Symlink VST Install path

[highkoo]

Hiya,

I got a new SSD to reinstall all my plugins on.
I was just about to start the arduous epic migration, and get a few updates in at the same time, when I got an amazingly lazy thought; Symbolic Links.
I was already using them to link two VST install folders on two drives...

So, I funneled everything down to the SSD using symlinks and just moved all the install folders over.
Was that a really good idea, or a really bad idea?

All seems ok with a quick test, but I am wondering what problems I might cause doing this....

DAW sees everything just fine, but I wonder about registry checks and the like running into problems.
Anyone know?

[Touch The Universe]

can you open the vst's, are they in demo mode?

[highkoo]

I only did a quick spot check, and everything seemed ok so far....
Havent checked after a restart though.

[highkoo]

Im sure everyone is dying to know...

Amazingly, this method seems to have caused minimal chaos.

A couple things want to be reinstalled, but most are fine, so far.
I havent done any troubleshooting really, but the non-launching list is Diva, Chipcrusher, WavesShell, and some ImageLine VSTi.

The only real pain was Reaktor. I have many Reaktor generator and effect .ens saved as .fst files in the FL Plugin Database. Reaktor could not 'follow' the symlinks to the .ens, apparently, although FL loaded the Reaktor .dll no problem. So all of those .ens had to be reloaded, and the .fst re-saved...
And just that little taste of fixing has made me very thankful that the symlink hack worked for the bulk of it.

If you have any interest, there is a tool that adds a symlink-creating option to the right click in Win7.
Super handy.

[Boy Wonder]

Late to the party, but I've been exploring symlinks using my external drives. It really came in handy for those synths that dumped 2, 3, or more GB's of files in ProgramData, Public\Public Documents, AppData Local, AppData Roaming, etc.

[SantaClaus]

UltimatePluginTool for those who want an easy way to create symlinks.