this is going to be a dumb question but here goes.
i have been using cubase for a relatively long time, love it. i have 7.0.6 on an old mac pro. i recently purchased one of the new haswell imac’s so i will be setting cubase up from scratch. i had a couple of questions based on the fact the new Imac will have the 3TB fusion drive and also 2 x 2TB Thunderbolt external drives and 1 USB 4TB external drives
my old mac pro had 320 gig OS drive and for some reason i always left the AUDIO folder for each project in the default location but the CPR folder i put on a spare drive (for the longest time i didn’t realize there were 2 separate files and when i pointed the CPR folder i THOUGHT it put the audio with it, hard lesson to learn). this time i would like to create a “Cubase Projects” folder and then individual Folders per song in there BUT have each file have the CPR and the AUDIO. how is that set up so its all automatically pointed to this folder form now on?
i want to point these to an external TB drive since it will be alot easier to move or save if the internal drive had issues
i have a ton of room on this one but do you think it is still a good idea to use the the other TB drive for libraries? and if so how do you download the extra cubase content to this other drive and then point the VSTi’s to it properly? or should i not bother?
When you start a new Project in Cubase it invites you to make a new folder to contain it - so that the cpr file, the associated Audio Files folder and any other support files are always stored together. You would be VERY well advised to do it this way. Then, wherever that Project folder ends up, Cubase will always be able to find its audio files.
if you’re just using the VST Instruments supplied with Cubase, don’t fuss over where the sample data gets stored. The default location is fine. If you use other sample-based instruments, with huge sample libraries, there can be an advantage in storing them on a different physical drive - but make sure access to that drive is FASTER than to the internal one. For maximum performance, install some big internal SSD drives!
But, unless you work with really big Projects, with heavy-duty sample sets, disk access isn’t going to be your bottleneck. Having ample RAM installed is much more important. (“Enough” is enough though. 8GB is essential. 16GB - well, maybe. Would you ever fill 32GB?)
One of the external drives will of course be used for your Time Machine backup. Probably the 4TB USB one - maximum speed isn’t needed here. That may be sufficient, depending on how important your data is. Remember, if someone steals your computer they’ll probably take the external drives as well. If your house floods or burns down, EVERYTHING is lost…
External drives fail a lot more often than internal ones. Not because they’re inherently less reliable, but because they’re so easy to knock onto the floor when you get your wires tangled!