Sonar Installation location/install control?

[bluesplayer]

Am I going to be able to install (95-100%) of the new Sonar on a drive other than my boot (C:) drive?   If yes then I'm back on-board with the new Sonar, if not then thanks but no thanks.    That would just be more of the same lazy install design mentality that the CW team started back about the time of Sonar XL and Windows XP. 

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Back in the day, I dropped Sonar Platinum (that I still use - but I have moved on to other DAWS as well) and its "lifetime" subscription, or whatever it was called back then,  just about nin months or so before Gibson dropped CW/SONAR and left it orphaned.  I dropped supporting Sonar back then for one simple reason:  Sonar was the messiest program to install of ANY SW then or since.  I install all my DAW SW, sound libraries, MIDI rack gear editors, and 99% of music related SW, as well as my statistical SW, numerical analyses  SW, games, etc. on non-boot drives.   I have six  8 TB drives not counting a 2 TB SSD boot drive -  I try to keep a very clean, very lean boot drive.    A boot drive is NOT for DAW's or sound libraries or other crap. 

By the time I dropped Sonar it was placing files everywhere on the C drive even when directed to install on my D:\ drive.   I hated dropping Sonar because I had to started with Twelve Tones systems and  Cakewalk back with CW V2 for DOS and I bought EVERY upgrade and add-on until, like I said, about 9 months prior to the Gibson debacle - because of the ever-increasing mess left all over my c drive.   I got tired of cleaning the mess it made. 

I did not, and still DO NOT, want the bulk of Sonar installed on my C drive. 

I'd be very happy to come back and give the NEW Sonar a try but only if I have majority control over where it is installed - without resorting to tricks like using symbolic links.

I get that some minor files might have to be put on the C:/Programs directory but 95+% needs to be placed on one of my non-boot drives.   

Thanks

[Sock Monkey]

So you have a 2 TB C drive and you refuse to use  software because it takes up around 500 MB of space??    

Now I've know why my neighbour thinks the earth is flat! 

[Wookiee]

@bluesplayer as long as you do a custom install you can install it where you desire. However they do recommend installing the "program" on the C drive. The other thing to remember is you can relocate things an the  use Preferences > File Location to point Sonar where you want.

Personally I have the core program in C:\Programme files\Cakewalk\Sonar. 

My project files on another disk only used for active projects. 

The Cakewalk Content directory is on another drive again.  

Remember that with both Windows 10 & 11 you have your User directory where certain aspects of the programs configuration that are unique to you are stored. Most programs don't like that anywhere else. Blame Microsoft not Cakewalk. 

[bluesplayer]

Wookie ,

Thanks, I appreciate the more useful answer.  As I said, I expect small pieces are/will probably be required to be placed in the C:/users/username/appdata/local (or maybe roaming directory—depending on the programmers) But as I suspected, I just tried the installer. Yes, I should have simply done that last night and not even bothered with this post.  But it took all of 10 seconds to find out the ONLY place the installer lets you install is the "C:\Programs\whatever..." folder.  So that's a bust as far as I'm concerned.  

Thanks again Wookie.

 

Sock Monkey,

Thank you for sharing your ever-so-insightful mindset.  Your reply reminds me of the old Sonar forums, which I left after one too many "helpful" posts like yours.  

[Jeremy Oakes]

4 hours ago, bluesplayer said:

Wookie ,

Thanks, I appreciate the more useful answer.  As I said, I expect small pieces are/will probably be required to be placed in the C:/users/username/appdata/local (or maybe roaming directory—depending on the programmers) But as I suspected, I just tried the installer. Yes, I should have simply done that last night and not even bothered with this post.  But it took all of 10 seconds to find out the ONLY place the installer lets you install is the "C:\Programs\whatever..." folder.  So that's a bust as far as I'm concerned.  

Thanks again Wookie.

 

Sock Monkey,

Thank you for sharing your ever-so-insightful mindset.  Your reply reminds me of the old Sonar forums, which I left after one too many "helpful" posts like yours.  

Have you tried using the  Advanced option of the installer or do you simply let it do its thing ? You don’t actually say.

Personally I always choose Advanced so I can check where things go. And it works.
J

 

 

[Jonathan Sasor]

It's standard Windows protocol to load the app onto the OS drive in Program Files. Sonar (and many, many other Windows audio apps) also install components into common Windows application directories that also default to being on C:\. You do not really gain any benefit from having the app itself located elsewhere. Projects/samples/content, by all means, those can be moved around. A clean installation of Sonar will allow you the option to change the install paths for the app itself though, for things that are not part of pre-defined Windows paths of course. 

[mettelus]

To add to the above, everything that is exposed in Preferences->File->Folder Locations (and Audio Data) can simple be moved and their locations updated accordingly. Only the core program would default to the OS drive. While you "can" junction that, the core app is not the bulk of the install. The pointers being in Preferences is a nicety not found with a lot of other applications.

[pwallie]

i thought that if you already have a previous version installed, your install options are restricted, but if like the staff say you do a "clean install" you can put most of it where you like

/goodluck