Moving Superior Drummer 3 to an external drive

[Aaron Austin]

I would like to move the SD3 sound samples to an external drive. The sound samples library is bugging down my system and I was hoping that moving the samples would free up some ~300 gigs of space.

Is there a walkthrough for this?

Thank you.

Topic

[Scott]

Drag and drop the SL-SuperiorDrummer3 folder to the new location and edit the path in S3.

See the link in the manual below for more details.

https://www.toontrack.com/manual/superior-drummer-3/9/9-3-settings-2/#9-3-4-libraries-settings-tab

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

3

Thanked by: NicholasHunt, jnivanyi and Ulrich Bassenge

[Aaron Austin]

Well, that was too easy. Thanks.

[hatz]

Hi, I’m on a Mac (Catalina 10.15.4)  and have tried moving the Sound Library file to an external hard drive but everything stopped working. I’ve updated the link in settings of Superior Drummer program but now when the app opens it brings up a message saying Superior Drummer 3 would like to access an external hard drive, I click ok, then it comes up with the message “No resources seem to have been installed!, Please reinstall Superior Drummer 3” even though the folder is there (roughly 180 gig of files). For me to now re-download everything and re-instal would take me 4 or 5 days at my DSL internet speed. I suspect it’s just a permission problem as the folder now does not have admin set as read/write, rather it has my username there (in Info ‘command I’). Every folder I copy from the application support folder to the external drive has it’s permissions changed. I’ve tried going into terminal to change the permissions but I don’t think Catalina will let Terminal into the external Volume. I’ve tried adding Terminal to modify “Full Disk Access” in “Security & Privacy” in System Preferences and it won’t add it.

Have now tried to re-download through Product Manager and even though there is 160 gig free space on the system drive I am getting a message saying “File could no be written to. No space left on device”

I don’t know what else to try please help

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.1.7
Operating system: macOS Catalina (10.15)

• This post was modified 5 years ago by hatz.

[John]

Hi,

I would first check that ‘Superior Drummer 3’ has access to ‘Removable Volumes’ and ‘Desktop Folder’ in ‘Files and Folders’ under the Privacy tab.

Next, I would probably re-install the SD3 Software for safety – NOT the libraries.

When in the Product Manager, click the ‘Show Details’ for the Library you have moved and check the Installation path. Is it correct? If not please set it correctly.

Then launch SD3.

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[hatz]

Thanks for the reply John,

Yes I have checked and SD3 has access to ‘Removable Volumes’ but does not allow me to add the ‘Desktop Folder’ in Files and Folders. What is the best way to uninstall the SD3 Software in order to re-install it again.. just drag the app from the applications folder into the trash? The Product Manager/ Superior Drummer 3/ Show Details has a ‘Uninstall  Product’ button which is greyed out and written next to it is ‘No uninstaller available’.

Also in Product Manager, the only option next to each of the libraries is ‘Download Product’, when I click on ‘Show details’ it ‘Installed Version’ is ‘Not installed’ and Path is  just a dash – I can see no option to change the path.

The only path I can see to change is in preferences, Download Path which I have changed to the external hard drive now so I can start downloading again as my main hard drive is full but with 20 hours downloading average per library it would be better if we can find another solution. Just hitting brick walls at the moment.

• This post was modified 5 years ago by hatz.

[John]

Hi,

just download the SD3 Software again to re-install it. Regarding the path; are you sure you are looking at the Library Details and not the Software Details?

Please see my screen shot

BR,
John

John Rammelt - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[hatz]

Thanks John but this screen shot assumes you have the green tick and ‘ready to use’, from memory my only option was Download. “Also in Product Manager, the only option next to each of the libraries is ‘Download Product’, when I click on ‘Show details’ it ‘Installed Version’ is ‘Not installed’ and Path is  just a dash – I can see no option to change the path.”

So I started to download and reinstall the Superior Drummer 3 Ap from the website Product Manager area and it would only download the windows version. See screen shot.

Unfortunately as a result of the hard drive getting completely full the OS started failing and couldn’t write to disk nor empty the Trash properly. It would say the trash was empty but then still produce errors Disk Full. Product Manager started producing errors saying could not find it’s database, I couldn’t even save a screen shot so my only option was to restart in Recovery Mode and do a complete wipe of hard drive and reinstall from a time machine back up. That worked (12 hrs later) so that I could get back into Product Manager but still only option was to download everything again.

Was able to find the Mac version to download in the local Product Manager and the updater, installed that. Uninstall option does not appear to work so was just moving old app to trash.

Then initiated the downloads again for each of the libraries (previous download folder had long been deleted). I had a back up of the original Sound files so just placed the .obw files into the corresponding download folder Part1,2,3,4,5 which saved me having to wait another 3 days or so downloading. Fortunately Product Manager saw the new .obw files there and didn’t try downloading them again.

After Product Manager had verified the files I Installed Part 1 basic sound library to the External Drive. I can see it has created the SL-Superior Drummer3 folder and put the .obw and other files in there. Launched Superior Drummer 3 app and it came up with error saying requested sound library not loaded. Went into paths and clicked ‘Add path to library’ button, added the path to library on external drive. Superior Drummer app now works!

Now just re-installing all the libraries.

Summary: Seems it’s not possible to just drag the library file over to a new external drive on a mac running Catalina and then update the path in SD3. The Superior Drummer app only worked when the libraries were re-installed to the external drive through Product Manager. Had there been a working Uninstall option (or if I’d used an external uninstall clean up app) it may have allowed me to do it after re-installing the SD3 app but I don’t know. Maybe I missed something early on.

Lessons: Never let Product Manager fill up the local drive, put libraries on external drive at the beginning and doesn’t hurt to keep a copy of the download files and not push the ‘clean up’ button if you can.

1

Thanked by: LesBrown1

[Martin Harman]

SD3 was already installed and in use and I wanted to free up some space and move everything to an external hard disk.

No problem whatsoever on Big Sur 11.5.2

1. On MAC, locate Superor Drummer folder. My folder was in /Library/Application Support/Superior Drummer. This contains the SL-SuperiorDrummer3 folder too.
2. Moved Superior Drummer folder to external drive.
3. In SD3 library settings, changed path of SL-SuperiorDrummer3 to point to SL-SuperorDrummer3 folder within Superior Drummer folder on external hard drive.
4. Renamed original Superior Drummer folder so that it could not be called at all.
5. Restarted SD3.
6.  Checked all was working as expected.
7. Deleted original Superior Drummer folder.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.4
Operating system: macOS Big Sur (11)

2

Thanked by: djhcomposer and Jerry.Hayes

[Brian Melancon]

I need help moving sound libraries to an external drive. I want to keep the first 3 parts of the core library in my windows 10 pc, but want the others on my external hdd.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.6
Operating system: Windows 10

[Scott]

Brian Melancon wrote:

I need help moving sound libraries to an external drive. I want to keep the first 3 parts of the core library in my windows 10 pc, but want the others on my external hdd.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.6
Operating system: Windows 10

All parts of the library need to be in the same drive location. Either internal or external.

Scott Sibley - Toontrack
Technical Advisor

[Steven Jurick]

Entirely!

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.7
Operating system: macOS Monterey (12)

[lejojanssens]

Hi. I have now 82 products of Toontrack on my iMac. The majority of files is on its HD of TB, Superior drummer 3 is on an external HD of 250GB. Since space on my 1TB HD is ever diminshing due to updates, I purchased a external 1TB HD on Thunderbolt 3. Now for my question: wich of the Toontrack files can I move to this new HD in order to gain space on the primary HD and how to do this. SD3 is working very good with Logic X so I would like to keep that on its external HD (250GB).

Thanks. Leo.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.2
Operating system: macOS Big Sur (11)

[Brad]

lejojanssens wrote:

Hi. I have now 82 products of Toontrack on my iMac. The majority of files is on its HD of TB, Superior drummer 3 is on an external HD of 250GB. Since space on my 1TB HD is ever diminshing due to updates, I purchased a external 1TB HD on Thunderbolt 3. Now for my question: wich of the Toontrack files can I move to this new HD in order to gain space on the primary HD and how to do this. SD3 is working very good with Logic X so I would like to keep that on its external HD (250GB).

Thanks. Leo.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.2
Operating system: macOS Big Sur (11)

Hi there,

It would be good to know which Toontrack product lines you have. The EZ products can be moved to another drive, but they need to be moved intact. All EZDrummer in one folder named exactly as it is, all EZBass in another, etc.

Superior Drummer SDXs can be stored separately, but their contents must remain intact and named exactly as they are. For example I have SL-FieldsOfRock and SL-LegacyOfRock on one SSD and SL-MusicCity and SL-RockFoundry on another SSD.

The standalone applications and plugins should remain on your system drive.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.2
Operating system: macOS Monterey (12)

Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)

• The post has been modified 4 times, last modified 2 years, 11 months ago by Brad.

[UTgasman]

I got a new computer and wanted to put Superior Drummer 3 on it but the hard drive space wasn’t that much (I got an external HD for this). Was very frustrated, internet not much help. Then I figured it out. Here is how to get it on an external HD. Note that this is NOT moving something already installed (I tried multiple times to do this and failed), so it’s a fresh install with the libraries on the external HD once the process is complete.

1. Install the product manager
2. Install SD3
3. Each part of the sound library has a multiple step process of download then install. You must have enough hard drive space to download ONE part of the sound library. After each part is installed on the external HD you can then clean up the download on the internal HD.
4. Download SD3 Library Part 1 – Basic Sound Library
5. Create a folder where you want everything installed on your external HD
6. Click Install in the product manager
   1. This opens the installer. In this installer there is a spot to change the install location (“Browse”)
   2. Navigate to that folder then start the installation.
7. Once the installation is complete close the installer.
8. Once the installation is complete in the product manager there will be an option to free up disk space. Click on Clean up button underneath that and you will free up that space on the internal drive (it’s not exact but close; I had the properties of my internal HD open when doing this and the numbers weren’t perfect). You will get a message asking to confirm deleting the download that tells you the installation won’t be affected but you may need to redownload stuff later to uninstall/reinstall.
9. Wait a moment for the deletion to complete, then if you want to install more parts of the sound library you can. Just remember to clean up after each part is installed. I was able to get all 5 parts of the SD3 sound library (256 GB I think) installed on my external HD with only 80 GB free on my internal HD when I started the process.

I wish it had been easier to find the info needed to do this (the hold up for me was knowing that I needed enough internal HD space to download only one component of the  sound library because you can clean it up after each part is installed, and that the installer accessed from the product manager is where you have to get to to pick the new path via the browse function).

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.7
Operating system: macOS Sequoia (15)

[Brad]

UTgasman wrote:

I got a new computer and wanted to put Superior Drummer 3 on it but the hard drive space wasn’t that much (I got an external HD for this). Was very frustrated, internet not much help. Then I figured it out. Here is how to get it on an external HD. Note that this is NOT moving something already installed (I tried multiple times to do this and failed), so it’s a fresh install with the libraries on the external HD once the process is complete.

1. Install the product manager
2. Install SD3
3. Each part of the sound library has a multiple step process of download then install. You must have enough hard drive space to download ONE part of the sound library. After each part is installed on the external HD you can then clean up the download on the internal HD.
4. Download SD3 Library Part 1 – Basic Sound Library
5. Create a folder where you want everything installed on your external HD
6. Click Install in the product manager
   1. This opens the installer. In this installer there is a spot to change the install location (“Browse”)
   2. Navigate to that folder then start the installation.
7. Once the installation is complete close the installer.
8. Once the installation is complete in the product manager there will be an option to free up disk space. Click on Clean up button underneath that and you will free up that space on the internal drive (it’s not exact but close; I had the properties of my internal HD open when doing this and the numbers weren’t perfect). You will get a message asking to confirm deleting the download that tells you the installation won’t be affected but you may need to redownload stuff later to uninstall/reinstall.
9. Wait a moment for the deletion to complete, then if you want to install more parts of the sound library you can. Just remember to clean up after each part is installed. I was able to get all 5 parts of the SD3 sound library (256 GB I think) installed on my external HD with only 80 GB free on my internal HD when I started the process.

I wish it had been easier to find the info needed to do this (the hold up for me was knowing that I needed enough internal HD space to download only one component of the  sound library because you can clean it up after each part is installed, and that the installer accessed from the product manager is where you have to get to to pick the new path via the browse function).

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.7
Operating system: macOS Sequoia (15)

The one thing I would add is that, if you have extra space on your external drive, create a Toontrack download folder and configure Product Manager to download to it instead of your internal HD. I have several systems all configured to “point” at the same Toontrack download folder. Works well.

Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.3.7
Operating system: macOS Sequoia (15)

Mac Studio M1 Max, RAM 64 GB, 1TB Drive, OSX 12.x/13.x and Windows 10 (VM)
DAW: Studio One Pro (always up to date)
DTX Express III (Extreme triggers), Nektar LX88
OWC Thunderbay Mini (4 X 1TB Sata SSD), Express 4M2 (4 X 2TB M.2 SSD), Envoy Express (1TB M.2 SSD)
Presonus Quantum, Faderport & Faderport 8
Black Lion Sparrow Mk2 A/D, FMR-RNP-RNC, MIDI Xpress 128, BM5A, KRK VXT4, Equator D5
2020 Macbook Pro 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD Audio(mobile rig)

[Author]

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