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Can We Move The GarageBand Library?

O

OneManBand

macrumors newbie
Original poster
😕 I'm enjoying the GB experience however, the sound libraries are getting really large (especially if you keep buying all the new Jam Packs). Every other music program I own lets me store my music libraries where ever I want. Very important to me since I have my computer partitioned (correctly) with only about 40 gigs for apps and 350 plus in external hard drives for my music. GarageBand INSISTS on only installing on the 'boot drive'! Jam Pack #4 is 10 gigs! I'm screwed unless I can figure out a workaround for this annoying blunder on Apples' part. Anyone have any suggestions (other than reformatting)? And if Apple is listening, how about an update to allow users to place the dang lib where ever we want (like every-other pro music program on the planet)!!! Thanks. Steve 🙂
 
Thanks! So I should just go ahead and install the Jam Pack on my boot disk then move it afterward. Anybody know where the GarageBand sound librarys are put by default? I looked quickly the other day and at first glance couldn't find any of them. Thanks again. 🙂
 
😕 I'm sorry, I have no idea what you mean. Feeling a bet foolish, but if anyone could elaborate, that'd be great. Pretend like you're talking to your mother rather than a tech head. Thanks!
 
Go to the GarageBand support site on Apple and do a search on 'external hard drive'. A lot of people have moved their loops and instrument libraries to an external. There's plenty of directions there. Good luck.
 
Thanks so much for the tip. I searched like you said and came up with nothing. However, there was a great article called "GarageBand: Where loops get installed" that was really helpful. (Man, they're scattered all over the frigin' place!!) Also, I found an article on how to move an iPhoto library to an external drive. I think I'll use that concept to move my music libraries. Wish me luck. Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction! 🙂
 
😀 Success!!! This worked great! I used the info in <GarageBand: Where loops get installed> to find all my scattered loops. Just to be cautious, I copied all of the loops to an external drive in one folder, then I renamed the origional files adding (old) to their name. I picked something at random in my loop browser (in GB). I was told it couldn't be found what would I like to do. I picked search and re-index (or something similar). After a short search my computer now saw the libraries in their new spot on the external drive! I experimented a bit with random loops and everything worked great! Now I went ahead and trashed my origional (renamed "old") loop libraries. I freed up huge amounts of space on my boot drive and everything seems to be working great. All my loops are in one BIG folder on an external drive. Yahoo! Any new Jam Packs I install I'll do the same. Go ahead and put them in the boot drive (only choice) then move them and free up the space! Hopefully Apple will eventually fix this lame install snag. Until then, this seems to be the only work around! I'll write back only if I hit some major snag, but I don't think I will. 😎
 
Well done. I've installed 3 jam packs now (1,3 and 4) and you're right - the loops and instruments are now stored all over the place. And they take up a huge amount of space. So like you, I've wanted to get them off my boot drive and on to an external but I just couldn't be bothered trying to hunt them all down.

I'm surprised you didn't find an article on the Apple support site since it's a very popular topic. Most people have done it using a symbolic link.

Anyhow, glad you made it. Now if I could just do it myself...
 
Symbolic Link!!!! There we go again! Must be 'Unix-Speek'. Just like the advice to go to the 'man' page. I've been hunting around and now realize that these places do exist. Good grief! I'm a Mac guy! (A musician, even worse!) I love the fact that OS X is built on the rock solid Unix platform. I will, however probably never use the command line. Way too scary. I just need my computer to aid me in making music! Thanks again for your help! Hopefully others will read these exchanges and save a bunch of time and tidy up their hard drives!! Couldn't have done it with out ya. 😉
 
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