Sounds Libraries: Why Separate Windows/mac downloads?

[eddie001]

So what happens if I change operating systems in a few years?
There are separate downloads links for Window and mac.
I found this, but it doesn't get into the different OS question. Should I also be downloading separate OS content for a potential OS change?

The expiry only relates the the main Sounds Libraries for a product.
The download period is 180 days for each product Sounds Library, from the date of product Registration.
There is a reminder on the download page and in the Product Manager ("IKPM") to keep a back-up copy of the downloaded files so that they do not need to be downloaded again.
You can reactivate ALL of your sounds downloads access by purchasing 1 (one) 'Download Reactivation Credit' in IK Multimedia's webstore.
The price is 9.99 (excluding VAT)
Reactivation will open download access for a further 180 days for all registered products.

[Peter_IK]

The installers are different, is all. The best way to back up your sound libraries is to back up the installed version which can be used on either Mac or Windows. I do this by having an external hard drive with all SampleTank samples in their proper folders etc in a known working state which I can then just plug into any computer with SampleTank installed. I back that up to cloud storage in case anything happens to the hard drive.

On my main home studio computer (the 24-core 96GB RAM beast that needs to always be ready and stable - any "production" machine should be treated like it is in a lab and always mission critical) I copy the files over to the sample drive on the machine itself so I always have them. Otherwise, I just hook up the external hard drive to any other machine (I have quick music-making setups available on my gaming machine as well as my laptop) which is a quick and portable solution.

This way I'm backed up to local physical media (the external hard drive) plus it is off site (because my IT days made offsite backup a part of my DNA).

[eddie001]

The installers are different, is all. The best way to back up your sound libraries is to back up the installed version which can be used on either Mac or Windows. I do this by having an external hard drive with all SampleTank samples in their proper folders etc in a known working state which I can then just plug into any computer with SampleTank installed. I back that up to cloud storage in case anything happens to the hard drive.

On my main home studio computer (the 24-core 96GB RAM beast that needs to always be ready and stable - any "production" machine should be treated like it is in a lab and always mission critical) I copy the files over to the sample drive on the machine itself so I always have them. Otherwise, I just hook up the external hard drive to any other machine (I have quick music-making setups available on my gaming machine as well as my laptop) which is a quick and portable solution.

This way I'm backed up to local physical media (the external hard drive) plus it is off site (because my IT days made offsite backup a part of my DNA).

Thanks for the input! I think half of it went over my head though.

If I go MacHD>>Users>>Shared>>and copy the IKMultimedia folder there and paste that into an external drive, will that work for backup**?

And could an external drive with that folder pasted in, work with both mac and pc?

-
**for backup of ST3, ST4, SampleTron, Miroslav, Syntronik
(what about b-3x, modo bass, modo drums?)

[DarkStar]

A!: If that is where your sounds libraries are installed then that should be fine. But, as with all back-up methods, try it out BEFORE you need it.

A2 B-£X and MODO Bass do not have sounds libraries, so you can just get the PC installer. MODO drums does have some samples (cymbals etc) and I reckon you could back those up too, as above or just get the PC installer