Old 07-17-2018, 08:08 PM   #1
dmoss74
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Default upgrading computer...i'm toast

my setup involves a desktop (win 7 pro), and i'm just about ready to upgrade to a new mob/cpu/ram, but i may be screwed.

i never took the time to identify each project, other than to save them as date and idea names on my network drive which is not on the desktop.

am i going to have to open each project (and there are dozens) and re-save them in some other way? i will also have to re-install all my plugins. they were installed on the desktop hdd.

i fear a major undertaking is nigh. if there are any ways of doing this less painfully, i'm all ears/eyes.

thanks
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Old 07-17-2018, 10:42 PM   #2
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At best use a network drive ("NAT" box) to permanently hold the projects and media files. That way you can access them from both computers.

You also could backup the complete project data directory (-ies) to an external drive and from there copy them to the new machine, or use an intermediate direct network connection between them for directly copying,

Of course you do need to re-install the plugins etc.

Moreover you will supposedly have a 64 bit system and use 64 bit Reaper and 64 bit versions of as many plugins as possible.

-Michael

Last edited by mschnell; 07-18-2018 at 06:32 AM.
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Old 07-18-2018, 07:00 AM   #3
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At best use a network drive ("NAT" box) to permanently hold the projects and media files. That way you can access them from both computers.

You also could backup the complete project data directory (-ies) to an external drive and from there copy them to the new machine, or use an intermediate direct network connection between them for directly copying,

Of course you do need to re-install the plugins etc.

Moreover you will supposedly have a 64 bit system and use 64 bit Reaper and 64 bit versions of as many plugins as possible.

-Michael
all projects/files are on a network drive, so maybe it won't be as hard as i imagined. thanks. and my current system is 64 bit, so that won't be a problem.

thanks. the re-installing configuring vsts, etc will probably be the hardest part.
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Old 07-22-2018, 05:28 PM   #4
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all projects/files are on a network drive, so maybe it won't be as hard as i imagined. thanks. and my current system is 64 bit, so that won't be a problem.

thanks. the re-installing configuring vsts, etc will probably be the hardest part.
You won't have as many problems as you think.
Did you install all of your plugins under one parent folder? Just copy that folder to your new HDD and tell Reaper where to look for it. The projects don't care where the plugins are, as long as Reaper can find them in the path you tell it to look for them.
I assume you kept all of the plugin installers (the actual exe files) in a separate location, but if you already have all of the dll's (the actual files that the daw uses as the plugin) under one umbrella then you won't have to reinstall them. All the installer does is put the plugin dll files in a common location.

I'm not sure what you mean by "configuring" plugins. The settings you used on each project should be saved with the project.
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Old 07-22-2018, 09:56 PM   #5
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Did you install all of your plugins under one parent folder?
It's sad that many plugin designers choose to have their installer create a new directory by default, while "\Program Files\Steinnberg\VSTPlugins" and "\Program Files\Steinnberg\VSTPlugins64" is a kind of standard

-Michael

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Old 07-22-2018, 10:01 PM   #6
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I'm not sure what you mean by "configuring" plugins. The settings you used on each project should be saved with the project.
There are a lot of plugins that hold additional configuration (e.g. stored in multiple "instrument" and "instrument collection" files with Kontakt and the sample libraries used with it this, in rather complex way).

Moreover lot's of plugins need licensing, again Native instruments' (such as Kontakt" and it's libraries is an example).

Additionally e.g. NI does not have a decent license transfer mechanism. They allow for installing their plugins on two computers, if you need to kill a license due to a move, you need to contact them by mail (usually not a problem, though) .

-Michael

Last edited by mschnell; 07-23-2018 at 03:21 AM.
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Old 07-23-2018, 03:32 PM   #7
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The arbitrary spraying of VST/VSTis around the file system has always annoyed me.
I have an AllVST folder: when given the choice I install to it, when not I move the dlls to it. I've never had a problem doing this - there may be all kinds of registration and licencing stuff going on, but at the end of the day, a dll is a dll.
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Old 07-23-2018, 03:52 PM   #8
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Incidentally, I've just finished a hard and soft migration to a new machine. Only took about a day and a half, including research on how to access hidden SoDIMM slots - scary design, had to remove the heatsinks and CPU to get at them. Not too bad though.

Always better, I find, to clone the cheap minimum OS drive that comes with a new machine onto your speed demon of choice, then build back up - otherwise, you can find yourself in driver soup hell. It's worth the trouble of some software reinstallations for a clean OS and registry, and the correct drivers for your basic hardware.

Aside from that, drives containing programs, sample libraries and data can be pretty easily plugged in and reassigned.

Golden rules for migration - a) keep at least your data on its own dedicated drive; b) have a folder on a drive somewhere where you store copies of all those huge install downloads and a little text file with all the passwords and stuff.

As ever, the real pain was Kontakt...
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Old 02-28-2019, 08:30 PM   #9
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Incidentally, I've just finished a hard and soft migration to a new machine. Only took about a day and a half, including research on how to access hidden SoDIMM slots - scary design, had to remove the heatsinks and CPU to get at them. Not too bad though.

Always better, I find, to clone the cheap minimum OS drive that comes with a new machine onto your speed demon of choice, then build back up - otherwise, you can find yourself in driver soup hell. It's worth the trouble of some software reinstallations for a clean OS and registry, and the correct drivers for your basic hardware.

Aside from that, drives containing programs, sample libraries and data can be pretty easily plugged in and reassigned.

Golden rules for migration - a) keep at least your data on its own dedicated drive; b) have a folder on a drive somewhere where you store copies of all those huge install downloads and a little text file with all the passwords and stuff.

As ever, the real pain was Kontakt...
This post sums up the last 5 or so years of my DAW life. Exactly what I figured out back then and have been doing since. Much easier.
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Old 03-04-2019, 12:45 PM   #10
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It always makes life easier to name the drive letters in the new set up the same as the old if possible: then kontakt and such-like will still be pointing at the same place, and Reaper will know where to find projects; and as someone has already said, back up and import your settings to the new install of Reaper
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Old 03-07-2019, 12:49 PM   #11
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well dozens of projects is not too many... less then hundreds, eh?

what I would do first thing is this: [and then make it a habit for the future]

Create a new folder wherever called Reaper Projects

Open reaper and go to Project Settings
on the Media Tab, in the top field for path to save media files,
type in Audio Files
Save as default project settings [button is at the lower right]

1-load up a project... i.e., "My Song" .rpp

2-Now use Save project as
3-Point it to that new Reaper Projects folder
4-Name it "My Song - N" [N for new]
5-at the bottom of the Save as window, check the first two boxes

Hit Save....

Repeat this for all your projects...

OK, now you can delete all your old projects because you will have them nicely organized in that new Reaper Projects folder, each by name and inside each one will be a sub folder, Audio Files, that will have all your wav files for that project.

Now it is easy to make back ups of that Reaper Projects folder to whatever.... disc's other hard drives, etc.
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Old 03-08-2019, 08:05 AM   #12
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It always makes life easier to name the drive letters in the new set up the same as the old if possible: then kontakt and such-like will still be pointing at the same place, and Reaper will know where to find projects; and as someone has already said, back up and import your settings to the new install of Reaper
This mightn't be relevant to others but I work with someone else and we need to mirror each other's set-ups otherwise it's a real hassle opening projects on different pcs. so as well as renaming the drives if there is a difference in number of actual drives I need to create volumes to mimic the actual ones..
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Old 03-08-2019, 10:59 AM   #13
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Just a couple tips:

Reaper uses the relative path for your User account folder on your system drive. So if you make a subfolder there, and make the same subfolder in the User account on the 2nd machine, you're golden. eg: /Users/Your_Home_Folder/Recording_Projects. Anything at the root level of a data drive is what it is of course.

Reaper will always look in the folder/directory the project file (.rpp) is in for audio by default. Even if the project was saved with audio located somewhere else.

If you were keeping your .rpp project files separately from your audio files in the past...
You might want to manually make folders to begin with. Maybe try sorting by date in the Finder/Explorer. Get the most of it organized. Then open the projects and use the 'copy to current directory' feature. Once you have projects each in their own folder, you're golden no matter where you move those folders to.

Plugin installers either default to /Library/Audio/Plug-ins/ or give you a disc image to drag and drop from yourself. You're expected to drag/drop them to your plug-ins folder in that case. You are free to move them somewhere else of course but then you'll just have to point your DAW to them. Easier to just go with that directory organization instead of moving the mountain. Reaper defaults to looking in the expected location, so moving forward you can just put them in the default subfolders under Plug-ins/. (And whatever that exact folder structure is in Windows. I'm speaking OSX.)

Reaper defaults to looking in the same directory as the .rpp file is in for audio files regardless of where you previously saved your audio files (if different). Go with this and don't move the mountain.
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