Lesson Learned: Do not junction the VTS3 folder (Melodyne)

[mettelus]

This is more of an FYI, but I junction big folders to get them off my C drive. I had done this with the C:Program Files/Common Files/VTS3 folder a long time ago, but Melodyne 5.2+ has issues with this. It will run in stand-alone mode, but not inside a DAW. Because of this I updated Cakewalk to verify errors thrown. I had to chuckle afterwards... to fix the issue in Cakewalk is simply to manually "Rescan Failed Plugins" No muss, no fuss. In SO5 it is significantly more painful (suggested solution is to move most of the settings folder and piecemeal repair that) - it works, but not simple at all. A quick shout of appreciation @Noel Borthwick for how elegant the repair is inside Cakewalk, as well as the additional failure popup (Cakewalk throws 2 at you).

Some programs do react adversely to directory junctions (Adobe and Corel specifically), but Melodyne 5.2+ does as well, so do not junction the VST3 folder. For those who do not know junctions, it is probably best if you forget you read this.... [Jedi hand wave]... "This is not the thread you are looking for."

[DeeringAmps]

Just a note here. I junction all “content” that does not “ask” where I want to put it. Cakewalk, and all other programs are on the C drive.  The core program just doesn’t take up that much disc space. Oh, and one last note: IF you have one M2 drive, put the samples on it, not the OS. 
just sayin’, you can thank me later…

t

[hockeyjx]

At this point, you can get a really good 1TB nvme m.2 for under $100. Hopefully those days of space concerns are GONE!

[Glenn Stanton]

same here - programs stay on the C: drive, as much as content - i junction to my D: drive. so i tend to be selective with things like Sample Tank, Waves, Melodyne, and a few other that if you try to do their entire folder, things get screwy. but using junctions on the content subfolders seems to work fine.

[mettelus]

My reason for junctions has been to keep my OS drive small for imaging purposes. In most cases (samples and other related content), they work without any issues. When they are in a program/dll path is where they can get flaky (break on installs and uninstalls), but Melodyne caught me off guard. Oddly enough, Melodyne worked fine until I scanned plugins, so the detail of that plugin path having a junction in it took it offline on me. It wasn't until I specifically asked about that junction on the second bout that I got the, "Yeah, don't do that." It is the only plugin in that folder that fails though (when junctioned).

[hockeyjx]

17 hours ago, mettelus said:

My reason for junctions has been to keep my OS drive small for imaging purposes. In most cases (samples and other related content), they work without any issues. When they are in a program/dll path is where they can get flaky (break on installs and uninstalls), but Melodyne caught me off guard. Oddly enough, Melodyne worked fine until I scanned plugins, so the detail of that plugin path having a junction in it took it offline on me. It wasn't until I specifically asked about that junction on the second bout that I got the, "Yeah, don't do that." It is the only plugin in that folder that fails though (when junctioned).

What do you use for imaging? I use Active Disk.

I have a external 2TB that has rolling images, but a 1TB drive I am backing up, that is 250GB tops when I take a backup image. If you have bitlocker on the drive, it will do the ENTIRE drive, and not just the used part of the partition. I keep samples and such on another 2TB nvme on the motherboard.

Edited September 25, 2022 by hockeyjx

[mettelus]

I use the free version of Macrium Reflect for imaging. I only image the O/S drive every couple months. All of the data drives, and data on C, I backup with xcopy and robocopy batch files. Upside is those run quickly after the first pass, but the downside is you have to specifically exclude junctioned directories or they will drill right into the other drives and backup files already backed up elsewhere. Macrium Reflect stops at the junction points (and my C drive is riddled with them), so the images are roughly 110GB and take roughly 15 minutes to restore.