Tips before installing Cubase and Sample libraries on a Macbook Pro

[Alexandros]

Hi all,

This is my second time posting in this forum. After the first post and all the suggestions i received, i bought a MacBook Pro M3 Pro (36 GB, 1TB) to begin with my music production journey. I have also already bought several libraries from companies like Audio Imperia, 8dio, etc., as well as Cubase Pro and Kontakt. After a litlle research, i have realized that the best practice is to install DAW and plugins on the Mac and all the sample libraries on an external SSD (Samsung T7).

So, my question is this:

Are there any useful tips, suggestions and objections i should be aware of BEFORE installing all of the above?

For example, what's the deal with installing libraries on the cloud/online? Is that a thing in case you lose your extrenal SSD? On the other hand, with an external SSD you can use your libraries everywhere without the need of an internet connection, right? Should i do both, or just the option with the extrenal SSD?

Whatever you have to say on the matter is very welcomed

Kind regards,

Alex

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[Jeremy Spencer]

I'm personally a fan of using external storage, unless you can afford to eat up the space on your internal. That T7 is quite fast, so speed shouldn't be an issue; I use a T5/T6 connected to USB A on my iMac and have never had issues. I also prefer to format my drives to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Not sure what you are referring to with cloud storage, do you mean just for backing up your libraries? If that's the case, I would just opt for a regular HDD to back everything up. I use a large HDD for this, which also backs up my projects files and Time Machine data.

 

[Alexandros]

I'm personally a fan of using external storage, unless you can afford to eat up the space on your internal. That T7 is quite fast, so speed shouldn't be an issue; I use a T5/T6 connected to USB A on my iMac and have never had issues. I also prefer to format my drives to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Not sure what you are referring to with cloud storage, do you mean just for backing up your libraries? If that's the case, I would just opt for a regular HDD to back everything up. I use a large HDD for this, which also backs up my projects files and Time Machine data.

Thank you so much for your reply, Jeremy. It is quite helpful.

Yes, that is exactly what i mean with cloud storage. The HDD solution indeed sounds great. Thanks to your response i figured out what Time Machine is all about, since i am completely new to Mac OS.

If i am not mistaken, Mac OS Extended is an older version compared to APFS. Is there any good reason is should format my external SSD to Mac OS Extended rather than APFS?

 

[rAC]

APFS was developed for SSDs so I would recommend that you use it for them.

 

[Jeremy Spencer]

APFS was developed for SSDs so I would recommend that you use it for them.

Fair enough, but I had load time issues when using APFS. Spitfire recommends both formats on their website, journaled being a big improvement for my setup.