Moving to new PC

Hi All,
I have a rather old PC with an i3 CPU which is in desperate need of an upgrade. So I'm working with someone to build a new one but as far as the software goes, I'm a bit out of my league and was hoping for some input or answers.
So what I need to do obviously is transfer or COPY everything from the old to the new. Fortunately all of my music samples are on external SSD's so nothing needs to be done there.
Here's my question and please correct me if I'm wrong in my assumption, but would I be able to just reload my DAW (Studio one) onto the new PC using the same settings as the old PC, then reload my N.I stuff/Komplete 11 ultimate (roughly 12G of Kontakt, Komplete Kontrol, Massive, Battery, effects, etc) into the NEW programs folder? keeping in mind again all SAMPLES are on separate SSD"s and I plan to keep the drive designation the same, so the F: drive on one PC is the same F: drive on the other.
Thanks in advance

 

Migrating from PC to PC is something I have done countless times over the last 25 years so here's some info that may be of some use...

Almost every time I migrate to a new system I do so before my old one has died and so I can setup a new system while I still can use the old. This is ideally the best way as you can quickly compare settings and such and have a working system to go back to if needed.

• First thing I always do is take note of ALL the software and plugins I have installed. Use the Add/Remove manager and the VST list within the DAW to help make a full list of all the software and plugins you have installed.
• It is also an idea to create or copy some "test projects" where you can load in a heap of plugins so you can load these up on the new system and test the plugins are all loading. List what track has what plugin on it so in the case one cannot be found and is not identified by the DAW you know what it is.
• Next I make sure I have the installers and accounts for everything I will need to install (which in my case is simple as I have backups of all this on my server).
• Take screenshots of things like how you have your DAW setup, the paths to important things, the mapped network drive locations and assigned drive letters etc.
• Plan out the space you need ahead of time, look for how much all your libraries will take up and make sure you have enough room for expansion.
• Get windows installed and updated, install all supporting software and drivers first before even starting on installing software. This is the point where I take an initial system snapshot as a backup which I can revert back to if I need a clean slate.
• Installing plugins will not matter if the plugins or libraries for the plugins are not in the same location as the old system. Old projects will still function as long as the plugin is added into the DAW itself so location does not matter BUT at this point, make sure you have dedicated locations setup for your plugin .dll files so you can install everything to one location, and also make sure you have locations for the content libraries for these plugins. I always install content to a second drive to keep the bloat down for the OS drive.
• Sample drives may need to live at the exact same drive letter assignment if you reference sample data in your projects rather than collect the samples into your project folders. I always keep my samples and user content on a single drive and have this designated on any new system as my samples and "music" drive
• Once you have most of everything setup where you are happy, start loading some projects and make sure they load and all plugins are loading. As you find ones you missed install these.
• Typically once I have most of my software and plugins installed and working again I make a new OS backup so I can roll back the system every 6-12 months to that point and simply install new plugins and software onto that backup to update it again. This allows me to easily "clean" out junk accumulated in the system without having to completely start from scratch as it literally takes me about 2-3 weeks to install and update a new system from scratch for my setup.

Id you are lucky enough to have access to you old and new systems at the same time then this is a great time to really learn about how to create OS backups, how to test they work, how to manage your content and make things run efficiently etc because you can experiment for a while without the fear of loosing anything other than some time. Best learning tool ever for me was investing in 2 computers at an early age.

 

Thanks very much for the informative reply and for taking the time to do it. Much appreciated. Once the new PC is here I'll use your info above as a guide. Fortunately, at least for now, I do have the old system up and running so it will be a good time to learn this stuff and also a safe way to test some things out without having to worry about losing data.