Does anybody keep their DIM Daz Downloads Folder?
Griffin Avid
Posts: 3,818
in The Commons
So the DIM...manager uses the Downloads Folder....it's tiny compared to the ACTUAL Content folder....
Does anyone keep this folder around? Do we use it at all? Delete it after some time?
Is it a secondary paranoid storage system?
Worth backing up?..ever?
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I keep all downloads
... Just in case; in case of what? I've no idea, if I did, I'd know if I needed to keep it or not. :)
The main reason, is if something happened to Daz, how would I ensure I still have all the content I have purchased?
I also keep multiple copies of Studio, beta and release versions.
Yes, kept and, occasionally, backed up
haha, I keep them around as long as I have more than enough storage mostly out of forgetting about it. When I was short on HD place I took care to throw them out
Keep and backup.
sounds like you're a DAZ hoarder ;)
But yeah sometimes I think maybe I should keep them all somewhere safe
Yep, and backup to another disk too. That's way too much time to re-download all that accumulated content.
I keep it and have the full archive of all zips in my library as backup. I back up that whole directory, as well.
Not just time, but also bandwidth. I don’t even have a gigantic library yet, but having to redownload every package that needed to be reinstalled could eat away a significant portion of my monthly bandwidth.
I do on a separate drive set in paths on one of my computers
just in case something happens to DAZ
I also keep all of my downloads, from Daz and from other storefronts as well.
Kept and backed up
I keep mine.... and, to take it to another step, I only install what I plan to use*. Then uninstall those items when the project is done.
* I keep the basic files installed, most of my shaders, and lights.
..as I often edit textures, I keep the downloads folder backed up just in case I mess up and accidentally overwrite the base texture files with custom ones. This way I only have to uninstall and reinstall the product to fix such changes.
I learned the hard way that it is worth keeping a backup of DIMs. I currently have a ticket with DAZ which is almost 3 months old now with no resolution in sight. A product which was working in 2017 in Daz Studio, but is no longer working properly after the vendor updated the files from poser format version to DS version. Now I can't use the product and no refund was offered. I know the product worked fine in 2017, as I did renders with it in DS. But I switched computers, neglected to reinstall that item until nov 2019, and now the item doesn't work properly. So yes, keep backups of your DIMs.
I used to, but my disk filled up too fast. Then I moved the download folder to a drive on my server, only to have anything with scripts fail to install due to DIM not liking mapped network drives. Then I just deleted the whole mess. I still have all my old Poser stuff backed up, and I don't know why. They only time I lost anything I also lost the install files for the items and the store I bought them from had already closed by the time I figured out they were missing.
I do keep my computer backed up on a regular basis.
DIM is quite happy to use network drives, I'm pretty sure people have posted using such set-ups.
When I bought my new computer, Daz remembered everything I had bought.
Yes.
One could (and should) also back up their content folder.
@dragotx "we don't have to take the time to redownload for a new install"
Been using Studio since 4.something and have never had to do that. It's not hard to ensure that the paths are correct in Studio and DIM. I've moved everything to new computers and new drives w/o problems.
I used to keep the downloads but after realizing that I have DAZ MY LIBRARY backed up in two other areas I was like "WHY?" so I got rid of all the zips that DIM downloaded and now have the little check box in the DIM dialog checked to delete zips after installing. It's just more room on my hard drives taken up. My Library is HUGS and having that backed up twice is enough I think! Plus that's ready to use right away, the zips have to unzipped and installed.... too much manual work! No thanks!
Yes. Daz Store is in the habit of updating stuff and removing things so I keep it backed up to have the original files.
Originally I had some issues with disk space and had unlimited internet, so I usually had download files erase automatically.
Now disk space is much less of an issue, and internet has cap, and I find I like to uninstall/reinstall more for various reasons, so saving the files makes way more sense.
I don't back up regular content because I'd rather redownload if I really had to (and my backups are on Dropbox anyway, so... it's going to be a download in any case). I did, however, make an additional content directory for content I'm developing or from other stores, which I do back up.
Unless the product is installing scripts. Neither "Look At Me", the bookmark tool, or "IBL Master" would install with my DIM folder on the network. I would get a request for administrator verification and then a failure notice. Local drive? Installed first time. I also had problems with the the Studio 4.12 update failing with a network repository.
+ save DIM folders _And Back-Up +
I'm a Mac user. My internal drive is only 1TB. That's not enough for me. I usually have all my DAZ-related stuff in an external hard drive. I call it "DAZ3D." I set DIM to download all the original files into a folder called "DAZ Originals.:" I like to make a clone copy of my "DAZ3D" hard drive. In addition, I like to save a copy of the DAZ Originals folder on Dropbox.