Territan ([info]territan) wrote,
@ 2008-02-27 09:44:00
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A Mind Too Full For Its Own Good

Old laptop: 100Gb capacity disk. At last report, a little over 8Gb still free (minimum recommended).

New laptop: 250Gb capacity disk. Some software removed because it no longer works with the new system, but mercifully they're in the minority. (Ideafisher is dead! Long live Thought Office!) And yet, it's still filling up fast.

Part of the nuisance joy of getting a new computer is discovering all the nifty new things you can do with it. This one is no exception. Because it's got such a large disk, for instance, I succumbed to the temptation to move all of my Native Instruments sound libraries (the samples needed to make this, this, this, and this work), and I'm starting to move in some of the Ableton sound libraries (like this and this, though I'll stop short of this).

And damnit, they're huge. All told, that's about 65Gb of sound files that aren't music by themselves but need someone else to sequence them. And yes, as part of me says that this is overkill due to the overlap, there's another part of me that is incredibly happy with overkill. It probably makes a lot of people wonder why I don't make more music. I know I wonder that.

Simultaneous with that sick little rush, I want to play some more interesting computer games. And these folks are notoriously indifferent to my platform of choice, so it looks like I'll have to install Windows. Miraculously, I have a license key, and managed to get a disk image unpacked and functioning sufficiently to download a double steaming pantload of updates.

And while there's a perfectly good dual-boot solution available to me already, it requires me to partition my hard drive. I don' wanna do that. Sadly, the virtualization solution of choice proved insufficiently robust for either of my initial experiments. So it looks like I gotta partition.

You can see where this is going: any space I devote to that other operating system is space I can't devote to my other habits, like massive sound libraries (although to be fair, Massive is a synthesizer, and doesn't have that problem with sample bloat that the others do).

Given that I've only ever created one musical composition that I would consider complete, the choice seems somewhat clear-cut...but still somehow shameful.


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[info]snuh
2008-02-27 09:12 pm UTC (link)
I'd get an external hard drive and move the music to it.

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[info]territan
2008-02-27 09:46 pm UTC (link)
That's the setup I had originally. I didn't have enough space on the laptop drive for the sound libraries, so I packed them up and shipped them onto a 250Gb external. And there they reposed uneasily, since some of Native Instruments' soft instruments are entirely sample-based and choke if they don't have their precious soundbanks. Some of them are actual synths, like Absynth, FM8, and Massive, and they can make their own agony.

The 250Gb laptop was a blessing. I could move the libraries back onto it, and make a larger array of rude noises practically anywhere.

Now it looks like I need to push that all back onto the external drive if I'm going to get me any of that moist, delicious cake.

The other fun thing is why I had that 250Gb external hard drive in the first place: I used it to back up my first Powebook. Then I got a Powerbook with a larger capacity hard drive (the one I just moved from), and had to get a 500Gb HD with which to back it up. The 250Gb was consecrated to storage of my libraries of noies.

Now I have a 250Gb laptop, and a 500Gb HD doesn't seem like a sufficient backup solution. Translation: Hello, Time Capsule. Because I'm not even going to try to partition that bugger for dual booting until I back it up.

I think this is what's meant by "an embarrassment of riches."

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