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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Charob Offline OP
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I use BIAB only to generate backing tracks for my jazz vocals. Following a recent reinstall of Ultrapak 2020 from the hard disk supplied onto my laptop, I reduced the size of RealTracks by moving all instruments other than piano, guitar, bass and drums to an external drive unless/until needed again. Due to space limitations on my laptop, I need to move more folders and files, without compromising my current setup which is working fine. I would appreciate any recommendations. Many thanks.

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You can put all of your RTs and RDs on an external drive and only have the BiaB engine on your laptop. Then just tell BiaB where those files are located.

Also if are not already doing this get the free Ccleaner and run it. It will delete all of your temp files, thus clearing HD/SSD space.


I haven't lost all of my marbles but there is a small hole in the bag someplace!

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Charob.

in pg tips forum ive posted a tip re installing bb.
you might find it of use.

hth.

om


my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..)
https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs
(90 songs created useing bb/rb)
(lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
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Many of us do what Mario described. You put the entire RealTracks folder on another drive, go into Options, Preferences, RealTracks and set the location of the folder.

To gain some more space, but nowhere near as much. do the same with the Drums folder.

While those two actions will give you the most change, there are a few other areas to look at. Demo songs can be offloaded. If you use Drag ‘n Drop, some DAWs allow you to delete the contents of that folder (although some DAWs do not). The files here can build to to a lot of space quickly.


BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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When you do the install you are offered several options. One of those is the one I use every time. And yeah, I have some pretty large drives for storage but it's amazing how quickly a multiple terabyte sized drive fills up. It involves only letting BB install the minimum necessary components on your C drive and keeping everything else in the factory Hard Drive. That's the best option IMHO if you want to save valuable real estate on your computer.

You can always do an uninstall of your current install and then follow that with a new install selecting the minimal install option. Just save all your work in a different folder, which you should already be doing. When you reload it, you can instantly navigate to the folder and reload the project. You can get on chat and have tech support walk you through the process to be sure you don't miss anything.


You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Charob Offline OP
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Thanks for that. When I did the re-install, the recommended route (in the install.exe file) was to install everything onto PC/laptop , which I did. I then trimmed the contents of RealTracls by moving those instruments that I would be unlikely to need to an external drive For my jazz songs all I need are piano, guitar, bass and drums. This has been partially successful but I would like more space so need to find other elements of BiaB that I can safely move.

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Originally Posted by Charob
This has been partially successful but I would like more space ...
The two easiest ways to get more space are the above suggestion of moving the RealTracks to an external drive, or cloning your present drive onto a new larger drive. If doing the latter also takes you from HD to SSD you'll also get a useful performance increase. I recognise the latter carries a small risk of upsetting things.


Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11
BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software.
Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts
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Thanks Gordon. With what I have done so far, I now have 30G free space in a 222GB SSD. I have other programs that I need to load up, but with the need to move to Windows 11 (my laptop won't upgrade), I will be getting a bigger SSD and will be able to load the entire Ultrapxk onto it. Meantime I'm enjoying Biab, creating backing tracks. How do you use BiaB?
Charles

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