Loading...
> >

How do I backup scenes to use on another PC?

silverfrost1silverfrost1 Posts: 5
in The Commons

I'm getting a new PC and will need to backup my DAZ scene files somewhere to use on the new computer.

I don't know if it's possible, but it should be. I can't believe I have to re-create all of my scenes from scratch

on the new PC. Not only scenes but all the backgrounds and presets I made.

Comments

  • TheKDTheKD Posts: 2,711
    edited August 2019

    Yeah, you can back up your libraries, assuming you have a drive with enough space to fit it. You would then just have to hook the backup hard drive up to the new computer, install DS, and point it to the directory. If you are not comfortable opening up computers and swapping internal drives around, an external usb hard drive would be the easiest way.

    Post edited by TheKD on
  • outrider42outrider42 Posts: 3,679
    edited August 2019

    Yeah, I use externals for much of my content which makes moving to a new PC rather painless, but you don't have to do that. Just back up your files somewhere, and move them to the new computer.

    Your scene files are just like any other file. They can be copied and backed up as much as you like. When you install a new drive, or perhaps do a fresh install of Daz, all you need to do is point Daz to where your libraries are. You can have as many content libraries as you want, just be aware of how you organize things as it can get messy fast without a plan. For example, I have 2 drives for Daz, and I keep all of my G8 content on the external. But I didn't do that for previous generations. I started using the external when I ran out of space, splitting my libraries. It took some reorganizing to get straightened out.

    In your content library tab, right click with the mouse over the tab. You will see a box that has the option to "add a base directory". Use this to point Daz to the hard drive you want, and once you do ALL the stuff in that location will become available to Daz, any products you have as well as scenes and presets.

    I would advise having a backup regardless of what you do. Seriously, if your drive was to suddenly fail it will hurt your very soul.

    Post edited by outrider42 on
  • silverfrost1silverfrost1 Posts: 5

    I'm wondering if the DUF files are the only ones I need to save. I've read about other file types which go along with the DUF file, but they are in separate directories.

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 109,046

    You can reinstall the content on the new machine, rather than copying the whole content dictory across, and just copy your scenes/presets over. In fact, if you let DS go online on the new machine (so that it has a copy of your purchase history) it will ask if you want it to install any Connect-available content that isn't installed (but it won't help with content that is available only through DIM, or from other stores or freebies).

  • ParadigmParadigm Posts: 425

    I use an external HDD for travel and I sync my Daz content to it whenever Im home. Just make sure the libraries are on the same disk partition and depth and that's all you need.

    I have D:/Daz Content/ on my home PC and I load my external HDD on my laptop as D: so my laptop path is also D:/Daz Content. When you load as scene it looks for the files and having the paths be absolutely identical removes all question marks. 

  • algovincianalgovincian Posts: 2,670
    edited August 2019

    I work on many scenes on different boxes, and while it's easy enough to move/copy/refernece a drive with all my installed content, this won't help with any of the auto-adapted junk, morphs created on the fly, tweaked texture maps, etc. (mostly from modeling or image editing outside of DS without wanting to bother creating products for everything). For this, I find Content Gatherer useful:

    https://www.daz3d.com/content-gatherer

    Hope this helps.

    - Greg

     

    Post edited by algovincian on
  • Peter WadePeter Wade Posts: 1,677
    silverfrost1 said:

    I'm wondering if the DUF files are the only ones I need to save. I've read about other file types which go along with the DUF file, but they are in separate directories.

    If you mean the .duf file that you create when you save the scene, that mosty contains instructions for loading stuff from your library. You need a library on the new computer with the content that the scene uses.

    You can copy the library to your new computer. Mine is in Documents\Daz 3D\Studio\My Library, this is one of the defaults that Studio uses but you may have a different one. If you keep it in the same directory and same drive letter on your new computer the scenes shoudl load.

    I used to have a USB cable that connected two computers and could copy files between them. If you can find something like that and you have both computers running you could do a direct copy without going through an external drive. If you have both computers connected to the same router you might be able to copy through the network.

  • OstadanOstadan Posts: 1,130

    Early this year, I built a PC just for rendering, to supplement my aging iMac.  After getting all the DAZ and other assets in place, my typical workflow now is to construct scenes on the iMac, which is still my main computer, and when I am reasonably happy, I copy the .duf (and other scene-specific support) files from the iMac to the PC (by remote-mounting a directory named 'Transfer' on the iMac), do some final tweaking, and then render at full size.  I usually have no problem.

    For copying the DAZ assets, after several frustrating and slow attempts, my fastest solution was to direct-run a gigabit ethernet cable between the two computers.

Sign In or Register to comment.