How to Move Your Logic Pro 12 Sound Library to an External Drive

Why Logic Pro 12 Changed The Sound Library Process

If you have moved your Logic Pro sound library to an external drive before, you will notice the process looks a little different in Logic Pro 12. Apple consolidated everything into a single file, the Logic Pro Library bundle, rather than the collection of separate sound packages used in earlier versions. That is good news in some ways, since it means one file to manage instead of many, but it also means the steps for relocating that content have changed, and there is a new formatting requirement to be aware of before you start.

If you have downloaded a meaningful amount of Logic Pro's available content, this file can get large fast, easily running into the tens of gigabytes, which makes moving it off your main drive worth doing the moment you start feeling short on space.

Finding Your Logic Pro Library File

Start by opening Finder and navigating to your user directory, usually your username, then to Music. Inside, you will find the Logic Pro Library bundle itself. Click on it and check its file size. It is common for this single file to be well over 80 gigabytes if you have downloaded most or all of the available sound content, so seeing that number is usually all the confirmation you need that moving it elsewhere is worthwhile.

Formatting Your External Drive The Right Way

Before copying anything, confirm your external drive is formatted correctly. Logic Pro 12 recommends APFS as the format for your external drive, though Mac OS Extended (Journaled) will also work. If your drive came formatted for a PC, or you are unsure what format it is currently using, open Disk Utility, which you can find quickly by searching for it in Spotlight.

Select your drive and choose Erase to reformat it. This step is worth repeating clearly: erasing a drive deletes everything currently on it, so if there is anything you need to keep, move it off the drive first and copy it back once the reformat is finished. Once you are in the Erase dialog, choose APFS as the format and complete the process.

Moving The Sound Library To Your External Drive

With your drive properly formatted, the actual move is simple: drag the Logic Pro Library bundle from its current location in your Music folder over to wherever you want it to live on your external drive. A dedicated folder for your audio libraries keeps things organized if you plan to store other sample content there as well.

Depending on the size of your library and the speed of your external drive, this copy can take a few minutes, so let it finish completely before moving on to the next step.

Deleting The Old Library And Freeing Up Space

Once the copy has finished, delete the original Logic Pro Library bundle from your Music folder, either with Command-Delete or by right clicking and choosing Delete. This step alone does not free up your drive space though, since deleted files sit in the Trash until it is emptied. Make sure to empty your Trash afterward to actually reclaim that storage on your main drive.

Relinking Logic Pro To The New Location

Open Logic Pro after deleting the original library. Since Logic Pro can no longer find the sound library where it expects it, you will be prompted to either create a new one or locate the existing one. Choose Locate, navigate to your external drive, and select the Logic Pro Library bundle you just moved there. Once you confirm, Logic Pro relinks to this new location and you are back up and running exactly as before, just pulling your sounds from your external drive instead of your main drive.

Checking Or Changing The Location Later

If you ever want to confirm where your sound library currently lives, or move it again down the road, you do not need to wait for a prompt. Go to the Logic Pro menu, then Settings, then General, and open the Sound Library tab. This shows you the current location of your library, and if Logic Pro ever cannot find it, for example after disconnecting and reconnecting your external drive in a different port, you can hit Locate here and point it back to the right place.

Downloading New Sounds Going Forward

Once everything is relinked, any new sound packs you download in the future will automatically be saved to your new external drive location rather than back onto your main drive. To browse and download additional content, go to the Logic Pro menu, then Sound Library, then Manage Packs, where you will see everything currently available to install.

A Quick Process With A Real Payoff

This whole move takes a few minutes of active work, with most of that time simply waiting for the file to copy over. Once it is done, you get back a substantial chunk of space on your main drive, and your sound library stays exactly as accessible as it was before, just living somewhere that will not crowd out the rest of your system.

TIMECODES:
00:00 Intro
00:32 Why This Changed in Logic Pro 12
00:54 Finding Your Logic Pro Library File
01:30 Formatting Your External Drive to APFS
02:39 Moving the Library to Your External Drive
03:04 Deleting the Old Library and Emptying Trash
03:22 Relinking Logic Pro to the New Location
03:49 Checking Your Sound Library Location in Settings
04:13 Downloading New Sounds to the New Location