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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Just ordered the 2023 UltraPAK upgrade in HD (which also comes with electronic install).
Now, if the UltraPAK will just write over my 2022 MegaPAK, but I only have 100 GB
left on my desktop's HD, will the electronic install stop at some point and tell me there's not enough space, or will the UltraPAK just write over the MegaPAK and cover it?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I don't know the sizes of those paks, but much of what is on each one is files from earlier versions. The installer will not overwrite files of the same date, just add the newer ones PG Music Support could tell you the installed sizes of each package.
When you fill up a hard drive, be sure to leave 15% free space, or the drive performance will begin to suffer. SSDs need even a bit more free space.
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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The UltraPAK install is more than 100GB so your existing hard drive does not have enough space to accommodate the install of the 2023 UltraPAK. Also, You need to leave some free space on your primary hard drive for Windows use.
The good news is you do not need to install your 2023 UltraPAK onto your computer hard drive. The 2023 UltraPAK will run on the external hard drive without no decrease in performance at all.
The UltraPAK hard drive includes an installer file. When you run the installer file you will be given four installation choices. One choice is a minimal install that places a very little number of files on your computer hard drive and runs from the external hard drive.
Once you run the installer, select the minimal install to the computer hard drive and the installer finishes running you will be able to remove much of the MegaPAK files from your computer drive. However, you may want to talk to PG Music or post in the forum before you do.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Jim is right, you can run most of the program from the supplied USB drive. The performance in loading files is diminished somewhat but probably not much, and the performance of the CPU for regenerating songs is of course the same. You can even recover space from your hard drive if you do the minimal install. We can advise you what files you can delete if you decide to go this route.
I don't know about the PG Music installers, but most modern installers first compute the available space. They don't start then abort midway.
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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If what's presently in your computer is a mechanical hard drive, it may be worth considering fitting a larger SSD in its stead. That would gain you the space and also a useful boost in PC performance.
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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And Gordon is right. The single best improvement you can make in BIAB is a faster CPU. A close second place is changing from a Hard Drive to a SSD.
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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SSD's:
500gb - $28
1tb - $48
Cloning software (exact image of your current drive) - free
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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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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Thanks everyone for the replies. My desktop IS an SSD, 500GB (actually 475 according to the analysis) running Windows 10 on an Intel i3 9100 (so that would be a quadcore) at 3.60 ghz.
Really appreciate the tips, I'll first run the external HD at minimal install then take it from there.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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There's even the possible hybrid install. The program can be on one drive, the RealTracks on another, and the RealDrums on yet another.
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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Ultrapack with all xtra packages installed is around 175gb.
And I would guess around 150gb without xtra material (xtrapacks,loops etc)
Right click on your c: /bb folder, see the size. If it is 100gb or more, then you should be ok...
I would try to avoid leaving less than 25-30gb of space on HD.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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I've got two of those merged together for my C:\ drive. They are nice and fast.
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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FWIW, I think there's a fair bit of "you get what you pay for" with SSDs. I've tended to use Samsung EVO parts; The QVO parts are a higher density but less long-lived; the PRO parts are at, well, pro proces, but are "enterprise standard", have the lowest density and the longest working life. Sadly, yes, SSDs do wear out
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks everyone for the replies. My desktop IS an SSD, 500GB (actually 475 according to the analysis) running Windows 10 on an Intel i3 9100 (so that would be a quadcore) at 3.60 ghz.
Really appreciate the tips, I'll first run the external HD at minimal install then take it from there. Personally, I would buy one of these: https://www.newegg.com/samsung-2tb-870-evo-series/p/N82E16820147794?Item=N82E16820147794&quicklink=trueA 2TB drive, and install it as your SECOND drive in the system. Unless you're running a laptop. But, if you're running a desktop, you should be able to add this to the system, and it saves you the hassle of having to copy everything over to a new drive. If you're not computer savvy, there are tons of video on YouTube on how to add a new drive. Your computer should already have the power connection off the power supply to run the drive. It should also come with the SATA drive connection you'll need to connect it to your computer. The price is good for the amount of data storage you're getting. After installation, you can uninstall the MegaPak and install the new UltraPak. You might want to consider copying over the old MegaPak to the new drive, and then installing over top of that. That way, if you have any additional files, they'll be saved and the install will come with a new licensing key, so you should be good to go. Gary
I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Thanks everyone for the replies. My desktop IS an SSD, 500GB (actually 475 according to the analysis) running Windows 10 on an Intel i3 9100 (so that would be a quadcore) at 3.60 ghz.
Really appreciate the tips, I'll first run the external HD at minimal install then take it from there. Oh yes, you did say desktop, I missed that. The external drive on a USB port should work fine, though a faster USB port is best, of course, and a drive on a USB cable isn't too much of a nuisance. With a desktop machine, it's usually pretty easy to install a second SATA drive if you wish. Most desktop machines will handle four or more. Laptops, of course, often have only one drive bay and usually have few USB ports. If one wants a keyboard or whatever in one, a sound module in one, etc., you pretty soon also need a USB hub and a wall power supply and the whole thing soon becomes a rat's nest of reliability issues.
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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FWIW, I think there's a fair bit of "you get what you pay for" with SSDs. Sadly, yes, SSDs do wear out Mine is a 3 yr. old Acer SSD, hasn't failed me yet, but I have a recent HP 500GB external HD that's still sealed in the little box since I haven't done anything with it yet (Lazy Procrastinator First-Class here). I want to back up my entire computer on it but I thought that would take hours and hours so I haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I know, I know, Famous Last Words lol
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Mine is a 3 yr. old Acer SSD, hasn't failed me yet, ...
They are all pretty reliable, but there are differences. If the use is mostly read-only like a BiaB-dedicated drive would be, it should last for decades. If it's read-write intensive it'll wear out quicker. Even the higher density, lower usage parts usually come with a guarantee of a couple of years. I believe what they do is build the chips with a fairly high percentage of redundancy and swap out areas as they get tired. They also try to share writes about the chips to even out the 'wear'. It's something to be aware of, but not something to worry about excessively.
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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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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The good news is you do not need to install your 2023 UltraPAK onto your computer hard drive. The 2023 UltraPAK will run on the external hard drive without no decrease in performance at all.
The UltraPAK hard drive includes an installer file. When you run the installer file you will be given four installation choices. One choice is a minimal install that places a very little number of files on your computer hard drive and runs from the external hard drive. OK, so I got delivered the 2023 UltraPAK external HD. I uninstalled the 2022 MegaPAK (after making sure all my work in it is saved to "Music" on my PC). Now I'm ready to plug in the UltraPAK HD for the first time, change the drive letter to "Z" (appreciate that tip!) and start making music with it. Well, if the UltraPAK will run by itself from the USB port, why would I need to do any install at all, even if it's only a minimal install? Is installing some files necessary to run the HD?
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Well, if the UltraPAK will run by itself from the USB port, why would I need to do any install at all, even if it's only a minimal install? Is installing some files necessary to run the HD?
You do need to run the installer. There are some management files that need to be installed on C: drive. This includes some fonts etc. that need to be installed in Windows. The size of the installed files is quite small.
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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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
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There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
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Happy New Year!
Thank you for being part of the Band-in-a-Box® community.
Wishing you and yours a very happy 2026—Happy New Year from all of us at PG Music!
Season's Greetings!
Wishing everyone a happy, healthy holiday season—thanks for being part of our community!
The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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- MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
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- Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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