My PC shop does have a pure WINDOWS OS CD. My Win8 has the (full) DELL Windows OS loaded on at the moment. So yes, I can get the bare bones version. He said they might just charge me 20 quid for that part.
Regarding the SSD, they use their own supplier where obviously they get devices at TRADE price. He looked at its but they do not have a SAMSUNG 500GB SSD. He said if I purchase a SSD elsewhere then they would not be able to fit it and also (if someone else fitted it) then it would void the WARRANTY on the Win8 PC. However, if I purchase the SSD via the store, and they fit it (which obviously they would in this case) then they will give me a extra 2 x years WARRANTY on the SSD.
However, the SAMSUNG are very expensive. The guy suggested (which he now uses himself instead of SAMSUNG) a 500GB SSD for only £180 made by a company CRUCIAL. He said these are excellent and he has never had one fail as yet. I checked with a couple of mates of mine and one uses CRUCIAL for his RAM upgrade and another uses a CRUCIAL SSD in his MAC. In fact, he said that the MAC shop actually recommended CRUCIAL for their MacBooks!
Paul,
good stuff!
Brand of SSD doesn’t really matter. Make sure you let those guys know that they are not supposed to install any manufacturer provided drivers, but instead let Windows find the drivers.
This is contrary to what repair shops would normally do, I guess, but it cuts down on the bloatware…
Also tell them to:
disable all unnecessary network adapters and
disable the on-board audio BEFORE installing Windows,
switch SATA controllers to AHCI mode
Then switch off ALL power savings options in the BIOS.
Install your audio interface, MIDI interfaces, and finally Cubase. Test in between every step.
Then install your VSTi and other plugins.
Will let you know what the PC store say about your kind pointers. Hopefully they should have received the copy this morning.
Paul
<EDIT: The shop performed what you asked. Luckily, the SDD delivery was delayed so they had not started the replacement. Should have the Win8 back Thurs or Fri.>
Wow, I now really do have a stripped down version of Windows 8.1 OS! lol
But now, obviously, Windows is notifying me that there are available (and advisable) UPDATES to download (install), and there seems to be a lot of them! Do I going along with this, or do I not install any of them? Some of them are SECURITY related.
Paul,
well, there’s a bunch of different updates that Windows installs usually, some might be drivers, or security updates or added functionality. Just make sure that before you install Cubase, the system is completely up to date and all hardware works, including your audio interface.
If any piece of hardware doesn’t work or with limited functionality, find the latest driver on the manufacturers website. NOT Dell, since now it is not a Dell computer anymore…
Ok, thanks a lot. So install all the WINDOWS UPDATES before re-installing Cubase/Sibelius etc . . .
I will leave it til tomorrow now as it is late, and I did not want to start installing/updating anything until you had kindly clarified my questions. I will possible not even start reinstalling Cubase/Sibelius until Monday as very often, UPDATE pop-up’s can appear a couple of days after the PC having been REFORMATTED.
I don’t think I will install MS WORD 2007 due to the relentless UPDATES etc.
I am currently thinking about whether or not to install any of my other music s/w download programs such as the NORD, DX Synth, ROLAND XV5050 managers, and also MIDI OX? Not sure if these would make any difference regarding my previous issues? I have them all on my Win7 and so therefore would be keeping my Win8 free EXCLUSIVELY for CUBASE. Or might this be this going a bit over the top?
. . . Also, I am very hesitant to reinstall KASPERSKY because it is resource heavy. Apart from Cubase related UPDATES, I intend to try and keep the Win8 OFFLINE. And then, once my KASPERSKY has EXPIRED (around Xmas time), I will replace it with one of the Anti Virus softwares recommended by fellow Steinberg users.
Paul,
well, if you intend to keep the production machine offline as much as possible, why not stick with Defender for that machine and switch to a less intrusive AV for the office machine? FWIW, my main DAW is connect to the internet constantly, and I disable the WiFi only if I run into issues with DPC latency. And I run Defender exclusively.
And I do not have Office installed on the DAW, that’s what the other computer is for, in my case anyway…
Forgot to mention about the other music-related programs: Install what you need, leave off what you don’t or can transfer as needed from the Win7 machine.
Are both networked together? Very handy sometimes, Homegroup works nicely for that.
B.
So regarding the NORD, DX and ROLAND editor/manager softwares etc, probably best to only INSTALL (on my Win8) what is essential. I know that I will need MIDISPORT for example.
Yes, I have all of these editor/manager softwares on my Win7.
Never used or heard of NETWORK / HOMEGROUP before I am afraid!?
