New Laptop! Yay! Have to reinstall Daz! Boo! How to install libraries to external from the start?

posecastposecast Posts: 386

Hi guys. I just got a new Alienware laptop with a 1070 and I'm pretty excited to get mobile. The problem is that the internal 1TB hard drive is not going to cut it for my Daz library. So I got a 4TB USB3 external. Can anyone guide me through putting my content on that drive from the start? I have not installed Daz Studio yet. Also, postgre or valentina?

Thank you!

JT

Comments

  • BobvanBobvan Posts: 2,653
    edited May 2018

    I got an asus with a 1070 last month. I simplyuse it to build & set up scenes @ work. You simply have to copy your content and your external and sych it through preferences...

    Post edited by Bobvan on
  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,368

    I'm almost setting up my "hot summer, go to the cafe' rather than sweat it out at home" laptop.  I decided that I only wanted the newer generations so I've been taking my time sussing out what is important and what I don't really need.  I'm keeping mostly iRAY and SOME 3DL lighting, shaders and then most of the environments but then it gets tricky as I don't want to have any of the Generation 2, 3 or 4 on it, nor do I want any Genesis or Genesis 2 but SOME of the Genesis 3 and all of the Genesis 8. It's taken me well over a week and bleary eyes to get it done but I'm down to a bout 300 downloads via DIM.  I have a similar hd set up.  I have a 250 Gb SS drive for the OS and the programs and the 1 Tb SATA drive for the content so yea, can't be all I have but being a content creator I need this little portable to make stuff for what's popular now.  ZBrush, DS and Photoshop all run very nicely on this.  Renders are very quick too so happy! 

    Oh and you can have your HUGE library if you put it all on a 4 Tb portable drive and just bring with and plug it in when you need it. 

    Richard

  • AllenArtAllenArt Posts: 7,175

    Are you using an old library? Are you installing everything from scratch? How are you installing? (Daz Connect, Install Manager, manually)? All these questions need to be answered before anyone can give you any meaningful advice.

    As to one of your other questions, you'll want Postgre, NOT Valentina.

    Laurie

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,081

    Just put the content on the new drive. The trick is making sure the download annd install directory paths are correct im DIM, the software filters are correct in DIM and the Content Directory Manager paths are correct (and match the Install pathes in DIM) in Studio.
     

  • posecastposecast Posts: 386

    I am performing a fresh install on a new laptop. I have a 4tb drive that I want to download my content library to (I normally install from the available content window.)

    Thank you...any help is appreciated.

  • AllenArtAllenArt Posts: 7,175

    I think Daz Connect Content is a bit more complicated to move than content installed manually or thru DIM. Richard is a better one to advise about that. I'm sure he'll be along soon.

    Laurie

  • Ron KnightsRon Knights Posts: 2,363

    I understand the desire to be mobile. How mobile can you really be if you're lugging around a 3TB external drive. Even the portable drive makes things more complicated.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 109,151

    Actually it's moving  DIM installs that can require a bit of care as the manifest for the installed files stores the absolute location (DS, including Connect, use relative paths so don't care if the whole content directory is moved). You can, in DIM's preferences, tell it to install updates to the current content directory rather than the original install location but on the rare occasions that an update needs to remove a fiel without replacing it you can end up with left-overs. Uninstall/reinstall would avoid thazt, as would editing the .dsx files in the Manifests folder.

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,368

    Question Richard... where should the manifest be stored as I just created a new My Library and want to make sure when I move it to my big workhorse computer I can make sure that comes along with the transfer so I don't get DIM freaking out on me and wanting me to redownload all of it again!  lol

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 109,151

    By default they go in the Manifests folder in the Install Manager folder in Public Documents - changing the default involves editing the account.ini file.

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,368
    edited May 2018

    Thanks so much Richard!  So here is a screengrab of the location, is this folder all I need or is there another file ... you mentioned having to hand edit something....

     

    ManifestLocation.png
    1109 x 224 - 37K
    Post edited by RAMWolff on
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 109,151

    Yes, the .dsx files in that folder have the details - including absolute paths - of the files placed by DIM, and that's what it uses to track installs. You can edit the files, but I can't recall what the path formatting is.

  • MelanieLMelanieL Posts: 7,792
    edited May 2018

    Here's what I have - all my content is DIM-installed (I never use Connect) and the downloads, manifests, thumbnails and content are all on a separate drive (E in my case)

    The first pic shows what you would need to edit in the Manifest .dsx if you want to avoid uninstalling/reinstalling everything but want product updates to work.
    The second attachment shows where the DIM settings file is (if you are on a PC - I've no idea where a Mac puts things) - it's the one called "your-username".ini
    The third shows which lines need updating in the .ini file.

    ETA: The first pic is a few lines of a randomly-selected Manifest .dsx file (the most recent thing I happpened to install). And to clarify, in the third pic that "..." is replacing a number of lines of text just so the two relevant bits would fit onto one screenshot.

    Capture1.jpg
    974 x 125 - 48K
    Capture2.jpg
    908 x 119 - 28K
    Capture3.jpg
    639 x 297 - 47K
    Post edited by MelanieL on
  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,368

    My absolute path to where things are installed is: <UserInstallPath VALUE="D:/My Documents/DAZ 3D/Studio/My Library"/>

    So what I'll do on my laptop is make sure that the set up there matches... easy enough to do.  And then edit that path in DAZ Studio to pick it all back up. 

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,368

    Another question about getting my mirrored set up completed.  I have the updated and greatly reduced "My Library - Runtime" set up over to my big work horse computer now.... I have made sure to copy all the manifest files from the laptop and made sure the new path to DS and DIM were re routed to mirror the set up on the laptop so with my fingers crossed, after I got all the content copied over to my work horse, started up DIM and MOST of it all looks fine but quite a few items, like well over 100 or so, in the Installed tab are showing to be grayed out. DIM can not be looking at the old manifest unless there are hidden files that it's peeking at on the C drive.  If not then the manifest it's looking at is identical to the one over on the laptop and the paths are now identical so there really shouldn't be any issue.  I was hoping that by copying all the folders and files in the same directory where the manifest folder and files live I would have a clean mirror but I guess not.  

    So my question of the day is ... how to do I get these files to not be grayed out? 

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