Hi All,
I’d like to test the trial Dorico 5, but my Mac Mini is running out of space. Can I download Dorico 5 and all its sounds and componenets to an external SSD, and get it to function correctly?
Best,
Rob
In the Steinberg Download Assistant, click on Settings at the top to change the install location before installing. You should see “Target Folder” at the top pointing to your install location.
By far the largest component is the sample libraries (c. 25Gb) , which you can move to a new location using Steinberg Library Manager app. I’m not sure if you can install them directly to a new location; though as said you can download them to a different disk.
Most of the sample content moves itself to the correct location after download, so you’re not saving any ‘duplication’ of files.
The Dorico app itself is c. 800 Mb, and there’s around 450 Mb of additional Steinberg utilities. I’d recommend keeping apps in /Applications if possible, but these will launch easily enough from other locations.
If you have a 250 Gb disk, I’d recommend keeping 50Gb free at minimum.
Another option is to upgrade your hard drive: I have an anicent 15" 2015 MacBook Pro which had a measly 500GB “ssd”. I used to keep all my sample libs on an external drive but it was never very good (speed/reliability) so, following a YouTube tutorial, I upgraded to a 2TB M2 SSD which is wonderful! The tutorial covered migrating MacOS and so on, and was pretty straight forward.
Of course I don’t know whether a Mac Mini can have it’s SSD replaced with a new higher capacity one, but if it can, it’s definitely worth it. No more faffing about with external drives and acres of space for sample libraries.
Apple Silicon (M-series) Macs are a system on a chip. The RAM and SSD is all one piece. That’s how they get such high bandwidth and data speeds.
Even the 2018 Intel Mini uses a specialized SoC chip that includes its own disk controller, with the SSD ‘chips’ soldered onto the logic board.