Using External Hard Drives In Music Production (2021)

Is your monitor plugged into your MacBook? And what monitor are you using?

Can you do a video of the process of how you set up Time Machine?

How fast does it need to be read from the SSD that stores virtual instrument library? Does 1000 mb/s enough or I should get 2000 mb/s one?

This is a very good video!

Hello Video is really great, I just want to ask Should I purchase an external HDD or SSD ? Or should I Purchase internal ssd with an enclosure?


My laptop has 512 GB SSD, I Want to have my sample libraries and Spitfire labs libraries in it, For daily use Not for just storing that



Please answer I'm confused 😕

Do you have your actual DAWs software on you internal SSD?

This is a great setup and it's very helpful. I have a 2 TB internal nvme and I'm maxing out. This is exactly what I need to be doing. I'm confused though about what you mean by sample libraries. In all the communities I've been in, sample libraries is interchangeable with virtual instruments. When you say sample libraries do you mean like, drum packs? Like, folders with one shot WAV files?

Great video!! Just curious...What connection type and speed are you using between the external drives and the Mac?

Thanks for sharing. I notice the you are using an SSD for your virtual instruments and libraries but HDDs for both your samples and backups. Is there any reason for this in particular? I'm in the process of sorting out my production files so trying to research the right external drives to use as well as the best approach. Thanks in advance!

realllllllly helpful VDO...tanxxXxx a ton n God bless u....much Love from India...!!!

Can you (or anyone else) please explain in detail how to install VST libraries and audio files into an external drive ? Do I need to download it to my native Mac drive first then relocate them ? Or can I just install directly into the drive ? If so how, and do I need to take extra steps in doing so ? (I am a very new Mac user!)

How do you install plugins to external drives? What do you do anout the VST and AAX folders? Can you make those folders on the external drives or is it better to leave them on the internal os drive? I'm using a Windows 10 OS though.

I'm getting an error message trying to download some Native instrument plug ins. It says I can't save them to my external hard drive as you can only install them on MacOS. Any suggestions?

My question is! How in the world can you installs your daw and software instruments in an external drive 😢

EXCELLENT

Where do you save your projects? Is there another drive for that?

Bro I can’t thank you enough for this detailed explanation. Seriously so helpful. Going to order a lot of the things you mentioned! I just have a couple questions if you’d be so kind to answer.

1. I saw you mention something in the comments about formatting your SSD and HDD to APFS. Is that something that just automatically happens when you plug one in with a Mac or should I manually do that?

2. Let’s say I go to my moms to work on a project. Would I have to bring all my SSDs and HDDs with me to get everything to open up when I’m there?

3. I saw on the list you have a UPS battery backup. Is that just in case of power outages or are you giving your SSDs and HDDs extra power through it?

4. Do I need a USB 3 TP link hub if I’m already getting the thunderbolt hub?

Sorry for all the questions man haha but seriously thank you so much for this video

This is fantastic thanks. If I may ask one question though - if your DAW and all your libraries and instruments are on external disks, what do you use your Mac’s internal disk for when it comes to music production.

How to transfer vst‘s and sounds to external hard drive from main hardrive but keep operating program on main drive. Some downloads are 50gb! Also when downloading I seen on a vid of how to say download from the sight but it was for apple not pc trying to figure it out now but you can say download program to c: but download the vst and sounds to D: external hardrive. And next how to get the program from c: and vst n sounds from D: and copy to x: for back up. And last back up of a back up from would be copy from x: paste to x:
A lot of the music daws and vst’s you pay for them but only have access for a year to download or some company’s 30days and the stuff isn’t cheap. BRO, yesterday my laptop took a seat or got hacked or something the screen started doing crap on its own and I didn’t have a back up or external yet and moved what I could to usb stick. And did a hard reset 💩 I’ve lost so much I need to know how to do it on windows

Thanks for the video! Do you leave the drives plugged in all the time or do you also disconnect them to use your MacBook as a portable computer?

This video is very useful as for personal reasons I can't have a proper PC for some time.

Hi there and thank you for this very helpful video! So what is the main difference between internal and external ssd? I could only afford one ssd at this moment since i need more space for some new libraries of EastWest with total size more than 1.3TB.. i also have the Cubase LE (light version) with all its libraries and my projects saved on the internal disk of my PC. After i get the SSD should i remove all the libraries and projects there? Thanks a lot!

so i should put my daw in an external drive? it wont slow down my PC?

super simple video. love it dude thank you for the into!!!
also
P.S. "LACY'

Thank you for your video. Have you ran into the G Drive making weird loud noises and it’s coming through one of the monitors?

No I back up on 4 separate hardrives.

How about just using the cloud?

I gotta give you credits on this setup. Majority of people just have one Lacie hard drive and don’t even think about backups until data loss.

hello, arent the sample libraries the same thing that the virtual instrument libraries? what is the diference? thank you

This is an amazing video. Do you have one explaining the in the box items like where you put certain things in the drives?

Hi, so you have a external HDD for running your DAW and all the audio files, that dosnt make your daw slower?? Also when you record, are you writing in your external HDD??
Thanks for video men

hey bro, amazing video thank you for making this, could you do video on how you move projects vsts and sound libarys from internal hard drive to external ones, does the space free up or do you have to delete on the internal hard drive ? thanks bro

Move sound libraries to an external drive it’s just for saving computer drive space or it have something with computer/DAW performance? Assuming that I have an internal 1TB SSD and I’m ok with 100, 200gb sound libraries. It’ll be better to move all these files to an external ssd ?

what are the benefits of relocating the logic sound libraries to an external hard drive? And once I do this, how do I use some of the sound libraries once they're saved to an external drive?

Thank you!!! What's the exact model name?
1TB HDD (porche?):Do you have any other models you can recommend besides this HDD? It seems difficult to get.
thank you.

How do I start saving and or moving my audio files (sessions and projects) to an external hard drive?

I want to buy a laptop, basically every laptop in the price range i search for work in aspects like the processor and ram, but they come with 256/512 gb which is useless for my huge library collection, that's why i searched for this video, i just want to buy my laptop knowing that if i connect my 5tb ssd to the laptop i will be able to use my files. Sometimes when you connect a drive to a laptop the most little movement disconnects the drive and you get an error of any file you where using from the drive. Do you had that problem? Thanks.

VSTs are on external drive but what about plug-ins like compressors and eqs? do you just leave those on your internal storage?

Just came across this video and it's very informative and helpful, so thank you. I have a couple of questions and would greatly appreciate your guidance/suggestions. I run a Macbook MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Two Thunderbolt 3 ports) 1.4 GHZ Quad-Core I-5 with 8GB. I purchased one San Disk backup hard drive and one Lacie SSD (all I can afford to get at the moment). I'm going to use the Lacie to run my DAW and store my samples, but I noticed that you also keep virtual instruments on an SSD. I'm guessing those are VST's? I was under the impression that those don't take up much space, do I really need to keep them on a drive or will they be okay on my Mac hard drive? I'm also wondering if I need the backup drive since I'm backing up everything to the cloud, would you still recommend it? Do you keep your backup drives plugged in at all times to do the backup? Also I noticed the Lacie only comes with a USB-C to USB-C cord, I'm guessing I'll need to get a USB-C to USB adapter so I can plug into a multi-port USB splitter? Thanks again!

This was helpful, thank you.

What if you gotta move, and unplug everything? Does it load normally when I plug it again?

Where would you store plugins? With virtual instruments or sample library/ daws?

Do you have any idea how to change the sample rate of the hard drive itself?

How do you set up your DAW on the external SSD? Is it better to have the DAW app on the internal drive?

Which type of adaptor do you use to connect all these external hard/ssd disks

I Feel you! I will try that backup software you Talking about i have a usb 8 Tera Byte Drive
I split in two section. I also have 2 old one Tera byte drive (ac power )any suggestion I in Producer Training in Ableton Live, I just have Plugin and Vst I like your Video's i Do Any Suggestion I have a P C not a Mac anything for us pc user you suggest Thank Man.

I moved my VSTs to an external drive and now the load times are PAINFULLY long, as opposed to immediate when they were on my laptop. Any suggestions?

this was very helpful thanks. I need to work on setting up a backup system.

Just for me to get this straight: You have your DAW (like Logic or Pro Tools) on an external SSD? What kind of connectors are you using? Thunderbolt 3?

Great info Thanks. Can you split the data into separate drives retroactively, or do you have to install them all over?