I think they give you the option to install samples on a separate drive for a reason. I personally think it's better to have them on their own drive as you have it.

hey Hueseph,

Ya, reading the manual again and it say's BFD2 should have its own drive totally. Not even share it with other libraries. Maybe the Emu X3 is the same. Looks like I need more drives.

I guess what I'm asking then, what is installed on your C drives? Is your VST folder in the C drive and what else thats related to the DAW programs?

I just recently installed BFD2 and yes I put it on a dedicated drive for the "samples". To access the program into the system I have the VST folder pointing to the C:/ drive. The main thing that is giving me trouble is the amount of RAM that BFD2 takes to run while using the DAW. Looking to upgrade my hardware very very soon. Creating more than one folder for VST might not be a bad idea as long as "you" are aware of the mess it might create. To others that use "your" system well.... don't let them until they understand the madness. But yes I hold the opinion that it is most logical, in the thoughts of Spock, to install the main BFD2 program on the "system drive". I had good luck with install that way...

On a side note... I installed the demo version of Abbleton live and it totally killed my VST library and I had to remove it to get it to play my old songs with original VST settings. So maybe, I am guessing, it is a good practice to set VST plugins scattered around the system as to control them better.

Here is how my current system is set up:
All software goes on one drive. This would include (in your case) Sequoia, BFD2, and Emu X3.
All audio goes on a second drive. In my case this is an external drive, in your case it would be E:
I don't use software that uses libraries, but I believe you are right in putting it on still a 3rd drive.

Regarding VSTs, I prefer to have one master VST folder on the C: drive, w/ each subset of DAW/manufacturer folders within that (or no inner folders at all).

A cohort of mine that does use sample has two machines networked. Not sure if the libraries are on the DAW machine or the audio machine, though. I'll ask.

Thanks guys. Soap, please do ask. I've read you can do this but not sure how. Boswell says it costs more cpu to process the second machine than its worth.

I am doing what you all suggest now. Its seems solid now.

My Sample drive is a 1TB . Would it be better/ advantageous to partition it and put the X3 one one side and the BFD2 on the other?

I'm going to suggest multiple drives. One drive alone for BFD. It's streaming a lot of samples and if you're using a lot of cymbals, the demands on the drive increase radically. Put the burden of the other sample libraries on another drive. As others have said,keep the programs themselves on the system drives.
I prefer to have several smaller drives as opposed to 1 big drive.

audiokid:
....my 2 cents
Consider SSD for a sample library drive. They're supposed to have fast read times
I'm assuming you are using SATA drives in your computer. I would have 500G drives. Partitioning the 1T would be good for sample space for two separate libraries..
Once a standard ATA drive become 50% full they begin to get sluggish in terms of read speeds...
I have a SATA 500G primary (Software) and a SATA 250G secondary (Cubase audio files) and then a 250G USB external for Media storage. (Final mix storage and MP3's etc.)
A 500G sample library drive would be a good add to that...I have Cubase and all of my NI Komplete stuff (including VST) on the primary drive.

SSD, ya! Great idea. Perfect for this. And they are coming down in price last I looked. But I'm clueless to know what brand or size or...
BFD2 is 50 Gb, I'm guessing an 80 Gb would be sufficient or do you thing the same principles apply with SDD and extra space? I wonder if I got a bigger one and if it would be cool to put both my libraries on it since its an SSD.

Here is a Canadian link to them

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.bestdire…"]Buy Solid State Drives[/]="http://www.bestdire…"]Buy Solid State Drives[/]

Not that I'm having trouble with speed, my trouble was where I had my BFD2 and X3 loaded and the need to clear my previous version that was loaded wrong , however the SSD sounds ideal for BFD2 as it requires on demand loading of the data. Emu X3 however may not be a big improvement because it loads into memory. I'm learning some good stuff today.

Looks like this is a good choice for BFD2.

The Intel X25-M 80GB 34NM Postville 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State

Update for those wondering about SSD with BFD2:

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.fxpansio…"]Fxpansion.com :: View topic - Best way to install / set up BFD 2[/]="http://www.fxpansio…"]Fxpansion.com :: View topic - Best way to install / set up BFD 2[/]