I need help understanding installation locations and space usage for Komplete within N.A.

IvoryKeys88
IvoryKeys88 Member Posts: 31 Member
edited October 2024 in Native Access

Hi folks,

In a nutshell ... How do I get more of Komplete onto external storage?

... I've recently purchased a Komplete Kontrol S88 controller, and yesterday I bought the Komplete 13 Ultimate bundle (an upgrade from Essentials). I thought that I'd be able to install most of the data for Komplete onto a new external SSD I purchased for that purpose. Yet I am finding that to be far from the case.

I have set the Library (in N.A. preferences) to the external SSD. But this seems to have made very little difference to how much of the data is stored internally.

I'd appreciate some help understanding why so much data goes onto the system disk, when I have the Library (in Native Access). For example ... The install of Action Strings indicates it requires 9.94 GB of storage. When I installed it just now, it took up 10.97 GB of space on my system SSD. I didn't watch to see if it took up any space on the external SSD. In theory it would not have, since it was only reported as needing 1GB less than what it installed internally.

I installed all the various "Keys" instruments earlier this evening, and these took approximately 80GB on my internal drive, nearly causing my computer to crash due to a full system drive. As modern Apple computers have fixed SSD drives (which can't be upgraded to larger sizes), am I to conclude that I can not install the bulk of Komplete Ultimate, irrespective of the fact I purchased a 1TB external SSD specially for it to live on?

To me that seems a bit absurd. Most Apple computers (and I suspect many modern Windows computers) don't have expandable storage, and the storage they do have comes at a hefty price.

Please tell me there's some way to make Komplete take up less internal storage. Currently I'm faced with having to buy a new computer, with at least 1.5TB of internal storage just to use Komplete. That makes no sense to me. 😫

Help!

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  • Tony Jones
    Tony Jones Member Posts: 261 Pro

    When you say 'set the library' you mean you've set 'Content Location' to the SSD? That's what I've done and libraries all go to my SSD, but VSTs still go on the system drive.

    You can move 'Application Location' as well.

    What 'Download Location' have you got?

    Did you set the location before you first installed? NA won't move content for you, you can move libraries by hand and then get it to relink to them

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Administrator, Customer Care Posts: 14,895 admin
    Answer ✓

    This little video about install locations might be helpful too:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=169&v=HO3P2hV7wvY&feature=emb_title&themeRefresh=1

    Native Access 1 or 2 will still use your system's drive to unzip / unpack the installers. Native Access 2 a little less. More info on that here: Native Access Error Message: "Installation has been prevented. You do not have enough free drive space to install the products."

  • IvoryKeys88
    IvoryKeys88 Member Posts: 31 Member

    Hi guys ...

    Yes, where I've mistakenly written "Library", I am referring to the "Content Location". Which is set to the external SSD.

    This was all done prior to the installations, and the data usage results in my first message.

    The "Downloads Location" I've also set to the external SSD. I did this after my first message.

    Since my last message, I've installed the "Emotive Strings (21.18 GB)" and "Kontakt Factory Library (24.97 GB)" items. Total of 46.15 GB.

    BEFORE:

    Internal SSD had 210.73 GB free

    Ext. SSD had 844.81 GB free

    AFTER:

    Int. SSD has 164.4 GB free (down by ~42.73 GB)

    Ext. SSD has 828.4 GB free (down by ~16.41 GB)

    So it appears my internal SSD has lost close to the same amount of free space as the tally for the two things I installed. And the external SSD has lost about 35% of that total tally.

    I crossed my mind that perhaps N.A. doesn't clean up after itself when it comes to the installers it first unzips on the system drive, and this temporary data will eventually get flushed. But as the data on the Ext. SSD is only a ~35% of the total needed for the installation, this suggests around ~65% must be permanently installed on the Int. SSD. Does it not?

    At this rate, it'll be impossible to install even a fraction of Komplete on my system, despite having a 1TB Ext. SDD set aside for that purpose.

    What am I missing here?

    Thanks very much.

  • IvoryKeys88
    IvoryKeys88 Member Posts: 31 Member

    Curious as to where the extra data on the Int. SSD was residing ... I did some further disk usage analysis. It looks like the data used on there is in fact mostly in temporary files that N.A. leaves behind. I did notice this on my earlier analysis (during my mild panic from the first round of installations), and I deleted those files manually, but I wasn't entirely sure what created them (as I'd previously downloaded and installed a lot of files from Kontakt Essentials). Here's an example of what I'm referring to.

    image.png

    Files in the `/private/tmp` folder on macOS are automatically flushed by macOS after three days of non-use. So, it would seem this is the issue I've encountered, albeit a temporary one ([sigh of relief]).

    So, it seems apparently N.A. doesn't delete those files itself. As I doubt there is any reason at all N.A. would need to access those unpacked files again within three days of installation, I suspect it would provide a better user experience if Native Instruments changed this behaviour in a future update to N.A. It's one thing to only require a lot of space on the system disk "during the installation process", but another thing entirely to continue requiring that space for another three days. The otherwise helpful page you linked to @Jeremy_NI (which I had read previously) states, "The installation process of a Native Instruments product requires temporarily extra space on your internal hard drive (or 'system drive')", but fails to mention "temporarily" likely means "for at least three days".

    As for why I don't see an increase in disk usage on the Ext. SSD comparable to the installation I just performed, I'll need to keep looking into that. Perhaps I made an error in my disk usage notes before the install. I'll pay closer attention to that on the next round (after I manually delete the /private/tmp files).

    Cheers ... Jonathan

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Administrator, Customer Care Posts: 14,895 admin

    @IvoryKeys88 These files are ususally deleted by Native Access after installation. Did you install from a physical Komplete drive ?

  • IvoryKeys88
    IvoryKeys88 Member Posts: 31 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/29794#Comment_29794

    Yes, installed from a K drive.

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Administrator, Customer Care Posts: 14,895 admin

    Ok, well, usually Native Access would delete these files after installation. Does Native Access has Full Disk Access? How to Enable Full Disk Access on macOS

  • IvoryKeys88
    IvoryKeys88 Member Posts: 31 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/29797#Comment_29797

    Thanks @Jeremy_NI. No, it didn't have full disk access. It does now though. Hopefully that's all that's required. I'll keep an eye on it, and see what happens.

  • Jeremy_NI
    Jeremy_NI Administrator, Customer Care Posts: 14,895 admin

    @IvoryKeys88 Any update on that matter ? All working now ?

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