Moving content to new drive
Cricket
Posts: 487
I'm prepparing to move my content to a new drive, but I have a few questions first. How do I tell DAZ to use the new drive, when accessing already installed content, or when downloading new content (I use conect, not DIM)? Also, can I just drag the content folders from one drive to another, or do I have to uninstall and re-inatall everything?
Post edited by Cricket on
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I'll leave it to others that can remember the exact details off of the top of their heads, but yes you can just copy the relevant Daz folders over to a new drive. As I remember, I was even able to start up daz using the same .exe on the new drive, and at that point I went into preferences and pointed Daz to the location of the new directories.
I did this when I bought a new external drive, which I plan to use for a new system when I eventually buy it. One note, I never did get an answer on a way to maintain two completely daz installs as 100% separate items with separate functional shortcuts. This laptop I'm typing on has an older Daz install, and I had hoped to be able to just use a shortcut from my desktop to the .exe on my external drive, which I updated to 4.12, but would still have 4.9 available for legacy testing if that was ever a concern, but when I went to use the shortcut, it pointed me at the other install instead. I haven't messed with it further since then.
In any case, yeah you can just 'drag and drop' the folders and you should be good to go, as long as you get all of them, including the CMS folders and such. Daz Studio may want to 'phone home' at that point when you start up the new install, so keep that in mind.
Connect location is defined in the Content Directory Manager.
Ok, so I went and changed the directory in Content Directory Manager, and dragged the file from the C drive to the new drive. Now, none of my content shows as installed. Can someone give me step-by-step instructions, like for an idiot, on how to change drives?
Question. Did you drag over the contents of your various Daz folders from Documents/whateverusernameyouuse and Public Documents? There are several Daz related folders in these areas.
On my system, it's
I'm guessing that you already have C:/Program Files/DAZ 3D dragged across/installed, as you mentioned starting up the program.
I think that's it, but I may have missed a folder or two. Which folders did I forget to add to the list guys and gals?
I did drag the folders over. However, all the items from DAZ need to be reinstalled. Everything from Renderosity and other sites is fine, but nothing from DAZ carried over.
Connect uses the database (which is why I hate it) so that needs to be updated.
It probably has nothing to do with your issue - but when I copied my data to a new drive I used Carbon Copy Cloner and it perfectly reproduced eveything the way it was on my home drive, Daz didn't bat an eyelid after the change.
The database uses relative paths, so as long as the nw location is correctly set as a content directory the content will be found after a move.
To state what Richard just said here another way, go to edit > preferences and check the various paths. You may need to point CMS and Content Libraries and such to the new location of your content and associated data files, particularly if the drive letter has changed.
Ok, so now none of my DAZ content is installed, and none of my content from outside of DAZ works. I'm going to uninstall and reinstall the program, but can anyone give me an idiot's guide to how to install to a drive other than the "C" drive?
Ok, so now NOTHING works. I installed G8F body morphs thru both connect and DIM, and they are not available in the shaping tab. I give up! This program has become unusable because my C drive is not big enough for all the content, but I can't install on a different drive to the program.
You don't have to move the DAZ Studio program files or the CMS data file. They hardly use any space compared to the Content (1-5 GB vs. 100's of GB). Studio's Content Directory Management needs to have the path to the new Content Library for the Connect folder and for DAZ Studio Formats and Poser Formats (if you use any). Your content should at least show up in the Content Library views. Smart Content is dependent on the database, so if Studio isn't looking in the right place, it won't show very much. If you have moved it, put it back where it was, or change the Preferences in Studio (F2) -> CMS Settings -> Cluster Directory if you know where it is.
Changing the path for Connect will handle any installs done that way. DIM needs to be configured to use the new installation path under Settings (Advanced Settings if you are using DIM 1.4.0.17 or later). Add a new path shortcut for the new library path you are using by clicking on the plus sign in the bottom left corner. Set the Content Path Shortcuts to this new one once you are done. Restart DIM to ensure it uses the new path (might not be necessary, but it won't hurt).