I bought BIAB 2016 Pro recently which I installed on the C drive in my Windows PC.

I am contemplating buying a portable external hard drive (around 500GB) and downloading a larger package like the UltraPlus upgrade directly to the external drive hopefully to run BIAB and RealBand from the external drive (much like the dedicated BIAB drives).

Can I please ask if anyone has an opinion on the best formatting to use on the ext. drive (FAT21, exFAT or NTFS)?

If anyone has done the above how complicated is it to do please? Will I need to delete the existing copy of BIAB on the C drive before I can run from the ext.drive ?

Many thanks for any help with this.

The last question: technically no, but you will probably want to deactivate it and use one of your activations for the new drive.

I use NTFS formatting, but I don't ever plug into a Mac. Get an answer from someone who does before you make your choice.

Thanks for the prompt reply Matt. I was leaning towards NTFS as I don't have the use of a Mac but intend to think about my needs before deciding.

I like to install the basic program (essential part) on my C drive and load all the rest to an external. The loading from the external is quick on most modern computers and takes only a few seconds at most.

Yeah... on a new computer, it may seem like you have a lot of C drive space but that fills quickly and with in excess of 80GB taken up by RR/RB files.... that's a huge section of the pie.

I use the PG HD versions so it comes on a had drive ready to go. I simply do the minimum install, which takes 2 minutes at most and I'm ready to go. A full install, last time I did one, was close to 2 hrs total to load everything into a computer internal drive. Since the loading time for tracks from an external drive is so fast... why bother with the full install anymore?

I bought the ultra pluspak .

Downloaded it....then decided a while later to order the h/drive 25 dollars.

But FedEx then billed me 44.00 gbp.

Just to let you know as I see you are u.k. too.

Thanks a lot Guitarhacker and Colly. After much thought and to save extra hassle I decided to go for the Ultra Pluspak already installed on BIAB hard drive and think I'll go with the minimum install and run from the external drive like you Guitarhacker. I'm not sure what size the BIAB drive will be but hoping it's about 320Mb which should be enough for the job. Hope you have been happy with the Ultra Pluspak?

Thanks also to Colly for your advice. I was aware (and had been advised by PG Music ) that there could be some further Customs fees to pay when the drive is delivered. At least I know now what it's likely to be!!

Still I'm sure it will be worth it in the long run. Much obliged to all for their comments.

Kev T,

FYI: My 2016 Band-in-a-Box for Windows UltraPlus Pak hard drive is about 500 gigabytes. I've read that the hard drive for the Audiophile edition is substantially larger.

I can understand your desire to bypass the extra taxes you have to pay to get the program loaded on an external drive versus downloading the content. I would suggest that is a political problem you can address with your politicians but that might give the politicians the idea to tax download content!

Seriously, though I copy the hard drive contents to my computer's hard drive I find the knowledge I have the hard drive as back up to be very comforting.

I switched from a desktop running XP to a laptop running Win 7 earlier this year. I decided to download all the files to have the added security of the downloaded files. It took about 24 hours (spread out over a week or so) to download all the compressed files.

I decided to run the programs from the computer's hard drive. The main reason is if you use shortcuts to open your programs the shortcuts MAY not work consistently. Windows may not always assign the external drive the same drive letter each time it is plugged in. One less thing to worry about.

Thanks for that info Jim. The reason for my original question was not specifically aimed at avoiding any taxes on an imported hard drive but merely to utilize a bigger capacity UK sourced portable drive (1+ TB) which could store all BIAB content and songs. I got the impression (not sure where from) that the BIAB drive would be 320GB or less. If yours is 500GB that would hopefully give me more than enough space.

Must say I hadn't anticipated your comment about Windows not assigning the same drive letter each time which could be a problem.....so I may just opt to run BB and RB totally from external drive which I understand is one of the 3 options.

I have an integral 1TB C drive divided into 2 partitions which are both about 2/3 used inside the PC which is one of the "all in one" desktop variety (with all components contained within monitor) so it would possibly mean major surgery to increase size of internal drive. Hence the attraction of a separate external HD.

Kev T,

If I may clarify a little bit, an earlier UltraPlus Pak external hard drive I received WAS 320 GB however the 2016 external hard drive is 500 GB.

I don't KNOW that Windows has an issue with changing the drive letter of external hard drives but I've read multiple comments that say the issue happened to them. My understanding is the issue can happen when an external hard drive is plugged into different computer USB ports and the issue occurs most often when the external hard drive is connected to a USB port prior to computer power on. As an example the external USB might be plugged into the left USB port before power on the first time and be assigned drive letter "E" while another time the drive might be plugged into the right USB port before power up and receive a drive letter assignment of "F".

True or not, it is not an issue if I load the programs and content to an internal hard drive.

On an even simpler level, I use two external drives. When I plug in either one alone in a machine that's already running, it's assigned drive F. Obviously if I plug in both, only the first one plugged in will be F.

Thanks again Jim and Matt.

Here's hoping the one delivered will be 500 GB then as it's the 2016 UltraPlus I bought

I have 6 USB ports on the PC, 4 on the back and 2 side mounted. The 4 back ones are all utilized at the moment for printer, wireless dongle for keyboard & mouse, focusrite 18i/20 connection and USB to Behringer
X32 desk for automation so using same port on the side of PC should be easy to remember. Moral seems to be to plug in BB drive while computer is running. Presumably if I left the BB drive plugged in when powering down the PC it would hold the same drive letter when powered up again?

One final question if I may? I'm using the 2016 Pro version currently and going to wait for the UltraPlus drive to arrive before setting up (ie. not downloading now). Will it be better to delete the Pro version
from my C drive altogether before setting up the new drive to avoid any conflicts?

I would just install on top of your Pro version. The program aspect is the same; the Ultra-Plus Pak just adds more styles and RealTracks and RealDrums, etc. But the BIAB application is the same in both. When you install over, your existing settings should be preserved; however, you'll need rebuild the StylePicker, the RealTracks Picker, and the RealDrums Picker.

Have fun!

Thanks for that John. As mentioned previously in the thread I really want to just run everything including the program .exe files from the external drive so didn't see the point of keeping anything on the C drive. That's why I was asking about deleting the previous setup and just treating the BIAB drive as a new installation.

You could do that, too. The drive you get will be completely self-contained and you can just do the minimal setup.

You should be able to just delete your BIAB folder on your C: drive (wherever you installed the ProPack) along with RealBand (if you also installed that). Then, after doing the minimal installation from the external hard drive, you should be up and running. As has been stated several times on the forum, make sure that you always get the same drive letter assignment for the drive. Otherwise, desktop shortcuts won't work correctly and settings within BIAB may fail also.

One thing to always consider; see if your previous version had any 'Bonus' stuff that may have only been available with that version.
Some versions include little extras that you can't get later.
Any 'Bonus Tracks' would fall into this category.

I'd Archive first, before deleting. Run the program from the new disk for a while, and if you don't miss anything, go ahead and delete the old.

It would stink to find out the 'Super_Funky_WalkinBass_backwards' realtrack (or whatever) you love and used all the time is lost forever .. because of a one time offer.

This is another reason many say 'Install over previous version' .. that way you don't lose any of this stuff.

Thanks so much guys! All Comments noted. I'll do what Rharv suggests too and archive the old version until I'm happy the new version is flawless

FedEx delivered the drive today (just a few days after ordering from PG in Canada....amazing service)!!...

Itching to get started but as my wife bought the UltraPlus Pak for a significant upcoming birthday I'm having to contain myself 'til then. LOL

Moving forward, consider doing what I do: save all the installation files for any bonus packs you buy. Then you can always install them to a new place you put BIAB. Also save any user styles you create.

Thanks Matt...I will do that. This forum rocks!!