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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2010
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Hello,
My BIAB 150 Go USB disk is almost full. And I have to apply the 2015 upgrade that I've bought.
I own BIAB since a lot of years. On this disk, I've put all my PGMusic softs. I would like to continue in this way because it's very convenient.
Sometimes, when I launch BIAB, it says that I have many obsolete files and it can save a lot of space. I never did it because I don't know if it is really safe, what files will be erased and if a backup would be done on an orher disk.
I think I will be obliged to do it (or to buy a new USB disk!).
So, may someone help me because I would really like to try the 2015 version?
Lot of thanks.
Best regards.
François from Normandy.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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François
It's not normal to use the BiaB HDD for storing your own material on. It's usually meant to be a static disk for supplying the program and all the require data files.
Most users put their own material on their Hard Disk Drive, but use the supplied USB drive for the real Tracks, Real Drums etc
Can you move your own files to a different drive on the computer?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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If you need to use a USB drive because of convenience, you can simply purchase a separate drive and use that. They are inexpensive.
Don't be angry because the PGM supplied disk can't accommodate all of your own additional files.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 75
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OP
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Hello,
Thanks. I know the Moore law very well: I was researcher in computers, recently retired.
I don't have a lot of my music files on this disk. I have a dedicated directory on an other disk.
The space is filled with PGMusic programs (since many years, I've written it).
I'm not really angry: I want to know exactly what the "cleaning" function is really doing. Maybe, it's OK and it will fit for me.
But I don't know what will be erased. That's the problem.
Yes, I can buy a new USB disk. I probably will do it. But I'm tired to buy new devices because of many reasons except ... music: I've changed my PC for a gamer tower with Win 8.1 64 bits. My external Roland soundcard has no more midi function with their new driver. I will change too my keyboard (15 years old, it's OK), probably for a NS2 or NS3 or Kronos, I don't know yet. It's not easy to choose the good one and during that time, I don't play music!
So, if I could know what this cleaning function is really doing, it would be probably enough for the moment.
Thanks for all.
Best regards.
François
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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OK. I think I might know what the "cleaning function" is.
You wrote your BIAB version is many years old. Perhaps the program is recommending you can delete what is called the +/- files. In the early days of RealTracks, every RealTrack had other copies pitched above and below, to accommodate pitch shifts. This isn't needed now, since about three years ago (guessing here) PG Music started using the Elastique pitch stretching algorithm (which is much better). On a reasonably fast PC, you could then erase the +/- files. PG Music didn't automatically erase them, though, because on a slower PC, BIAB worked better if they were still there. You can still see this in the form of a checkbox in Preferences, RealTracks.
The net effect of the change was that RealTracks now took up about 1/3 the space on the hard drive that they formerly did. Moore's Law definitely does not apply here.
Does any of what I've said sound like the instruction you are getting? If you are unsure, I recommend you get on Live Chat with PG Music Support and explain your situation to them.
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hello,
Thanks for this detailed and clear explanation. My PC is new, so I can use this function without any problem and, then, apply the upgrade.
As I have a lot of free space on other disks, I will do a backup before launching it.
One other thing: I have the "french" version. As usual, only what you can read is translated ... more or less right. In this case the term is very confusing in french.
Maybe Moore's law applies a little bit because if PG Music can use the Elastique pitch stretching algorithm it's because we have much more efficient computers (I think).
However, I will try to avoid the Murphy's law!
Best regards.
François
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Could you post the French error message please?
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hello,
It's not really an error, just a confusing term. In Préférences, Paramètres RealTracks, there is a button called "Effacer fichiers +/- inutilisés". I don't know if you speak french, but, reading this, it's not possible to know what it's doing. Often it comes in a yellow popup when you start BIAB.
I did a screencopy, but the file manager doesn't work.
I'll try again later.
Best regards.
François
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hello,
It's not really an error, just a confusing term. In Préférences, Paramètres RealTracks, there is a button called "Effacer fichiers +/- inutilisés". That is exactly what Matt wrote as: "... the program is recommending you can delete what is called the +/- files." Newer RealTracks don't have these files anymore.
Desktop; i7-2600k, 8 GB mem., Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
Laptop: i5-2410M, 4 GB mem, Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Good catch Matt. Good to have some of you "old" guys who remember the history around after all... 
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Yes, that French message is indeed what I was talking about.
Sometimes I get one right.
And Guido (GHinCH) gave additional detail that's valuable: When you buy RealTracks now, they don't even include those +/- files anymore. At this point, I don't see keeping them for the old RealTracks unless you have a real dog of a machine (even worse than mine, an Intel Core 2 Duo that runs BIAB just fine).
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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often Matt...not sometimes
Win 11 64, Asus Rog Strix z390 mobo, 64 gig RAM, 8700k
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Great catch, Matt! Very astute lateral thinking.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Hello, Yes. But in french, that' not exactly what it means. "inutilisés" = "unused". By who? The program, yourself? I have a lot of styles and tracks thay I will probably never use. What happens if there is a problem during this operation? I remember that Windows has something like that about compression of the less used files. But you can go back. And I've discovered it when editing my preferences concerning other parameters. This text has to be changed and the very good Matt's explanation has to be included in the FAQ. That's not a big problem but I think BIAB will be more "user friendly". It's not essential, but important. Best regards. François
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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François, tell this to the administrator Philipp94 http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showprofile&User=4922 of the http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=15&page=1. He has the appropriate connections. For clarity, the newer versions of BIAB and RealBand don't use these files anymore. I even doubt that the programs still have the necessary code to access them. Since the new method with Élastique Pitch in use these files are factually "inutilisés". Bonne journée ! Guido
Desktop; i7-2600k, 8 GB mem., Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
Laptop: i5-2410M, 4 GB mem, Win 10 Pro, BIAB 2017; RB 2017 - latest build
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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François,
May I suggest that the best and most successful option in your situation, is to purchase the 2015 upgrade from PGM on a new disk. You would get a brand new disk (presumably with some warranty), lots of capacity, no legacy unwanted files from previous versions that are not compatible with the latest version, and the latest version of the program.
Many of us take this option.
I personally have never downloaded and installed an upgrade onto an older PGM-supplied USB drive.
Copying a new distribution on to an old PGM USB disk like you have apparently done may eventually lead to issues with both size limitations and legacy software, which you seem to have discovered. This problem you have found is separate to styles, real tracks etc, which upgrade OK.
Hope this assists.
Regards
Trevor
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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