Hello,
I’m about to give my PC in repair for big upgrading, in particular the change of system disk C:, become too small. Simple questions:
-what exactly do I need to do to avoid disaster?
-What files/folders do I absolutely need to back up on an external hard drive first?
-What do I absolutely have to uninstall properly?
-Can I re-download everything afterwards from the Steinberg website, in case the repairers make a mistake or format it?
Thank you very much,
Greg
Hi,
The most important is to backup your projects (if they siton the system C drive).
Moreover, you can Export your Cubase Profile to be able to import it back and get your custo preferences.
I would highly suggest to do this:
- do rough cleaning of your C: drive delete any large files you know you don’t want to back up
- use a program such as Macron or other software that can create a complete backup of your C:drive, and this software also load/restore it.
making a restorable backup of your c: is a good practice anyway. You never know what you might need later (like me), this is fool proof method. (but you won’t be able to boot from it once you change your motherboard).
Thank you Martin for the tip. How can I “export [my] Cubase profile”?
Thank you Beerbong. I’m probably going to change my motherboard too, so I think I won’t have to restore anything, I’ll do a new installation of everything.
With “Profile Manager” under the edit menu.
Make sure to save the default preset under a different (custom) name and export it. The default profile is the current one if you didn’t change anything in there.
Don’t use new, this creates an empty profile with default settings.
1 Like
If you’re also going to replace the motherboard, then yeah, a complete OS rebuild is a good idea indeed!
In which case you’ll be reinstalling Cubase (and whatever 3rd party plugins you’re using), and my suggestion would be to take a hard look at what you’re actually using.
I do this sort of spring cleaning every few years when I upgrade my production PC. So I never import configurations etc., I just do a clean OS/driver/Cubase install from scratch. That’ll make sure I’m not carrying forward any cruft, and I don’t entirely trust the settings migration code anyway. I spent decades in software development, and it’s the kind of code nobody really wants to work on, and it’s usually code with a pretty high bug density 
More importantly, this gives you a chance to assess your workflow, and get rid of plugins you’re not using, or that ended up being past their supported lifetime, or that simply didn’t keep up with the times in terms of being compatible with things like latest VST standards, or whatever else changed in the ecosystem.
1 Like
I would image the system drive on a large external drive. But if you want to do files and folders then of course all project files (make sure all audio is in the correct folders as you back up) and all samples and sound effects. I would also backup the profile file and just to be safe I typically go through any page with presets and resave them with a new name reflecting the date or computer setup - that would mean things like presets in the VST connections window for example.
Also make sure you know what authorization types each software you own uses. If it’s an authorization that’s tied to the computer hardware then I would consider deauthorizing it if needed before making the upgrade. What you don’t want is for an authorization via serial number to be “used up” and tied to that old computer. Instead you want to be able to just take the new computer with the new installs and if needed just type in the serial and it’ll be accepted. I’m just saying this because some companies limit the amount of authorizations you get per license.
1 Like