Help... I need a way to sort my runtime!
Llola Lane
Posts: 9,620
in The Commons
Hi Gang...
My 4tb hard drive is almost to the max... is there any way I can sort all the old (ie V4 M4.. etc) stuff out to put on another drive? I'd like to keep the 4tb drive just for G8 and G9... Rest put on another drive. I am baffled HOW to do it without having to go through every single thing I bought! (bogglez the mind how much stuff I have)
PLEASE HEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!! oh... and thanks... have a wonderful day.... hugzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Llola
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How did you install the content?
Daz Studio doesn't care where files are, as long as they are correctly placed within the content directory (e.g. the My Library folder, though the name and location don't matter) - the only exception is Custom Actions, which are saved as absolute paths. With the fourth generation figues you do need to keep all the /Runtime/Libraries/!DAZ/ files together. Moving the Poser content, except for textuews, could be done by moving everything except /Runtime/textues/ (which will have a mix of Poser and DS content textures).
Edit -> Preferences -> Content -> Content Directory Manager. Check the Daz Studio Formats and Poser Formats squares and add a directory - "V4M4 Stuff" or whatever you want - directory on that other drive. Put a Runtime directory in it and copy all the stuff you think you want to have there.
But yes, you will have to do a lot of looking and copying or deleteting and re-installing (with DIM) and spend quite a while for doing it this way
I installed with DIM... I was hoping that maybe DIM could sort the different Gens for me???? Is there an easy way???
ugh... THAT is what I was afraid of... I will be spending a LOT of time sorting... I really don't use Gen 3 4 or Genesis much anymore... I like them for filler crowds in the background but that's about it. WHO knew 4tb would get full??? I'm still hoping someone has an easier way. (fingers crossed)
Llola I don't know if this is any better of an approach.
1) In DIM, while in the installed tab, you can search based on SKU ranges as in my screenshot. You can pick a range it gives, then tweak it to include up the number you want, to cover as much as possible through the Genesis items. SKU 16000 still has Genesis stuff for example. So a range of 0-16000 might give you a start? Then just make a note of your range, select all (one-click), and uninstall (one-click). I don't know how long it would take to uninstall. You can see how much space this stuff takes in the status bar.
2) Then you can look for that same range in your ready to download tab and install them on the different drive by changing your install location. (Again search for the range, select all (one-click), and install (one-click).)
If anyone can see issues with this method, please share!
There might be a different kind of problem with this though: I looked for items I had with SKU 0 to 20000. I have about 5000 things installed in this range it seems and they're listed as taking only 330 Gb disk space... Some gains, but not that much.
You may have a lot more stuff. Recently, I had the same problem you had - I just gave in and got a bigger drive... 
As long as you aint install things thro DIM(may still work) way to do that 1. sort all your content in one single folders in your new drive -> go to your content library tab -> right click on "Daz Studio Format" on your left and select "add a base directory" 3. select the contnet folder you created from step 1. 4. Done
Install content directly into your new directory would be a whole new story tho
My installed base is puny compared to 4Tb, but DIM will show me a colossal list of installed products, and a colossal-er list of more products to download. It can sort your lists by product ID if you choose. That will put the items in a roughly chronological order. Most of the Millennium-era products will be at the low end of the list, and sorting by hand will be needed mostly at the transitions when each new Genesis was released. It's not a leak-proof filter, but it should save some time. Hope this helps.
[Edited for image.]
Hallelujah!
Disciple
Hi Gang... I had not thought about sorting by SKU ... problem with that is there may be some buildings, etc at the lower numbers??? If I delete them all then I'll also delete the buildings??? I have no idea HOW the SKUs are given... I look at them and it seems they are all over the place. Does Daz reuse SKU numbers if a product gets deleted???
To answer some of you alls' points I have almost 20,000 items installed on my 4tb drive! Yeah... I'm a Daz hoarder... lol. I did buy another 4tb drive that is solid state last year but it was the biggest I could find here in Ohio at Best Buy at the time. I like having my stuff all on one drive but it's gotten to the point where I really don't render the earlier generations much anymore so they are not really needed. I have an old drive with them installed if I need them again.
Also... DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO associate content with the correct Character? I used to be able to click V4, etc... and only V4 content would show up for her... now I look for content and EVERYTHING shows up. It's a real pain trying to figure out what is hers and what isn't. :( It takes me forEVER to find stuff for Gen characters. ALL of my Gens are doing this. If I search for G9... I get Victoria 4, etc stuff too. Hope this makes sense. All was find til I did the updates about a year ago. I'm so frustrated.
I will keep yas posted.. Thanks... any further help suggestions will be MUCH appreciated. Stay well one and all. hugzzzzzzzzz
Hum... I sorted by PRODUCT ID: Lowest first... and the first thing I have listed is the Morphing Skull which is Product 23... so that won't work deleting by number cause some stuff I still want. Hummm....
FYI.. I can't find a way to DELETE the items I want to get rid of from DIM... I can only HIDE them???
Hum... this is proving more difficult than I thought. Sure would be nice if DIM could sort by Figure (sighs)
I'm off to try and figure this out. Any more suggestions are greatly appreciated. :)
Yes windli3356 ... I actually have done this... I have new drive all ready... Just need to get the content there ... :) thanks oodles.
Trying that now SapphireBlue ... I didn't know I could sort by SKU... I found it... Sorting by ID didn't help much.
Ooo.. there's a FILTER BY NAME... FIGURE... and then GENERATION... but not much is showing up :(
Oh.. it's just deleting the BASEs... not ALL the content for each character... Darn...
For the most part, as long as the directories are defined to Studio as studio-format content directories it doesn't make that much difference where things are. I think you'll be a bit disappointed with the results they way you're looking at it. My runtime, for example - V4 as selection criteria in DIM amounts to 237 items and 8.2 GB. Shaders, OTOH, 686 items and 221.3 GB.
I went through this process a couple of years ago and I have content spread over three internal drives - the main library is currently 3,535,792 files and 2.07 TB; the shaders and billboards 497,605 files and 359 GB; HDRI 468,886 files and 938 GB (I have some of the tuly enormous environments her as well); tutorials (anything listed as 'general') 510 files 18.9 GB (not defined to studio, no studio content).
Sort your installed tab to largest firs - it will be an eye-opener; 54071 - Architectural Garden Plants for Daz Studio Vol 1 - 4 TB (and in my HDRI durectory).
ooo good point.. so i may just wanna move my environments instead of figures... I'll check it out... VERY good point!
There are a couple of filter options that may help
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/install_manager/referenceguide/tech_articles/filters/start#path
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/install_manager/referenceguide/tech_articles/filters/start#file
I am sorry Richard... I have no idea what that all means... I'm not a programmer. It's all gibberish to me :(
Essentially you can look for products that contain a particular path or name in their file locations - so if your current content directory is, to save me typing, C:/Content/ you could use
path::C:/Content/Runtime/Libraries/!DAZ/
to find all products that contained ExP morph expansions. Figuring out which path (or file name) to use might be tricky, but you could certainly do a lot of the work by use of those featues to find the installed products, select them all, and reinstall to the new location.
I .. THINK.. i understand... But what code do I use to find .. for example: ALL V4 content... figures... clothes... shoes... hair... etc that she uses??? If I knew what code to use... I think I can figure it out. I did a tiny bit of DOS programming so I know using the right 'code' is VERY important. Is there a list somewhere???
The version I gave, in the Installed tab, would give all ExP Products - if you added Victoria 4/ to the end it would just be Victoria 4. You could find other things by using Victoria 4 or V4 in the path or file with a wildcard (*)
Thank you Richard.. I will try to figure it out this week.
Any ideas HOW I can have my Daz give the right contents for the right character? I know I'm explaining it wrong... Here's what I asked earlier but no one has answered yet... Also... DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO associate content with the correct Character? I used to be able to click V4, etc... and only V4 content would show up for her... now I look for content and EVERYTHING shows up. It's a real pain trying to figure out what is hers and what isn't. :( It takes me forEVER to find stuff for Gen characters. ALL of my Gens are doing this. If I search for G9... I get Victoria 4, etc stuff too. Hope this makes sense. All was find til I did the updates about a year ago. I'm so frustrated.
Does it have metadata (e.g. the content type tags at top-right)? If so, is Filter By Context checked at bottom-left of the Smart Content pane?
OMG... That's it!!!! Thank you.. not sure when but it was unchecked. I didn't even notice it. THANK YOU... I've been asking in a few forums but no one answered. I reeeeeeeeally appreciate your help Richard... (Leave it to a cat to have the answer! .. giggles)
Don't just DELETE the items, UNINSTALL them. In DIM in the "Installed" tab checkmark the box next to what you want uninstalled and hit the green button at the bottom that says "Start Queue". This will uninstall all of the products you have checked, that way you don't have to track down all the files. Just UNINSTALL what you don't want on your computer. You can then, if you want to, install them to a DIFFERENT directory later.
Hi 3Diva... I've done that.. the problem is they go back to the READY TO DOWNLOAD tab... and that causes problems when I need to install NEW content. All I can do is HIDE them... I can't delete them from the READY TO DOWNLOAD tab. :(
That's what hide is for - the only way to delete them from your ready to download tab is to have Daz support remove them permanently from your product library. I don't think they'd be willing.
ok... I knew that... but... I have THOUSANDS of old content... I'd have to click HIDE on each and every one. There is no what to hide them all at once. (unless someone can show me how)
Some other options to consider would be:
Compress your duf files if you haven't already, you'll be amazed how much space you can save this way. Using the batch converter makes it very easy. If it's something you're interested in trying, I can post more detailed instructions.
Daz doesn't care if you have the data folder on one drive and textures on another; I find it easier to keep all data and library files in one place and only move textures on other drives. To do this, create runtime / textures folders on your new drive and add it as a new library in daz (or install a product there, so the folders are created automatically). Then move a folder of textures, like KindredArts, from the current runtime / textures to the newly created one. Then open daz and test if you did it correctly and the products using the textures load as it should. If it's working fine, you can start moving any others you like. The only thing you need to pay attention is to keep the same folder structure on the new drive as it is on the current one (some items use "wrong" paths, like "runtime / texture" instead of "runtime / textures", if you choose to move those, you need to recreate the "wrong" path on the new drive too, but it's best to avoid these if it's not something you're comfrotable with).
I did it in batches. Search for example M4 - select everything (that convienient 'Products' selection, top left) then scan everything, unselecting the items to keep. Uninstall. Switch to the Ready to Install tab; repeat and either hide or delete selected - then move to the ready to download, select and hide all selected. Then change the search criteria for the next batch. IIRC I spent a couple of weeks doing this, about 20 to 30 minutes per day.
Eventually you'll get to a useable subset displaying with no search criteria.
I've hidden the downloads for legacy and PS files - I'm Studio only. I've kept the installers for everything else - currently eating 2.75 TB on the external drive I download to (and the two external drives I back up to . . ) 40,797 files.
Somebody mentioned compressing DUF files, but you can also just compress the entire folder on the drive itself which the operating system will manage behind the scenes. I just did that on mine over the last couple days (it takes a while). Went from 3.72 TB to 2.98 TB.
Windows 10/11, just right click on a folder, click the advanced button, check "compress contents to save disk space" and click "okay" then "apply".
Not everything compresses well though, so you could also be more selective with the files/folders you select.