New Computer Arriving Soon. Should I Transfer or Reinstall?
Chummy1962
Posts: 16
in The Commons
Good Day Everyone. My new computer will arrive Monday. Should I save everything to a USB drive or should I just reinstall the content? I have just over 1000 items purchased from the Daz store. I also have third party content purchased from other sites. The third party content is already backed up to the USB drive.
Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Comments
Depends on your Bandwidth
I would put all my content library(s) on external hard drive(s). and do a fresh clean of install of daz studio on a new computer for optimal performance.
The simplest solution, if you have lots of data and bandwidth, is to just reinstall everything fresh on the new computer. That takes a lot of time but is the least prone to problems and requires the least technical know how.
If you have a data cap, most people do,or have a fairly low bandwidth, such that downloading all your assets will take a long time, then transferring is likely preferable. If you want smart content to work it is not as simple as just copying the asset files over. There is a script around somewhere, do a ghoogle search for it, that will get you through it.
What if you kept the Download Packages from DIM on a separate hard drive? Wouldn't that eliminate the need for downloading them? The reason I ask is that whenever I get my new system, I'm probably going to copy the Download Packages to a different drive and then delete the ones DIM has.
yes I did exactly that on my second PC using the zips in DIM which are on an external
I use new SSD or new computer either one as excuse to reinstall. It's not too bad if you have saved all DIM file locally & use DIM to automate uninstall & reinstall really.
I would reinstall. Mostly because that way you'd only install what you need and avoid long loading times due to character morphs you don't have a current use for. You can install all your clothing, hair and environment assets without issue, but there's no need to install everything in one go.
That would work. But that's a lot of storage to tie up, or would be if it was me.
I want to thank everyone for your ideas and comments. I am going to save the DAZ 3D InstallManager Downloads folder to a USB drive and move these to the new computer. I am getting excited! I tracked my computer package at FedEx this morning and it is very close to being home. Close enough that I wish I could drive to go pick it up.
I can feel your excitement, well, now wait and copy everything you need and yes Richard also once suggested me to back up InstallManager Downloads folder only. You probably need to install those downloaded zips again.
Just a matter of copying those zip files into the InstallManager Downloads folder again on the new computer, start up DIM, head over to the second tab in DIM, and press the install button.
Have fun! I am getting 2 new 27" FHD monitors soon and when they finally become available for non-scalpers, one of those 3060 GPUs! I'll finally a computer than that has some horse power.
Not sure who you bought from or whether it is a laptop or desktop, that its coming by FedEx does imply a laptop, but when you get it do carefully inspect it for shipping damage. The shipping companies take labels like Fragile as a dare more than a warning. Some OEM's package their systems with that in mind and some skimp a little.