Moving sample libraries to an external harddrive

[audio.android]

I've got a bunch of samples on my local harddrive, and I want to move them to an external harddrive...

Is there an easy way to do this in Live, without all of my projects losing the samples?

Example:

I made several songs that uses kick1 located in
/Mac Harddrive/My User/Samples/Kick1.wav

I want to move the Samples directory to
/External Harddrive/Music Stuff/Samples/
and have all of my Live Sets know to point to this new location for the kick1.wav sample.

I know I can just "collect all and save" each of my live sets, but I feel like there should be a more efficient way to do this.

Thanks!
audio.android

[v00d00ppl]

copy and paste your library folder onto the external hard drive.....

once everything has been duplicated and backed up into the hard drive.....

1. Go to options.

2. Go to preferences.

3. Go to the library tab...

4. Change the location of the library from your local drive to the external drive destination.

5. If you ever forget to plug in the external drive, live will write to a default local folder.....so if you do this, then just remember to back that set/project up later.

[audio.android]

Hmm, that's all fine and dandy if my samples are located in my Ableton Library, but what if they are located elsewhere? I use lots of samples that aren't associated with my Ableton library.

[scott nathaniel]

Hmm, that's all fine and dandy if my samples are located in my Ableton Library, but what if they are located elsewhere? I use lots of samples that aren't associated with my Ableton library.

Hmm, find the magic rock where you hide your samples, and then, oh yeah, here it comes, drum roll....copy and paste to external harddrive.

[adventurepants_]

I've got a bunch of samples on my local harddrive, and I want to move them to an external harddrive...

Is there an easy way to do this in Live, without all of my projects losing the samples?

Example:

I made several songs that uses kick1 located in
/Mac Harddrive/My User/Samples/Kick1.wav

I want to move the Samples directory to
/External Harddrive/Music Stuff/Samples/
and have all of my Live Sets know to point to this new location for the kick1.wav sample.

I know I can just "collect all and save" each of my live sets, but I feel like there should be a more efficient way to do this.

Thanks!
audio.android

collect all and save IS the efficient way to do it. Think about it this way, if your hard drive dies today, you lose all your projects and your samples. If you collect all and save, and backup to another drive, then you have a completely self contained record of everything youre doing. Spending an entire day reassociating samples with projects after some failure is not fun.

If you collect all and save then you will end up with some duplicate samples inside projects, but in case of a crash, you win. The time and care spent crafting your projects is worth more than hard drive space.

[audio.android]

collect all and save IS the efficient way to do it. Think about it this way, if your hard drive dies today, you lose all your projects and your samples. If you collect all and save, and backup to another drive, then you have a completely self contained record of everything youre doing. Spending an entire day reassociating samples with projects after some failure is not fun.

If you collect all and save then you will end up with some duplicate samples inside projects, but in case of a crash, you win. The time and care spent crafting your projects is worth more than hard drive space.

Ah yes, you have a very good point. Sounds like I'm just going to have to go through my 50-odd projects and collect/save. I will be better off for it though.

Thanks for the advice!

[audio.android]

Hmm, that's all fine and dandy if my samples are located in my Ableton Library, but what if they are located elsewhere? I use lots of samples that aren't associated with my Ableton library.

Hmm, find the magic rock where you hide your samples, and then, oh yeah, here it comes, drum roll....copy and paste to external harddrive.

Mr. Nathaniel,

I would just like to kindly point out that your suggestion was not only incorrect, but entirely useless. I would urge you to think about your comments in the future before you post them and ask yourself, "Is what I'm saying contributing to anything besides my underdeveloped sense of self-worth?"

Sincerely,
audio.android

[jamers]

I for one completely agree with what adventurepants said about collect and save. I have gone through the hassle of replacing samples after moving them to an external, etc. and even though Live was great for telling me exactly which samples were missing, and giving me the old roots to the samples, some were nested so deep that the roots wouldn't show the whole path (this was after trying to bring up my sets again from the external of course). I spent hours upon hours figuring out the locations of specific samples (I have a lot). So frustrating....

It takes practically one minute to collect and save a project, sometimes even quicker. I now use it religiously, and wish I would have before, too.

My newer concern is about Live recordings, and how once you move a batch to your external to clear space, any new ones from projects you start next begin again at Temp-01-01 and so on all over again. Ummmm.... that makes me nervous about losing/cross referencing recordings... but at least when I collect and save a project though, I know the data is contained in the set forever.

Man, I get sweaty palms just thinking about running into problems with file management!

[scott natheniel]

Hmm, that's all fine and dandy if my samples are located in my Ableton Library, but what if they are located elsewhere? I use lots of samples that aren't associated with my Ableton library.

Hmm, find the magic rock where you hide your samples, and then, oh yeah, here it comes, drum roll....copy and paste to external harddrive.

Mr. Nathaniel,

I would just like to kindly point out that your suggestion was not only incorrect, but entirely useless. I would urge you to think about your comments in the future before you post them and ask yourself, "Is what I'm saying contributing to anything besides my underdeveloped sense of self-worth?"

Sincerely,
audio.android

who made you god?