Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

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Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By Koova Sat Oct 11, 2025 9:53 pm
Hey all, new MPC user here so bear with me!

I'm reading through the MPC Bible and it is saying that you are not able to access the internal storage of the MPC from your laptop, so an external storage device is needed.

However, it seems I do have access to the MPC Live III's disk after all.

There are two folders, MPC Content and MPC User.

Does the Bible just need to be updated for this newer device or something?
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Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By MPC-Tutor Sat Oct 11, 2025 11:25 pm
Yes MPC Live 3 is the first MPC to offer access to the internal disk. The current MPC Bible is not yet updated for MPC 3.6 nor the MPC Live 3, so this will be covered in the forthcoming update.

In relation to using the included project files, my initial findings are that confusingly there are two 'Expansions' folders accessible on the internal disk, one inside the 'MPC User > MPC Documents' folder, one inside 'MPC Content'.

So far the only way I can get third party expansions to show in standalone is to copy your expansions to the 'MPC Content > Expansions' folder (or use an external drive).
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Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By MPC-Tutor Sun Oct 12, 2025 8:27 am
So after a little more investigation, installing expansions to the 'MPC User > MPC Documents > Expansions' folder does not map the expansion to 'Browser > Expansions' in standalone. Not sure if this is a bug, oversight or if this folder has a different use. I have reported this to Akai for clarification

To install expansions into the MPC Live 3 there are now three options:

1. Install to 'MPC Content > Expansions' (this is where the existing factory expansions are stored and there's only 4GB free space)
2. Create a new 'Expansions' folder in root of 'MPC User' (MPC User > Expansions). This drive has 80GB+ free space.
3. Install to external disk, e.g. SD card (External disk root > Expansions)
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Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By MPC-Tutor Sun Oct 12, 2025 8:32 am
I would also point out that it is even more imperative that you remember to 'eject' all your MPC related disks before returning to standalone mode, as now you risk corrupting the internal content drives of the MPC, which are not user replaceable (although probably can if you know what you are doing!)

Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By Koova Tue Oct 21, 2025 4:56 am
Interesting, yea I noticed that those drives showed up so I was sure to eject them.

Seems like something someone could easily forget to do though!

Thanks for all the feedback and investigations. Also (assuming you are the author of the MPC Bible), I am finding it a lot of fun and very informative!
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Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By Lampdog Tue Oct 21, 2025 10:23 pm
MPC-Tutor wrote:Yes MPC Live 3 is the first MPC to offer access to the internal disk.

This is gonna be bad, watch, just watch and see.

Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By B-Wise Wed Oct 22, 2025 9:27 am
kaydigi wrote:When you unmount the mpc live iii internal drive on a Mac ,

the eject and erase option are
right next to each other when you right click.

Go slow if you are on a Mac people’s !!!

They hate us! :lol:
Is there at least an "Are you sure" popup if you pick Erase? - and we all will press erase at least once. :cry:

Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By Lawrence23 Thu Jan 22, 2026 4:03 am
MPC-Tutor wrote:So after a little more investigation, installing expansions to the 'MPC User > MPC Documents > Expansions' folder does not map the expansion to 'Browser > Expansions' in standalone. Not sure if this is a bug, oversight or if this folder has a different use. I have reported this to Akai for clarification

To install expansions into the MPC Live 3 there are now three options:

1. Install to 'MPC Content > Expansions' (this is where the existing factory expansions are stored and there's only 4GB free space)
2. Create a new 'Expansions' folder in root of 'MPC User' (MPC User > Expansions). This drive has 80GB+ free space.
3. Install to external disk, e.g. SD card (External disk root > Expansions)


Using alternatve #3 causes the Browser "Content" Drums, Instruments and Samples filters buttons totally useless. Is there a way to point these buttons to the external or internal SATA drive?
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Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By MPC-Tutor Thu Jan 22, 2026 10:25 am
No, those buttons have always only ever pointed to internal factory content, even on MPC2, and that can't be changed.

Lawrence23 wrote:
MPC-Tutor wrote:So after a little more investigation, installing expansions to the 'MPC User > MPC Documents > Expansions' folder does not map the expansion to 'Browser > Expansions' in standalone. Not sure if this is a bug, oversight or if this folder has a different use. I have reported this to Akai for clarification

To install expansions into the MPC Live 3 there are now three options:

1. Install to 'MPC Content > Expansions' (this is where the existing factory expansions are stored and there's only 4GB free space)
2. Create a new 'Expansions' folder in root of 'MPC User' (MPC User > Expansions). This drive has 80GB+ free space.
3. Install to external disk, e.g. SD card (External disk root > Expansions)


Using alternatve #3 causes the Browser "Content" Drums, Instruments and Samples filters buttons totally useless. Is there a way to point these buttons to the external or internal SATA drive?

Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By Lawrence23 Thu Jan 22, 2026 1:55 pm
That’s a shame. I suppose to repoint these to another drive would entail access to the OS, which I doubt Akai would allow us to do. Or perhaps they can create a feature that allows us to select where the button target could be changed. Has anyone seen this posted to a feature request board? Not sure if there is such a board, or how to get this request to Akai.

Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By Lawrence23 Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:08 pm
As I look at the 5 custom browser folder buttons, they seem to only work to point to folders, but have no filter function like the original browser content buttons do. They also seem to only apply to drives associated with the MPC. Is there a way to point to my PC drives where I may have content? I saw in an Akai knowledge article that you could point them to a desktop on a PC or Mac. But that does not seem to work.
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Re: Accessing internal storage on MPC Live III

By MPC-Tutor Thu Jan 22, 2026 2:23 pm
For feature requests, it's best to open a support ticket with Akai.

The folder shortcut buttons can be configured to point to any drive currently connected to your MPC, so in standalone mode that would exclude your computer. In controller mode they can point to disk folders connected to your PC, including MPC drives.

Lawrence23 wrote:As I look at the 5 custom browser folder buttons, they seem to only work to point to folders, but have no filter function like the original browser content buttons do. They also seem to only apply to drives associated with the MPC. Is there a way to point to my PC drives where I may have content? I saw in an Akai knowledge article that you could point them to a desktop on a PC or Mac. But that does not seem to work.
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