What's the best way to (re)install Logic Studio? Need Help.

Question

I bought Logic Studio a few months ago and installed it on my new MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz with 2G Ram, 160G hard drive @ 7200 rpm. Being new to Logic, at install, I just put all 40+ gigs of content on the computer. After a while I considered putting the Apple Loops (roughly 12gigs) onto an external hard drive to save space on my computer, just to see if it would work, then consider moving more content over later. After doing this the Logic application couldn't find the Apple Loops, and I couldn't find a way to help it see the new path, so my Apple Loops were essentially rendered useless (since I had already deleted them from the computer). So I stopped right there, and haven't done anything else. Just worked with Logic without using Loops, which I have to say is still an incredible program.
What also seemed strange was this: In moving the Apple Loops, the available disk space on the computer didn't seem to change much. It went down a few gigs, but not the 12 or so I was expecting. Not sure why that is. It seems like Logic and all the content is actually taking up around 50 gigs or so on my computer (and the Apple Loops are supposedly gone or not available). What is that about?
Feeling like I had really fouled things up, I called Apple Care. They said that the content of Logic is stored in many places in the computer's libraries and system folders, but it was really confusing trying to locate all of it, because the info they sent was from Logic 7 and older versions of GarageBand. I guess Logic 8 is too new for them to have anything on it. There is no uninstall for Logic Studio. But they strongly recommended that I perform an Erase and Install, and then re-install all my software including Logic, and then assign the hard drive I wanted the content in. That would open up a lot of the computer's hard drive space, they said. It seemed like an extreme measure to take for such a small blunder, and I haven't tried it yet, but will if it's the best option.
If I do this, is running Logic content (i.e. Loops, Impulse Responses, Jam Packs, etc.) from an external hard drive (and the one I have to use is 5400rpm--is that too slow or am I getting too picky?) the best way to go, or should I have all Logic material coming from the same machine? How do I get some of my hard drive space back?
Ugh.
Has anyone out there experienced this too? Is there anything documented about where the content is stored for Logic Studio? Is Erase and Install really the best thing to do in this situation?
So many questions...
Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey Blue,
Let me see if I can help you a bit.
Logic Studio has 28+ gb of loops. Almost 23 for STP and 6 for the Jam Packs, etc. They should be located in /Library/Audio/Apple Loops/Apple (that's the default install loc.). Copy them to an external drive and then delete them from your main drive. Go to /Library/Audio/Apple Loops Indexes and delete those text files. Now go to /Library/Preferences/Soundtrack Pro and delete those text files, too (more Loop Indexes).
Now open Logic Pro and it will say 'No Apple Loops found'. Click 'OK' and then open your Loop Browser. Drag all the Jam Pack folders, STP folder, etc. that you want to use onto the Loop Browser. Logic will ask you if you want to 'Copy to Loops Folder' or 'Current Location'. Choose 'Current Location'. Logic will now index the loop folders.
NOTE: You can change the names of the folders to suit your liking. For example: I added the 2, 3, 4, 5 after the Jam Pack names to make it look smoother on the popup menu and changed iLife Sound Effects to Sound Effects - iLife and Apple Loops for STP to STP. Now the Jam Packs 1-5 come up first on the popup menu and the FX stay at the bottom. I likee!!
Now, if you like you can take your EXS Factory Samples and Ultrabeat Samples, 3.35 & .889 gb respectively, and copy them to an external drive. I have mine in the same place as my Jam Packs, etc. You can find these files in /Library/Application Support/Logic. Toss out the originals and put ALIASES from the external drive back into the /Lib/App Sup/Logic folder.
Also, if you open STP and click the Search tab in the right pane you will see a button that says 'Setup' next to it. Click that and you can use the checkboxes in the window to activate/deactivate any of the loop folders available.
A clean install is the best IMO if you have a little time because a) you DO NOT have to install GB at all (that saves the .aif file size - Logic Studio uses .caf files at half the size of the originals) b) Logic Studio will install the extra GB or Logic 7 content if you need it at it's reduced size. It will basically get rid of all the old clutter that you do not need. Only install what JP's you want and move the bigger stuff to an external.
Rock up Logic and it should all be in place. That procedure saved me 32.5 gb on my main drive.
NOTE #2: You have another 12 gb (if you installed all Jam Packs) that reside in the /Library/Application Support/GarageBand/Instrument Library/Sampler. These are the Jam Pack Instruments & Sampler files for World, Symphony, etc. They cannot be moved from the startup HD (as far as I can tell). So keep that in mind if you don't want a certain JP.
Hope that helps,
Dave