Hi-I have been reading this thread all day-interesting that it comes up at this time when I, too, have been dealing with the same issue. I have one question:
What’s wrong with simply moving all the Content from the C: drive to another drive, and then when Cubase opens, it will, of course ask you where the content is, and then you locate it, and then it knows where the stuff is? This is what I did. With the exception of the HalionOne Content-which I have not yet learned how to re-associate with Halion One-all the other content has been re-married to it’s proper VST Instruments.
It seems to be working perfectly. Am I missing something? Is some mishap coming my way and I just don’t know it yet?
That’s interesting because when I tried it, it didn’t ask me where the content is. Cubase installed but I had lots of missing content. There was never an option to locate anything!
One possible mishap I can think of is perhaps when doing an update there might be a problem? I had problems updating the last version of 7.5 so I moved content back to the intended place in the C drive and then updated successfully.
Could anyone explain why a lot of this content when initially installed is grouped together instead of creating separate folders for each application…1 for Halion, 1 for Groove agent…etc.
I think johnstaf has the best solution, as long as it works!
Ok, I’ve solved this one. There is a data field under Preferences/Media Bay - Maximum Number of Items in Results List. By default this is set to 10,000. I upped it to 100,000 and I’m now showing 16,304.
I have just got a new PC with 7.5 pre-installed (I ordered it three days before 8 came out - btw I’m upgrading from 4LE which I’ve been limping along with for years, so my head is pretty blown right now with the massive change in spec ).
So the first thing I did was upgrade to 8. I haven’t yet installed any of my sample library from my old PC, so apart from a handful of VST presets that I’ve saved, that 16,304 must be pretty representative of a typical install, plus the standard stuff that seems have been picked up from the 7.5 install which (I don’t think) was included with 8 (Groove Agent One content etc)
This number is good to know as if I do decide to move stuff off the C drive I can cross-check that it has all been picked up - thanks for putting me onto this.
Hello;
I see the last post was about a year ago and I’m just coming across this issue so I thought I would ask for any new information and post my experience for future newbies. I have an Alienware that’s almost 1 yr old and the C:\ only has 110G and my D:\ is 931G. I’m constantly fighting for C:\ space. I just bought Cubase 8 Pro and upgraded to 8.5 Pro. During each install I made sure to install to the D:\ where it would allow me to. But, my C:\ still increased by over 20G! Using spacesniffer (AWESOME product to find large files!!!) I’ve found VST’s are the biggest issue in these spots:
I’ve created these folders on my D:
D:\Programs\Cubase - This is my install path I used when I had the option
D:\Hobbies\Music\Cubase\ - I then have subdirectories like Notes, Projects, VST Sounds. I kept these as a separate folder to capture in my online back-up program (Carbonite) and to make sure I didn’t accidentally delete these during re-installs or upgrades.
I’m not a computer newbie but I only understand basic shortcut links. I’m completely new to Cubase. Is there a solid way to move as much VST data from the C:\ to the D:? Thank you so much in advance!
I am interested dose this work for two installations? Ill explain,
So on my system I have a SSD Drive split in to two partitions, each partition has a installation of windows on and cubase. I have optimised one partition for serious music work, where its kept off line and has minimal other software and the other install is for on-line and normal day to day use, I like to have cubase installed on each for convenience.
I am wondering if I added a second SSD or made a third partition, could I place the VST content on it and share it between the two installations, I guess I could also place VST 2 plug-ins here as well, not sure about 3’s as there seem to need to be in the conmen files folder. It would be a dream to have the preferences here as well! It would speed up reinstalls also!
Hello first of all i could not contact any support person in India. I sent three mails with no response. Now I have my C drive on ssd and i have just loaded Halion strings.At first my Studio one automatically selected the strings and i did not have to show the path. It however ate 7 GB space. So i found that it was in the Roamings folder. I moved it to another disc then it just vanished from there. So now how to do it step by step? If that is not possible then i will have to buy another strings. Please help
Maybe I’m crazy - but moving this content was easy for me. I just moved the content files to another drive and deleted them off C:
When Cubase starts up again it’ll say the files are missing, and give you an option to locate them. You’ll have to manually find each individual file (there are quite a few) - should take about 20 minutes. After that, Cubase has links to all the content files at the new location, and will start up normally.
No registry change, no installation hassles - just move the files, delete them from original location, boot up Cubase, locate files. Done.
Have done this for multiple installs over the last 3 or 4 years.
Hello tired with my eyes after trying to shift the content to other drive i am now tired of searching the Tech support. Where is the link for tech support for Halion symphonic orchestra? I come to the same place after searching but no real tech support.Kindly help
Thanks
One of the things I did when I had a small SSD as the system drive was:
Open an administrative command prompt and copy large content folders to a different drive. In my case I simply used xcopy to preserve all the file permissions/stamps/etc and copy directories:
I ran Cubase/Halion/etc. through a few stressful sessions to make sure it was working properly. Once I was satisfied it worked, I deleted the original folder on my System Drive:
rmdir /S "C:\ProgramData\Steinberg.bak"
Had it not worked to satisfaction, I’d simply have removed the junction, restored the original directory, and deleted my ‘copy’:
del "C:\ProgramData\Steinberg"
rename "C:\ProgramData\Steinberg.bak" "C:\ProgramData\Steinberg"
rmdir /S "E:\ProgramData\Steinberg"
It has worked really well for me…I also used junctions like this to move other large VSTi libraries to alternate drives.
I later did the same for a few directories in my %USERPROFILE% area of Windows, as some of those can grow to be fairly large if you make a lot of complete VSTsound files with samples included.
Quite true for most (if not all) of the latest Steinberg offerings. That’d be the official way to do it
To run from multiple drives/partitions: I could have used the installers to uninstall, and then reinstall, etc.
I expanded the tactic to other software and libraries as well, and some of them didn’t have as flexible installers as Steinberg’s, or would simply break if they didn’t think they’re running from the System Drive.
The nice thing about Junctions…is software thinks it’s running from the device that’s hosting the Junction pointer, and the OS reflects a file path to that nature. It also makes it easy if you use removable drives and such that you might not always have connected (just fix the junction anytime your configuration changes, without having to reinstall things, or mess with registry hacks). It’s not difficult to even make little scripts on a removable devices (I.E. USB stick, or hard drive) that would run when plugged in and check/change/create junctions for you automatically.
Another example is attempting to install something that MUST be installed on the system drive, but there simply isn’t enough space for it. In this sort of case, you’d make junctions to some other partition/directory first, and then install the software. It thinks it’s going on drive C and just works
It’s kind of a last resort option for folks with small system drives. For apps that are easy to reinstall if something goes wrong, there’s really not much to lose by trying it if you’re just flat out of space on the drive.
There may well be some software out there that does not work well with this sort of file junction. I.E. I wouldn’t dare move anything from the Windows directory this way, and I’d be extra careful if I were using any kind of back-ground drive or file encryption protocols. Any application that likes to create lots of symbolic hard-links to various files or directories on the system partition file-system should not be moved/linked in this way. If it came from the “MS Windows Store”, uses the MS “Component Based Servicing” protocol, or is an app/directory updated by the windows updater system (I.E. MS Office)…keep it on the system drive (don’t point to it with Junctions)! Always test it before ‘deleting’ any original directories or files), but most things will plug right along (particularly large content libraries, temp directories, or user generated files).
With Windows, it’s pretty important to use /J (junctions) rather than symbolic ‘soft-links’ when at all possible (the exception would be if you’re trying to run things over a LAN or WAN using direct networking protocols instead of mount points). “Hard Links” can only be used if you’re pointing to something that lives on the same partition/drive. “Soft-Links” can point almost anywhere…but if an application demands it run from a specific place (I.E. Drive C), it might get confused, as the soft-link can show the true path to the file (it really depends on how the application addresses file paths in this case…coders have more than one option provided by the OS). Junctions are more like soft-links, BUT, more programs will think it’s all running from the device the junction is hosted from, regardless of the protocol the coder might have used to get/manage file path info.
If you use symbolic soft-links instead of junctions, the file path can look a bit different to some apps (showing true paths…more like a short-cut) and confuse some software. Sometimes with symbolic soft-links, poorly done installers/un-installers/updaters will just remove the top most level symbolic link itself (usually a directory pointer) and leave all the actual files in place. I.E. Instead of actually removing “E:\directory1\directory2\somefile.wav”, it might just remove the “C:\directory1” symbolic link on drive C, rather than deleting the actual somefile.wav file on drive E.
Finally, when using junctions, note that you ‘can’ point directly to individual files. I personally would avoid that, and just use pointers to entire ‘directories/folders’. My reasoning for this is long and convoluted, but as long we’re just linking directories…most of the software out there should think it’s living on the drive/partition hosting the junction, and work just fine, while the OS takes care of the rest.
If you use the junctions to milk some more life out of a small system drive:
As always…do regular clones or backups of your system drive…
Make notes when moving and linking things (MYNOTES.txt files in relative directories are good), so if you forget and need to know later, you can refer to your notes. Keep a close eye on things after running any sort of installer or update package to make sure it hasn’t broken your links and left trash behind in the target directory (take advantage of installer/uninstaller logs for apps that have them).
Hello i thank all for all your suggestions and one of it has clicked. I have given the path in one of the installation sequence as G:\ and then it worked and disc space was saved. Attaching the figure
What i did is collect and remove all the vstsound files from all over the place like C:\Users\NAME\Application Data\Steinberg\Content\VST Sound, and moved them all to another drive folder, in my case called VSTSOUND. Then created shortcut files in that new folder for them, and moved all these shortcuts back to the original folder above. It seems all my VSTSOUND files were addressable that way.
PS I recall seeing some Allen Morgan stuff in the past with older Cubase and Groove Agent versions, being named as such, but could not find them by name. Maybe Steinberg wants you to pay once again for stuff sold to you before LoL?
I find the way stuff is organized today VERY confusing. Bought Groove Agent 4 a while ago, thinking it should be nicely integrated with Cubase 8 and later 8.5, especially for the naming thing in drummaps etc. I gave up, and bought EZ drummer and work with that mostly instead, far easier. - F
Hi i had this same questain , still unsolved , n its further complicated , by , MK links , Ill explain ,from my side , please correct if i go wrong some where …ok , right from the beginning of installing Cubase 6.5 , C 2/3 n earlier versions. , i used to get an option of installing to Programmes in drive C :… when it came to installing, VST/i/s , there was always an options to change the path to another location , In My case another Physical Drive with a folder i name , named VSTi, an all Vsti/s installed in there . (reason being , all those huge Dll, etc GB/s on another drive, and probably had read someplace that , it was less taxing on the C drive , as is was dedicated to running the Win OS … so probably every thing running faster , n if the OS gets corrupted all my files accessible on the other drive, simple reinstall , OS n Cubase n the Vsti again ) ) My only issue is from Cubase 8.5 n even in 9.5 , that 2nd option isnt there any more , it just goes on Installing on to Drive C., later on I add that folder to the Vsti Instruments locations n all is fine. ( n i have a 3 rd separate drive for rendering audio files , so all my projects are created and saved on to this 3rd drive) .I just want all my VSTi/ effects , 3rd party VST etc , i install them all to that 2 nd drive in to the VSTi Folder there … can some one explain this please.
With Win10 64bit I installed most of my programs on another (physical, SSD) drive than my boot drive C. On that drive Cubase (9, 64bit) program in a Cubase folder, and .VSTsound files in a separate folder.
Also all Cubase project files in another separate folder, AND plugins organized in a dedicated plugins-folder, internally divided in standalone versions, and DLLs in separate 32bit, 64bit and jBridged 32 - 64bit converted versions. Some escape during installation, and organize themselves in some VST2 or VST3 folder on the boot-drive alas.
While installing Cubase 8 etc, you can direct the installers, look for some advanced ‘click me’ button, go "back’ if you missed something like “browse”, and maybe install running as administrator to get more options. - F
Here’s the easiest way to relocate content from the C drive to another drive on a PC.
Backup your content before starting so you can recover later if needed.
Select all the content files on the C: drive (the actual .VSTsound files not the folders they are in) RIGHT click and drag them to their new location. When you release the click select the MOVE option not the copy. This will leave your original location empty (now you’re happy you did that backup first).
Select all the content files in their new location and again RIGHT click and drag them back to their original location. This time when you release the files select the CREATE SHORTCUTS option.
That’s it you now have shortcuts pointing to the relocated content.
If your content is scattered across your C: drive in different locations you might need to do the above in several passes to snag everything.
while installing Cubase 8 etc, you can direct the installers, look for some advanced ‘click me’ button, go "back’ if you missed something like “browse”, and maybe install running as administrator to get more options. - F
Thanks , this probably nails the problem, my main issue , was the older Cubase files allowed you to install Cubase to the C drive , n next , allowed you to navigate the vst/s to another drive… why disable this feature in C 9.5 ?? relocating files , would be tedious , missing some , also , Marking with the mouse , often dont mark some Dll, U have to Control A to mark , may be some hidden files etc… too many issues… but thanks any way
I plan to move my Halion Symphonic Orchestra content from my C: drive to an external SSD… and found this on help.steinberg - where it sounds pretty simple and applies in general to Halion products.
It’s under “Installing VST Sound Libraries” but talks about causing a change in the Media Bays registry just by navigating “to the folder where the new VST Sound container files are located and double-click one of them.” and an automated process registers the location:
In C/users/name/Appdata/roaming/Steinberg/Sounds, I did a shortcut to each folder once I’d moved over the folders Groove Agent, HAlion, Padshop, VST Sounds onto my second ssd. Then, when I opened Cubase Artist 9.5 I was asked to find one or two folders/files. Then, as I opened the various VST Instruments which use these sounds in Cubase, there were further demands to navigate to the new location. Each time I just navigate to the required folder/file at the new location and validated. In all 10 to 15 times this will happen.
Once that is done everything is working perfectly and I have gained about 12 giga on my C drive.
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