Ableton Forum

Hi Guys,

I have to reinstall windows completely, and am unable to go into ableton to "collect all and save" in the projects I have not already done that with. If I make sure I keep all data from my old windows, will the reinstall be able to locate all the old files again, or will all my old projects be empty shells?

Its a nightmare situation. I really hope just copying my whole hardrive will allow me to reopen my projects once windows is completely reinstalled.

All help much appreciated.

Thanks
Ben

Put your libraries in external HDD next time. It will reduce the hassle.

Thanks, but im not sure that answers the question. Will i be able to get my sets back together after the reinstall even though i have not used "collect all and save"?

as long as the directory paths are still the same, I'd imagine it would be able to recover them.

Thanks again, but I can't risk it without being sure. If I am reinstalling windows and transferring my whole current hard drive to an external drive, then the directory paths will still be pointing at the old C drive won't they?

Is it the case that if you don't Collect All and Save, your live sets are useless in this situation?

Not on Windows but as someone said if your drives, file paths have the same names you should be good, no? Whatever, you should clone your current setup, not simply copy so that if it all goes tits up you can clone it back if need be and you can of course use this to copy stuff back from to test your new install.

The one who can reply most legit answer is ... ableton support. Did you try to contact?

thanks. i will message support. I understand what people mean in that the file paths will be the same, so it should work.....but I will be moving all data from my current drive A, to my external HD B. So when I reinstall windows and ableton on A, then surely all the files on B will be pointing at A....even though all the data will now be gone due tot he reinstall?