Storage, full and wrong file format

Dusyanthan

My Storage of my Computer is Full, cause it has only 500 GB,

Have 8Dio bundle and cause of less Storage, it`s not installing, it asks for another location for storage.

So i Chose my External Hard (Lacie) by chosing the instalationpart, also in the preference of Native Accesss.

But a Window Tops up with - That path is invalid .

Why ? The Storage of my external Hardrive is 4 TB.

Can you way why it`s not working ?

Jojo123

Hello,

First, it would be prudent, in order to get help, to state what Computer, OS, External SSD format, and any other specs so people know where to start.

If your Drive is "full" as you say, you have waaay more problems than trying to install stuff to external. So, how full?

Dusyanthan

My Computer Storage is 495.27 GB Full.

My External Hardrive is Capacity 2 TB, and Available 1.84. i send you screenshot.

Jojo123

Your first and immediate problem is your system drive. You have less than 5 GBs free. Im surprised it hasn't spat the dummy on you. Your next serious problem, is your external is formatted as ExFat which is not recommended to work with NI and definitely not if you're on Logic as well. You'll need to wipe that drive and reformat it as APFS, which is Apples optimized filesystem for SSD.

You seriously need to clean off some stuff off your system drive ASAP. I would strongly recommend you do this before anything else. Go through and MOVE (not copy) at least 25% (250GBs) of stuff to an external disk like your own documents and projects, phots etc. Preferably that should be to something other than the ExFat LaCie, but if you have no other option then reformat the LaCie first.

I have the same sized system drive and mine at present is over 50% free. I would recommend never going less than 25% free. Why? because your OS needs room to work, such as temporarily using disk space when you install stuff.

500GB is not a lot these days for dealing with big libraries. When you download libraries that are more than a few GBs I would recommend doing them one at a time.

Let us know how you get on.

Dusyanthan

No , i already knew, that my storage in my Mac is not enough, therfore i Chose my External drive to tun These plugins with logic. And all the Storage i have in Mac is important, have now deleted the thinks which you said on Mac, but its still not enough to Install all my Native Bundles, so the only way i have now is, my external Lacie Harddrive. You said its ExFat, has to be APFS, so now i will try to take the Storages off Lacie on another Drive, so that i can Format it to APFS as you want, then i will contact you again.

My another question is, can i Format my Lacie Hardrive to APFS, even when i have important Files in this Hardrive, or aus i first Back up the Files first in another Hardrive, so that i do not lose my important Files in Lacie, when i Format it to APFS ?

Warm Regards from

Dusyanthan Sathiyamoorthy

Jojo123

So how much space have you cleared?

and let me clarify :

• Your system drive will be in temporarily use in the installation process, to unpack the files, whether or not you use an external drive where the content is actually installed. This space can be huge, at least the same size as the product you're installing.
• The libraries/content can be saved to external if you wish, but the actual programs themselves like Kontakt, Reaktor, Battery etc must go on the internal. Those are relatively small and it should be fine. Its the content that by far takes the space.
• Now, the LaCie, Ive just looked again at your screenshot …is that a HDD or an SSD? Some people recommend HDDs to be formatted as APFS. I personally think for HDD, MacOS Extended Journalled is OK, but check at Apples site and see if the recommendation has changed. You should still be OK on MAcOS Extended Journalled for a HDD if you have a drive that is formatted as that.

Reformat and leave files in place? no. Backup your files you want to keep elsewhere before a reformat. Reformatting essentially wipes everything. To do what you're wanting, you essentially need a third drive. Have you got one, and what is it, and how is that formatted? I strongly recommend you do NOT put any Logic project files on an ExFat storage medium at any time. It is well known to corrupt Logic projects. You might get away with it - then you might not. It comes down to How important are your files?

As Ive said, when you install any products do it one at a time, so system uses less of its disk space while installing as Ive explained. I did this and I never ran into any problems.

Another very important thing for you to consider and why you need to get this sorted as a priority is you only have 8GB RAM. These days unless you're doing very minimal stuff audio wise, thats not really a lot. Where its going to affect you is when your RAM is used up (which it will do sooner rather than later) theres no room for the OS to swap out to disk, which is what it does temporarily when there's not enough RAM, not to mention shorten the SSDs life by constant write cycles.

Again in your situation I would spring for as much free space on your system drive as possible. I'd also recommend against doing anything on your computer, dont update anything, even your OS until this issue is fixed or you run the risk of grinding your system to a halt. Bad things happen when SSDs get too full.

All the best with this and keep us posted on how you're doing.

Final note. Always keep Backups.

Dusyanthan

miraculously i could save all the Libaries (Plug ins ) to my external Lacie Harddrive wihtout, that i have Formate it to APFS.

But the bad thing is, when i use it in logic, it is Floating very long each Instrument, when i change the Instrument.

In my Computer i could only delete less thinks, so i could have 130 GB free space, but after that i could not Install the plug ins, i made Problems to change the location to my plug in Folders on my Mac.

Therfore i stored it all in my External Harddrive.

I think i should Format as you sag, thats why the Instrument are Floating so long, and i did not know, that it is not good for logic project to read it by Floating the project.

As you said i really bad that problem to lead my old logic project, which were very highly important, which i did for many years.

But ok , it will be diffucult to store it in a other harddrive backup, cause i tried, my computer got stuck and the backup from 1 Lacie to another Lacie broke. I chose everything to move to another hardrive, maybe it was to much for my Mac. I will try today, to do the same but will chose Wolny step by Stepp 1 Folder moving from 1 Lacie to another Lacie. Maybe then it will not incorupt and i can Format on Hardrive to APFS.

Do you think after the the plug in will work fast in logic by Floating each Instrument?

One for sure i can tell you, that i can`t download the plug ins to my Mac, cause it is really to how space as you said and after installing the plug ins, it will be more less space to more on with working other project for future. Therefore only way is now external Hardrive, but you have to tell me, how i can awoide, that when i load Instruments, that it will not take so long time as it`s Doing right now ( maybe cause i did not Formate it still to APFS ?

Warm Regards from Dusyanthan Sathiyamoorthy

Maciej Repetowski

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/159650#Comment_159650

Excellent advices, couldn’t put it better myself.

To the OP:

• always backup everything before you format anything ;)
• Apple, Logic and NI recommend APFS, do not use exFAT on external, even if it’s not an SSD.
• The only case to format as exFAT is if you need to use the drive with PC to exchange data, still better to use Flash USB drive for that.
• Always leave 25% of system SSD free for MacOS temporal files.

Dusyanthan

The problem is i only have MS-Dos ( Fat ) but no APFS Format.

What should i do now ?

Dusyanthan

i got it now, now i have to choose under Scheme: Guide Partition Map or Apple Partition Map ?

Maciej Repetowski

GUID Partition Map (good for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs).

Master Boot Record is for PC compatibility and Apple Partition Map is for Macs with PPC processors compatibility.

Dusyanthan

ok so with that i can use Native plug ins wihtout to long Kloding time right ? Cause with Exfat i hat that problem.

Dusyanthan

sorry i gent so with that i can use Native plug ins wihtout to long loding time right ? Cause with Exfat i hat that problem.

Maciej Repetowski

Yes, this should help.

Jojo123

@Dusyanthan Many people get caught out finding the APFS option, but glad you got there.

Note I made a correction in my post above re the %. If you've freed your system drive to 130GB thats a good start and and even better, your system is still up and running. (I had my doubts it would be) In any case I would still shoot for every bit of space possible once you get your files sorted out becasue you're going to need space for when your OS uses it for swapping. Only 8 GIGs RAM with NI stuff and running Logic is something you'll need to constantly manage.

Im still not clear whether you have formatted your external drive yet? Have you done that yet?

Just to note, some type of files can be moved OK to an ExFat if you have a drive handy so you can sort this all out. Pictures and movies and stuff like that is OK. Just NOT any Logic files and Not NI stuff when using it with a MAC.

I think you're getting confused between Plugins and Content. Plugins generally go to the system drive, its just the content/libraries that you store externally.

Yes, as @Maciej Repetowski says it should help loading times by ditching ExFat, but you have some other considerations you'll have to keep in mind as you go on.

• Keep free space on all your drives
• If that LaCie is not an SSD Id recommend purchasing an External SSD. At a minimum a HDD needs to be 7200RPM and if I dont miss my guess the LaCie would be slower just like portables typically are.
• Once you get everything sorted you will still need to find ways to ease the load on your system such as freezing files in Logic.

Dusyanthan

i changed it to APFS need to Install the libaies in my external Drive.

You mean i should by a external SSD Hardrive ? for better Funktion with logic and plugins for loading quickly ?

i researched and found by Thomann this external Hardrive, is it the right one ? If not can you send me a Link where i can order and boy this External SSD Hardrive for such thinks like Logic , Native Instruments and all the Plug ins ?