So, I have a tiny ibm-lenovo thinkpad8, it is like a tablet, but running win10.
It has a 64Gb SSD as the HARDDISK, where windows is installed, and a 64 Gb microSD as auxiliar drive (my files, etc).
It is very very fast, due the SSD.
But the SSD is ONLY 64Gb, as I said before.
Thinking to install the BIAB into an external 240Gb SSD, conected by USB3 connection/port.
Any sugestions/opinion?

Have you called PG music and posed this question to them? I think they could tell you if BIAB and RB will run entirely from an external drive. How much space do you have empty on the system (C:) SSD.

What version of BIAB do you have Pro, Mega Pack etc...?

I can't see any reason that BB could not exist on an external drive. That is essentially the main way to do it for the Audiophile version.
You will need to run the installer to get fonts and things setup.
But you just run from the X:\bb folder (where X is the external drive).

Interesting because I have 19GB in my BB folder on my C: drive (SSD 120GB) that I would like to move to my D:(internal 2TB drive) To free up space for other programs. I'll investigate this further. I don't mind reinstalling the program if I can reclaim that space.

David,

If you choose Option 1 when you re-install, it will keep the hard drive installation to a minimum. I have read somewhere that that's in the order of 1 GB.

The 19 GB installation you have sounds like you might have chosen Option 2 to install.

Before reinstalling, it might pay to release your activation (under the Help menu). This shouldn't be necessary since you are not changing computers but it's something that I'd do.

Regards,
Noel

Thanks just what the doctor ordered. I have changed my windows 10 settings to install all apps/programs to the d drive since my installation of BIAB. Before I uninstall BIAB I'm going to remove another program and see if it installs to the D drive by default.

The BIAB installation from the external drive they supply seems like option 1 is to leave everything on that external drive and install a minimum on the windows drive on your computer. I may be wrong but that is the way I understood. On my laptop that is the way I installed the Everything Pak 2015 and I had to leave that drive connected to run BIAB or RB.

David,

Option 1 and Option 2 sound similar when you read them.

The difference is that Option 1 only works with the USB drive plugged in and running because the entire BIAB program, midi and Real-stuff, is on the USB drive. Only what's required by Windows is installed on the hard drive.

Option 2 allows all midi styles and files to run from the hard drive so if the USB drive is not plugged in, the program will still work but Realtracks and Realdrums cannot be accessed.

(The above at least is how I remember the options when I played around with them a couple of years ago.)

I'm surprised that if you chose the first option as the install process that you ended up with 19 GB for your \bb folder. That seems rather large. I wonder if this is tied in with Sampletank and Amplitube?

Regards,
Noel

David,

I've just run through the installation again and obtained the following options.



Since you have Sampletank and Amplitube installed on you computer. You should be able to deselect those for the re-installation and just leave the BIAB/RB option selected.

Hope this helps.
Noel

Noel yes I chose the 2nd option and that is why I have 19GB on the C drive, Then in the next dialog box I choose the realdrum and then the next dialog box the realtracks folder, I chose d:/ rd rt respectively as the destination folders (D: is my 2nd internal drive 2TB.} So this enables me to run the program with the USB drive disconnected.

I connected the USB drive to my laptop where I ran option 1 and I have to leave the USB drive plugged in to run the program.

I tried to share the D drive on my Desktop to my laptop so I would not have to connect the USB drive to the Laptop by creating a network drive pointing to the D:/bb folder on both computers. But BIAB continued to error out on the laptop when I tried to run it in that fashion.

I haven't tried running BIAB over a network. I would have thought it would be possible. I also know there are a number of people on here who have used virtual drives successfully.

Someone who has more knowledge of this than I do will soon pop in and give some insights.

Sorry I can't be of more help in this instance.

Thanks for your help Noel

thanks for the advices.
I was talking about using an external usb3 SSD drive.
USB3 is fast, SSD is fast too.
Since my C drive is SSD too, it is fast too, but it is only 64 Gb.
So, the idea is using an external drive for the BIAB (near 100Gb).
I have the BIAB in an external HD, 5400 rpm (very slow), USB2 (slow too).
It works, I know. but I am thinking to use an external USB3 SSD. Very fast. Is it better?
Does it worth the (higher) cost?
I am running the 2016 Mega BIAB on an IBM Lenovo Thinkpad8 with 64Gb SSD drive, 2 Gb RAM, Windows 10 Pro 32 bits, CPU Intel Atom Z3770 1.46 GHz, touchscreen, only ONE usb3 port, 1 HDMI port too.
Interesting 8 inch gadget, looks like a tablet, works like a true conputer.

OK I think I understand, In my opinion your processor is too slow to take advantage of any performance increase realized by using a USB3 SSD external. And you have the bare minimum RAM necessary to make a significant difference, The only speed issue there really is with RB and BIAB is with regenerating tracks and rendering files.

I have an HP ENVY 750-247c (costco exclusive model ran on special last month with the monitor for $1100.00 (I was there to buy some computer paper,) i7 6th generation processor, 24GB ddr4l memory, 1 SSD 120GB and 1 internal 2TB 7200RPM running Windows 10 64 bit, a 32 inch HDMI smart TV monitor.

I hurry home set it up and think. I am going to KILL with BIAB and RB. My old laptop with win 7 64 bit with an i3 and 4 GB ram running BIAB Everything 2015 is just as fast at rendering files and generating. Much to my disappointment.

So I would not spend a dime on upgrading to a usb3 external SSD drive, You will need more storage space to store your song files. And I don't think you will store many locally. That's going to better addressed with a 1 to 2 TB external 7200 USB HD.

"but it is only 64 Gb"

the thinkpad 8 should use an mSATA ssd so you could upgrade to 128GB (+) and fit it all on the main drive.
You can clone the existing 64 to the 128 then copy/install the band in a box files and realtracks/drums to it - this way you won't have a usb hard drive hanging from it using power.
You can put the old 64 mSATA in a usb 3.0 enclosure or keep it as an OS backup.

Pipeline do you have this type of system? Installed this way running BIAB and RB off of a 128gb drive will leave 28 or so GB for system files and all other programs and data needing to be installed on this Tablet.

I have used BIAB on my new computer for about 2 weeks (13 songs) I already have 15GB of BIAB,RB,.wav and.mp3 data files. That's why I wanted a 2TB drive, My external drive is a 4TB my cloud. $179.00

do you want to use the thinkpad for just live use or everyday use with lots of other programs and files ?
You can go for 256GB(+) mSATA SSD if the firmware will take it.

If you have it on a home pc 2TB is what the Audiophile wav version uses - 4TB that is a terrible lot of bytes.

"the thinkpad 8 should use an mSATA ssd so you could upgrade to 128GB (+) and..."

Good info...
And do you know if it is compatible with a greater than 128 Gb?

The tiny thinkpad is the computer I use everyday everywhere.
I have a (poor) DAW note at home. i5, 8 Gb, 1Tb HD....

So, maybe, upgrading the thinkpad is not the idea; a bit expensive upgrade for the little notebook and its use.
I was thinking to have the BIAB available into a very fast external HD, so I thought it would be a good idea to use the usb3 SSD.

Why don't you try an 128GB micro sd for BIAB? Yes, you would need to swap the micro sds application dependent, but this would be less energy consuming and without an external gadget.

Thanks everybody
I was thinking to have the BIAB available into a very fast external HD (is it necessary to be so fast, or the 5400 rpm is enough?), so I thought it would be a good idea to use the usb3 SSD.
But maybe it could be a fast usb3 128 Gb pendrive. It is another idea...
I "supose" the SSD HD is safer, that is, greater MTBF. Don't know if that is true.

Are you going to store JUST BIAB files (very Small) on this system? Or are you going to also use this system to record audio tracks, and also run RealBand, Much Much larger file sizes. The rendering of files takes longer on slower processors, but performance of the basic operations of BIAB are not effected much, even regeneration of the song tracks seems to be the same on different speed machines. The Drag and Drop feature especially the master track, saving files as .wav also takes sometime.

If you are going to use this system to run RB or any other DAW you may want to consider a larger external HD. You can test all of the RB operational issues by using the PG music supplied USB drive. Install the program to run entirely from the USB drive (option 1) There is space on that drive for a bunch of data files BIAB and RB.

Do you plan to attach a audio interface for Audio recording?

Well, the SSD are here... bought 2 Sandisk SSD Plus, one is 120 GB, the other is 240 GB, for some experimentation purposes. R&D department, would say.

You're not giving actual speeds but see my thread:

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=357765#Post357765

Four seconds to open Biab, four seconds to generate five Real Tracks. You have a 6th gen i7 and 24 gigs Ram. The only difference is my SSD is 256 gigs. That could be the reason you're not seeing a big inprovement, I installed all 98 gigs from the PG hard drive onto my SSD. I suspect that drastically speeded up the generation times. Maybe you should clone your SSD and pop in a bigger one.

Bob