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How to transfer all Daz Content to external SSD

bevdog896_d08d9c913abevdog896_d08d9c913a Posts: 126
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Hey all, I'm looking to transfer all my Daz content to an external SSD to save space on my PCs hard drive. I just want to make sure I do it properly as I have many years of accumulated work and content. The thought of messing it up gives me heartburn! Any step by step advice would be greatly appreciated (I'm using windows 11) :)

As a side note I did find a couple of posts on the subject here in the forums:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/583911/can-i-put-my-daz-files-on-an-external-drive-and-how?srsltid=AfmBOooVOezWYQQzn8agqocZ6ZipLrHPzlixABeoJrPPh4ZsZqfjjx1i

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/407716/moving-daz-content-off-of-c-drive-in-2020

Both seem similar overall but there are some significant differences in the complexity of the approach. Wondering if one approach is better than the other for 2026?

Comments

  • DrunkMonkeyProductionsDrunkMonkeyProductions Posts: 1,309

    step by step.

    1. turn on computer

    2. Plug in SSD.

    3. Open 2 file explorer windows.

    4. Locate content library

    5. drag and drop content library to ssd.

    6. Open content directory manager

    7. assign new drive as source.

    8. if using DIM, Connect or central, change install paths to new drive.

     

    I'm being a tongue in cheek here, mostly because peopler freak out about this and it's just a very basic file copy process, no different than copying files to/from a phone or other source.

    As long as you don't delete the original files until you've verified the copy is working, there's nothing to worry about.

    I will recommend getting another drive, and making a proper backup, in the event any of your drives fail.

    I'm well aware that drive prices are absolutely nuts right now, but consider what your data is worth, and that price is small compared to the loss you could have.

    I would also recommend using a file comparison program, like "Scooter's beyond compare" to make sure the contents on the external drive match the ones on the internal drive.

     

    To elaborate on a few things....

    The content library default location is "C:\users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library"

    While this is the current default, if you've been working with studio for some time, you may have content in other folders, such as "c:\users\(user name)\Daz 3d\Studio\My library", so be sure to check for any other libraries on your drive..

    If you customised the install folder(s), then you'll need to locate that yourself.

     

    To access Content DIrectroy Manager in Daz studio...You can either click on the Content LIbrary pane's menu button and select Content Directory Manager... from the menu, or Edit>Preferences>Content Tab>Content diretory manager.

    In the pop out menu, you'll simply need to slect the various formats you use, daz studio, poser, other and remove the old path and select the new path.

    I will recommend backing up the original paths, by creating a copy of the "Current Directories" content set, by highlighting it, and clicking the "copy" button.

    This way, if something goes sideways, you can easily revert the paths.

     

    One last thing, i don't use Connect or smart content at all, so if there's any additional steps you need to take i'm unaware of them in relation.

     

  • bevdog896_d08d9c913abevdog896_d08d9c913a Posts: 126

    DrunkMonkeyProductions said:

    step by step.

    1. turn on computer

    2. Plug in SSD.

    3. Open 2 file explorer windows.

    4. Locate content library

    5. drag and drop content library to ssd.

    6. Open content directory manager

    7. assign new drive as source.

    8. if using DIM, Connect or central, change install paths to new drive.

     

    I'm being a tongue in cheek here, mostly because peopler freak out about this and it's just a very basic file copy process, no different than copying files to/from a phone or other source.

    As long as you don't delete the original files until you've verified the copy is working, there's nothing to worry about.

    I will recommend getting another drive, and making a proper backup, in the event any of your drives fail.

    I'm well aware that drive prices are absolutely nuts right now, but consider what your data is worth, and that price is small compared to the loss you could have.

    I would also recommend using a file comparison program, like "Scooter's beyond compare" to make sure the contents on the external drive match the ones on the internal drive.

     

    To elaborate on a few things....

    The content library default location is "C:\users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library"

    While this is the current default, if you've been working with studio for some time, you may have content in other folders, such as "c:\users\(user name)\Daz 3d\Studio\My library", so be sure to check for any other libraries on your drive..

    If you customised the install folder(s), then you'll need to locate that yourself.

     

    To access Content DIrectroy Manager in Daz studio...You can either click on the Content LIbrary pane's menu button and select Content Directory Manager... from the menu, or Edit>Preferences>Content Tab>Content diretory manager.

    In the pop out menu, you'll simply need to slect the various formats you use, daz studio, poser, other and remove the old path and select the new path.

    I will recommend backing up the original paths, by creating a copy of the "Current Directories" content set, by highlighting it, and clicking the "copy" button.

    This way, if something goes sideways, you can easily revert the paths.

     

    One last thing, i don't use Connect or smart content at all, so if there's any additional steps you need to take i'm unaware of them in relation.


     

    Hi there! 
    Thanks for the advice on this, I really appreciate it. I think some of the anxiety around it comes from the accumulated years and seeing slightly different instructions on how to do it. In one of the posts I linked, the suggestion is to keep the root file path exactly the same. So still have users/public/publicdocuments/mydaz3dlibrary as the path on the new drive. Is this necessary or could I just have like "D:\My Daz 3D Library" on the new drive. I would also like to move the content from my documents as well (scenes, render library etc). 
     

    I'm using all the default paths currently and I use DIM :)

  • SofaCitizenSofaCitizen Posts: 2,185

    Not sure where you have read about the paths, but it is likely that they were referring to everything inside the base path, not outside.

    That means you can copy "C:\users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library" to "D:\My Daz 3D Library" and just change the mapping within Daz Studio (all versions you may have installed) and DIM. You could also change the name to "D:\New Library"(or something similar) since that part does not really matter. What you cannot do is start moving/renaming folders inside the base path unless you know what you are doing and what will break.

    The only issue with changing the absolute path is if you use multiple install folders within DIM. I suspect that most people won't do that but if you do then you'll have to manually update the manifest files to avoid duplication when doing updates.

    Also, make sure you never have a base path inside another base path as that leads to chaos.

  • bevdog896_d08d9c913abevdog896_d08d9c913a Posts: 126
    edited August 19

    SofaCitizen said:

    Not sure where you have read about the paths, but it is likely that they were referring to everything inside the base path, not outside.

    That means you can copy "C:\users\Public\Documents\My DAZ 3D Library" to "D:\My Daz 3D Library" and just change the mapping within Daz Studio (all versions you may have installed) and DIM. You could also change the name to "D:\New Library"(or something similar) since that part does not really matter. What you cannot do is start moving/renaming folders inside the base path unless you know what you are doing and what will break.

    The only issue with changing the absolute path is if you use multiple install folders within DIM. I suspect that most people won't do that but if you do then you'll have to manually update the manifest files to avoid duplication when doing updates.

    Also, make sure you never have a base path inside another base path as that leads to chaos.

    Ah great, thanks.

    I was thinking of doing something like D:\New Library\My Daz 3D Library?

    Also, what about the "Daz 3D" folder in public documents that contains the install manager stuff (downloads, filters, manifest files). Can I coupy that over in the same way and then point the relevant parts DIM to it?

    Like if copy over the install manager stuff to the new drive do I just/is it safe to point the package archive, thumbnail archive, manifest archive to the new drive?

    Post edited by bevdog896_d08d9c913a on
  • SofaCitizenSofaCitizen Posts: 2,185

    D:\New Library\My Daz 3D Library?

    I would advise against that since you may accidentally add both "D:\New Library\My Daz 3D Library" and "D:\New Library" as base paths given they both have library in the name. This WILL break stuff if you ended up doing that. If you want to subfolder it then perhaps "D:\DAZ3D\My Daz 3D Library" then you could also have "D:\DAZ3D\DIM" and use that for moving your manifest folder into.
    And moving the DIM folders should be fine aslong as you update the paths in the config for DIM once you have done so.

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