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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
Joined: May 2012
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Dear Biab 2013 UltraPlusPak USB-Based Install Users --

I have setup my Biab so that Biab runs from my laptop's internal harddrive "c:\bb\" and the RealTracks and RealDrums are on the external USB drive "e:\bb\".

Everything works great.

However, I noticed that "c:\bb\Drums\" is about 400 MB.

And, I noticed that "C:\bb\RealTracks\" is about 7 GB.

So, in the interest of saving space on my local hard disk, should/could I do one of the following...

1. Move the contents of "C:\bb\RealTracks\" into "E:\bb\RealTracks\", adding the files if they do not exist but leaving the existing files in E alone (not replacing) if the same file exists in C and E? (Same question, but for "c:\bb\Drums\"?)

2. Simply delete the contents of "C:\bb\RealTracks\" and "C:\bb\Drums\" because Biab is pointing to "E:\bb\" at run-time anyway?

3. Something different?

Please advise.

(The thoughts here are that either "all RealTracks and RealDrums are already on the E drive and that's the only place they need to be" or "the combined set of all unique RealTracks and RealDrums from C and E should be put just on E".)

What do you think?

Thanks.

-- Mark Kamoski

Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Did you install over an existing BIAB version that was installed all to your laptop?

If not, and this is a new installation, could you possibly have run the installer twice?


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.
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:

Did you install over an existing BIAB version that was installed all to your laptop?




Yes, exactly-- I had Biab 2012.5 PlusPak installed on my local internal hard drive.

Then, I upgraded to Biab 2013 UltraPlusPak.

So that's my thinking-- those files in "c:\bb\RealTracks\" and "c:\bb\Drums\" are probably orphaned and no longer necessary since I have Biab pointing to "e:\bb\".

What do you think?

Last edited by mkamoski; 01/06/13 07:58 PM.
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A few files are still necessary, including the small file that shows the location of the RealTracks, and folder itself. I would advise you to contact PG Music for advice which files to leave.


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.
Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Quote:

I would advise you to contact PG Music for advice which files to leave.




Good idea.

I just sent a note to them.

Thanks.

-- Mark

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All --

This is a follow-up to my post above, about cleaning up RealTracks and RealDrums from C if one runs form E, for an upgrade from Biab 2012.5 PlusPak to Biab 2013 UltraPlusPak.


Here is the the short story...

For me, I have found that it is OK to delete the contents of the "C:\bb\RealTracks\" and "C:\bb\Drums\" because I am running all my RealTracks and RealDrums from Drive E, my external Biab hard drive.


Here is the long story...

1st, I found this file...

C:\bb\RealTracks\AboutRealTracksFolder.txt

...which contains the following text...

"
This folder is used to store the RealTracks audio files.
If this folder is empty, either you haven't installed any RealTracks, or you are using a RealTracks folder location outside of the bb folder (i.e. different from the default RealTracks folder location).
If you are using a different location for your RealTracks files, you need to specify it in the RealTracks Settings dialog in Band-in-a-Box.
"

2nd I found this file...

C:\bb\Drums\AboutDrumsFolder.txt

...which contains the following text...

"
This folder is used to store the RealDrums files.
If this folder is empty, either you haven't installed any RealDrums, or you are using a Drums folder location outside of the bb folder (i.e. different from the default Drums folder location).
If you are using a different location for your RealDrums files, you need to specify it in the RealDrums Preferences dialog in Band-in-a-Box.
"

3rd, I wrote to Biab Tech Support and they replied

THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL QUOTE

"You can go ahead and delete the RealTracks and Drums folders in C:\BB. All your RealTracks are on the E drive anyway, so the ones in C are just taking up space."

THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL QUOTE

4th, so I deleted everything, except the folders and those text files (noted above) just as placeholders to remind me, and all is well.

Case closed.

(Biab is great and next laptop upgrade I am getting a HUGE internal harddrive to install everything there but for now running RealTracks and RealDrums from the external drive works great.)

Thanks.

-- Mark Kamoski

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I wasn't comfortable telling you that you could delete files, but yes, I concur with the unofficial advice since I've done exactly that. The question was, do you need to keep the folder and that text file that says the RealTracks are elsewhere? Perhaps not?


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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Of course the easiest solution is to just run everything from the BiaB USB hard drive.

There is no updating.

No deleting files.

Nothing. *

People here have commented about "performance issues" with running BiaB from the hard drive.
I've never noticed any performance problem running the app from the USB drive.

* The only warning is to always make sure to drag track files to a specific project folder on your C: drive so you don't lose them when replacing the USB drive. I learned that the hard way.

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