Jump to content

System Drive Out of Space


twanghang

Recommended Posts

I'm running SPLAT on Windows 10 (version 1903, OS build 18362.959), 32 GB RAM, AMD Ryzen 3.7 GHz.

I have three drives: System C:\ (232 GB), an SSD for Sound Libraries and another SSD for finished songs (1TB each).

I have maxed out my C:\ and have more VST files to load. Do I:

1) Get a larger drive and migrate all my C:\ data to it?

2)Migrate program files in C:\ to one of my SSDs?

3)Another option of which I'm currently unaware. 

With any data migration, how do I tell SPLAT where to look for the files in the new location?

Thank you,

Twanghang

 

Edited by twanghang
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • scook locked and unlocked this topic

You really need to get a handle on what is using your system drive, by folder, by size and percentage.

Then move the largest to another drive. You clearly are using too much on the system drive.

For example, my system drive is only 500GB, but only 50% used. It contains all of my program files, and several DAWs, and plugins (over 500 of them).

And scook just made a great suggestion.

 

Edited by abacab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/21/2021 at 10:12 AM, twanghang said:

3)Another option of which I'm currently unaware.

My first suggestion won't address the drive space issue, but really, SPlat at this late date?

Cakewalk by BandLab has 3 years of development on it (bug fixes, features, optimization) and is still supported.

As for addressing your system drive issue, you may not even need to migrate any programs to another drive. First, move all of your VST2 plug-ins to one of those 1TB drives. Your system will run better anyway. You can easily tell Cakewalk where to find them in Properties

@abacab is correct about checking to see what's taking up all that space. A favorite tool of mine is WinDirStat, a utility that analyzes a drive and shows you both in list and graphical form what files and directories are taking up space. One of my systems (on which I have Cakewalk and most of my plug-ins installed) has a 120G system drive and I got it to 25G free with the help of WinDirStat and then Googling the stuff I didn't know about.

Windows has built-in utilities for drive cleanup that work pretty well. Disk Cleanup, if you've never run it before, will probably give you back several gigs of space. Access it by right clicking on your drive icon and selecting Properties. Halfway down on the General tab. Then click on Clean Up System Files. By default, Windows 10 keeps the installation files for its updates, so that it can roll back if something goes wrong. Also, check C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\Temp and you'll likely find a ton of cruft left over by program installations, etc. Delete anything over a day old that the system will let you. They're temporary files left behind by installers and other sloppy programs that didn't clean up their messes. On my systems, I noticed a folder in Windows called WinSxS, which is where Microsoft stores information about indie rock artists. Kidding, it's where they keep those old versions of the OS. Here's how to clean that up.

Another trick is that by default, Windows puts all of your user Documents, Downloads, Music, Videos, and Pictures folders on the C:\ drive. You can easily move all of those to another drive by right clicking on their names  in the left pane of Explorer, selecting Properties, then selecting the Location tab. Move all of those to one of your TB drives. This may free up more gigabytes depending on how much stuff you keep in those folders. The installer shells for some companies like MAGIX and iZotope by default drop copies of their installer files in Downloads, where they just sit taking up space. I just delete them, but moving my Downloads folder to the D:\ drive has in general saved a lot of space on the system drive.

Finally, Settings/Apps will give you a list of all the applications installed on your system. I can forget about some of the programs I have installed but never use.

Do all that stuff and see if you're still maxed out. I bet you get back at least 5-10% of your drive.

Once you've done that, at least download Cakewalk by BandLab and try it. Won't hurt your SPlat installation at all, and you'll still be able to use all the juicy SPlat extra content.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • scook locked this topic
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...