. At the very least, I appreciate when you can change the sample library location via preferences. You shouldn't have to use workarounds.

I'm on a Mac. I usually try to avoid installing anything that forces you to install on the main drive, but I'm interested in trying Reason 11 with Ableton.

If anyone out there is a Reason Mac user, I'd really appreciate if you could share how you went about putting your soundbanks on an external drive. Is there a "best" way to go about it?

Thanks for all of the responses!

[lessera]

I so wish companies would stop forcing data to the c drive, I guess its considered a windows best practice, but a lot of folks have tiny/speedy ssd's with the OS and can't cram that much there.

Its pure laziness these days (and the last 20 or so years that unified installer have been around), unacceptable in my book my biggest pet peeve by miles. Won't stop me from buying something I want, symbolic links work, but highly annoying -- takes and an extra 10 minutes of work on the developer end and instead they choose to highly inconvenience everyone else.

Agreed. When we are dealing with such numerous (and large) sample libraries, forcing the install on the OS drive just doesn't make any sense. Especially these days, where many users have small and speedy OS drives with just enough space for the OS, and not much else.

I earlier mentioned Steinberg's Library Manager app in a different thread. It's a brilliant tool, and I think RS really needs to look closely at developing something like that.

[antic604]

Use 'symlinks' to cheat Reason into thinking the data - sound banks, rack extensions, etc. - is still on the main drive, while actually keeping them somewhere else. I did it and it worked in v10 and continues to workin v11.

Here's how: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

[jackson881]

Use 'symlinks' to cheat Reason into thinking the data - sound banks, rack extensions, etc. - is still on the main drive, while actually keeping them somewhere else. I did it and it worked in v10 and continues to workin v11.

Here's how: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

Thanks antic604! I'm actually on a Mac. Has anyone successfully set symlinks up on a Mac with Reason 11?
Any help on the best/safest way to go about it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[antic604]

Any help on the best/safest way to go about it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I've no first idea about OSX, but the same website has OSX guide

https://www.howtogeek.com/297721/how-to ... -on-a-mac/

[jonljacobi]

Use 'symlinks' to cheat Reason into thinking the data - sound banks, rack extensions, etc. - is still on the main drive, while actually keeping them somewhere else. I did it and it worked in v10 and continues to workin v11.

Here's how: https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/c ... -or-linux/

Thanks antic604! I'm actually on a Mac. Has anyone successfully set symlinks up on a Mac with Reason 11?
Any help on the best/safest way to go about it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

What type of Mac?

[andypryce]

I so wish companies would stop forcing data to the c drive, I guess its considered a windows best practice, but a lot of folks have tiny/speedy ssd's with the OS and can't cram that much there.

Its pure laziness these days (and the last 20 or so years that unified installer have been around), unacceptable in my book my biggest pet peeve by miles. Won't stop me from buying something I want, symbolic links work, but highly annoying -- takes and an extra 10 minutes of work on the developer end and instead they choose to highly inconvenience everyone else.

Agreed. When we are dealing with such numerous (and large) sample libraries, forcing the install on the OS drive just doesn't make any sense. Especially these days, where many users have small and speedy OS drives with just enough space for the OS, and not much else.

I earlier mentioned Steinberg's Library Manager app in a different thread. It's a brilliant tool, and I think RS really needs to look closely at developing something like that.

Exactly. How hard can it be to make it like Ableton? Just make the content a seperate download and install it wherever you want. And locate it from the preferences. Done.

[jackson881]

What type of Mac?

Hi jonljacobi,

I'm using a MacBook Pro with Mojave. I'd appreciate if any Mac users can comment about their experiences using symlinks and Reason. Do updates break the links, etc?

[jonljacobi]

I was just wondering how difficult it would be to upgrade the SSD, sidestepping the issue. It is rather bizarre that Reason doesn’t allow a different location. Catalina is said to break lots of stuff, but symbolic links are basic, basic.

[krismiller1982]

Trying out Reason 11 Plus 30 free subscription... I have tried using symlinks for folders, even symlinks for the files contained in folders but nothing works. This is ridiculous, deleting all 24GB this evening. Cant imagine a more idiotic program. Forcing all sound content to be on your main OS harddrive is beyond stupid...

[dedene]

What type of Mac?

Hi jonljacobi,

I'm using a MacBook Pro with Mojave. I'd appreciate if any Mac users can comment about their experiences using symlinks and Reason. Do updates break the links, etc?

I tried many many things but couldn’t get symlinks to work. Somehow their licensing system does not follow them or something. After hours I gave up, it’s one of the few vsts really taking a lot of space on my Mac main drive. It’s one of the main reasons I’m very reluctant to buying new REs that seems to have lots of sampled content in it.