Does anyone have suggestions for a less expensive external drive for storing music tracks. I like to keep all drafts just in case I want to review something older or steel a track from and earlier draft.
I'd like at least 3TB. I won't need any of the files to run BIAB or retrieve RTs/RDs/etc. Speed is less important, I have 2 TBs on my CPU and still have 1 TB available. But memory fills up fast.
Thanks.
Andy
BIAB 2017 Ultra Windows 8 and 10 Scarlet 18i8 Reaper and Mixpad
Andy, if this is for archival storage I would not go for the less expensive. Generally less expensive means shorter shelf life. At least that has been my experience.
I got banned from Weight Watchers for dropping a bag of M&Ms on the floor. It was the best game of Hungry Hippos I've ever seen!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
My solution was to get sufficient local storage for current projects and then sign up for unlimited cloud storage.
I then move things I don't need 'right now' to that storage where it is backed up and managed for what I consider a reasonable fee, considering everything else I get with the service. For instance I can freely share the space during projects. As an example, the image below shows some guitar tracks I received from JazzManDan (now calls himself MusicStudent here) back in 2010 .. and I know they are still available. The JonWax folder contains extremely rare tracks by MC Breed right before his death in '08 (the tracks are actually still being fought over legally .. so sad because nobody will ever hear them and nobody makes any money)
Anyway, it's all there and I don't have to worry about it. I can also access it from anywhere at any time.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
I jumped on a 1&1 offer that was $5/month for unlimited storage years ago. Looks like it is around $8/month now .. which is still very cheap for unlimited storage (for years). https://www.1and1.com/web-hosting
They also include website hosting and other features, and the hosting has been nice, but after many years I have realized the storage (and backups) alone were well worth the price. I would guess other suppliers have similar offers. I just ended up at 1&1 years ago and have had no reason to change.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
Thanks, guys. I should really go thru the files and cull out any repletion or useless song versions, but I've done that before and then wished I still had something that was on one. So, I'd like to just store everything, maybe for a year or two just in case.
I have other music files and some videos, etc. My CPU has the 1TB left, which is good for daily tracking, but my other external is 2 TBs and it's getting close to full, plus it's older technology and slow as heck, which is fine for true storing, but if I'm expanding might as well take the plunge. Looks like Seagate has models in the $150 range for 5TB, and unless they've degraded, their equipment is well reviewed.
Just thought I'd get ideas from the knowledge base. Thanks for all the input!
Andy
BIAB 2017 Ultra Windows 8 and 10 Scarlet 18i8 Reaper and Mixpad
I am a little bit suspicious of using very large hard drives for backup/archiving. You can end up with all your eggs in one basket gone! I use a dual drive NAS in Raid 1 mirror mode for my archiving. If one drive goes down you can replace it and all your data is still intact.
Also since it is a network device you can access it's content from anywhere on your local network (or even further afield)if you wish.
Big John, I share your concern. But partitioning a large drive won't help if the drive fails; all partitions will be unavailable without costly recovery services. Maybe instead, buy a bunch of little drives, and store them in different places, especially off-site?
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; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
My approach, right or wrong, is to keep two backups of all my files. One is on another computer, off-site. The other is a portable hard drive in my car. Various critical files like my compositions and recordings are stored on additional flash or portable SSD drives, and DropBox.
My first experience with the cloud was a bust. After paying them for several years, the service failed. Apparently everyone whose account was created in a certain month lost their account on one bad server. It seems they didn't keep a backup.
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; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
I am a little bit suspicious of using very large hard drives for backup/archiving. You can end up with all your eggs in one basket gone!
partition the drive that way you will be safe..!
Partition the drive will only give you more 'virtual' drives. That alone is certainly not enough to protect you or guarantee you from drive failure. All your eggs are still in the same physical basket.
I believe that everyone will get a turn at a drive failure, sooner or later. You must have a guaranteed recovery path.
BIAB & RB2025 Win.(Audiophile), Sonar Platinum, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M Monitors, Pioneer Active Monitors, AKG K271 Studio H'phones
USB external drives and Windows 10: Got me a backup RAID 3TB drive, 2 partitions, and all of a sudden windows 10 decided it would just see it as an unallocated 3TB thang. Never had such problems with windows 7 ..... But found AOMEI partition assistant (partition recovery) to be the hero of my day. But i just got me a 3TB drive to backup my backup drive LoL. -F
I recently had a drive failure on what I call my Apps-Data drive (all the sound libraries, VST/VSTi files, etc). I back it up every week (although it doesn't change much, so my backup system doesn't take very long to go through about 900GB of stuff). Installed a replacement drive, copied the files overnight, and was back up and running the next morning.
And Trevor is right. Partitioning a single physical drive doesn't protect you, because you still can lose the whole drive (taking all the partitions with it. Partitioning may help if something caused some data corruption within the partition itself, but not from physical hardware failure.
Best bet if you use a big drive (and I've got 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB external drives) is to buy enough additional storage to back everything up, and then do so on a regular basis. If the data on the drives change infrequently, it doesn't take long at all to back everything up.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
Maybe instead, buy a bunch of little drives, and store them in different places, especially off-site?
That'd be me then. I have 2tb in my PC Tower that runs BB and tons of other stuff. But i have anold 250gb in there too that stores my finished projects and an external seagate drive that gets a back up - well you never know when - -
BiaB2022PLUS,927. every extras pack I can find ;-),Sonar7XL,Win 10
That's a lot of good stuff for consideration. It'd be amazing to cross them like hybrids. The RAID system (how cool is that?!), separate, external HHDs ( have that now, one for biz, person, and for music), Cloud...prayer.
I really need to go thru it all and do a spring cleaning.
Anyway, I bit the bullet and ordered a new CPU yesterday. 512 SSD, 7TB, i7, 32BG RAM. I wonder if I can rig it so the 5TB HDD in my existing CPU could still be available for storage........why not I guess. It's networked.
You techie people have it made.
Andy
BIAB 2017 Ultra Windows 8 and 10 Scarlet 18i8 Reaper and Mixpad
RAID allows the system to rebuild the failed drive .. unless you're doing it wrong.
We use RAID specifically for that purpose in production servers; if a drive fails, we can yank it out, insert another and it rebuilds.
Unless you are talking about the RAID controller itself. They are more reliable than the drives, so that's pretty rare for one to go bad .. though I have seen it happen. But even then the drives were OK, just needed a new RAID controller.
Not understanding why you wouldn't like RAID (?)
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Windows!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: VST3 Plugin Support
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® now includes support for VST3 plugins, alongside VST and AU. Use them with MIDI or audio tracks for even more creative possibilities in your music production.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Macs®: VST3 Plugin Support
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: Using VST3 Plugins
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.