Hoarder instincts but at least it's digital
WendyLuvsCatz
Posts: 40,048
I am dealing with hoarder issues
not physically, while I definitely could get rid of some stuff, I am far from being an actual hoarder with a huge almost empty shed, more or a messy disorganised person than actual hoarder
no this is a 3D content issue
I did buy a 12TB drive for one computer which alleviated it somewhat but my other computer remains an issue.
namely my DAZ DIM downloads and letting go of keeping zips
I ran out of room on my library drive because I keep all the zips
I am afraid if I don't, DAZ will go away and I will not be able to download and install stuff ever again
I don't keep the zips on my other PC
I want to let go of the zips
started uninstalling and reinstalling stuff in DIM without saving zips and that is taking a long time
I should take the plunge and just delete the whole lot of zip files
but just cannot
working my way down from Genesis 9, am on Genesis 3 now
1 & 2 will likely be prohibitive as it would take literally days and since it's my "Carrara computer" will probably justify still keeping those
I am reinstalling the content anyway so that is illogical reasoning
how can I take the plunge and just delete all my zips 
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Comments
I wouldn't be the one to help. I am a total packrat. My motto, many years and jobs ago, was "Keeper of the Stuff".
I understand this!
One of the many attractions to me of the 3D world is my storage is limited only by the size and number of drives I have. This is a really sharp contrast with my previous hobby which depended on accumulating (in my case, amassing) a huge quantity of physical "assets". This was fine while I lived in a large old farmhouse that even had a basement (a rare feature here in California). Life changes, and I moved to a much smaller house, and even with a drastic reduction of those physical items, I still have way more than I should. They're not easy to sell due to shipping costs so I usually have to donate them.
3D is such a relief from these physical anchors!
I haven't got a spare drive big enough and honestly I don't need the zips as long as DAZ exists
For me the operative part is "...as long as DAZ exists". I've learned it's best to have my own copy of items I've purchased. I'm so glad I have a CD with PS CS6 which I purchased from Adobe before they went to the subscription model. As much as I enjoy DAZ, it's tech, and tech can evaporate wtihout a moment's notice.
I read a fascinating article a while ago about how as much as it's pushed as some sort of virtue, minimalism only works if you have the resources to replace something at a moment's notice (or are okay with doing without it if you can't).
In this case, the bare bones truth is that while right now you could re-download the zip if you wanted, there might come a time where you can't.
I've seen far too many businesses go under when I thought they would be around forever for me to trust anything other than covering my own tushie.
So personally, I see that kind of safeguard less as hoarding and more as laying in stores for winter.
Same here. And the zips for my 22700+ products actually take up less than 3 TB. You can get refurbished 3 TB drives for as little as $50.
Which version of DS were the scene files created in.
There are a few things that can cause what you describe.
Trying to load a .DAZ format scene file made in and up to DS4.0, but without having the DSO/DSD/DSV files that were created at the same time as the .DAZ file.
Another is trying to load a DUF scene file that was "converted" from an older .DAZ scene file, if you don't have the "converted" files in the data folder then all you get are blocks.
Always check the log file for any missing file messages.
I believe keeping the zips is the wiser course. And keeping 2 copies may be wise, too.
Yep, two copies, synced every week or two. My main external download drive just failed last week. Took it apart and tested the drive itself, which is okay. The USB interface is what failed (as usual). Now I have another internal drive...
I believe fully in the adage, It’s better to have and not need than to need and not have. I install content via DIM to an external 5 TB external hard drive. I manually download zip files so that I can install then to a backup 5 TB external hard drive and then I save the downloaded zips to a third external hard drive. The archive drive was a 1.5 TB drive that I bought very many years ago but when it was almost full earlier this year, I bought at 20 TB external hard drive for that purpose.
@3DSaga – You wrote, I'm so glad I have a CD with PS CS6 which I purchased from Adobe before they went to the subscription model. I have a CD with PS CS 6 too that I bought and installed in 2009 but when I uninstalled it last year from the graphics laptop that I bought in 2029 with the intent of reinstalling it to resolve Photoshop 3D not loading, I discovered that I could not activate it. When I researched this online, I learned that Adobe no longer maintains the activation servers for PS CS 6 (or earlier, I imagine). So, although I could reinstall PS CS 6, I could not launch it because the software needed activation which can no longer be done. So don’t uninstall your PS CS6 unless you know that you never want to use it again.
I always download manually. I've always kept all my zips. I don't use the DIMwitted installer. I keep all my data backed up automatically on one of two dedicated hard-drives in each of my computers. In addition to that, for my primary personal business machine, and for my Gaming/DAZing machine I also keep additional sets of Windows backups & C-drive images, for both machines, on three synced, offline hard drives, turned on only when doing backup and syncing. No, I'm not paranoid. I'm just afraid of shooting myself in the foot. Again.
And I have a storage box full of CDs & cartridge tapes, floppies and various forms of memory sticks covering 40 years of my life. Although nothing before 1980 because I don't have a 9-track tape drive in my basement. Hi, my name is LG and I'm a data hoarder.
Someday I'll sort it.
I have two external backup drives: one here, and one with my parents. I swap them weekly, so my most recent off-site backup is no older than a week. Might be overkill, but anything that reduces background worry is gold in my book.
(Granted this sort of thing only works if you have a safe place you can use as a remote location, so I realize I've got a decent amount of privilige going there.)
well I have many drives that failed, hence buying new ones
have already lots several Terabytes of stuff I cannot get back
its getting to the point where I am reconsidering my hobby at times
I have so many other things I need the money for more and yes, I have curbed my spending at DAZ a lot already
the 12TB drive was a big purchase for me.
I'm also a digital hoarder. I download Daz content to an extrenal drive on my laptop along with the thumbnails with DIM. This gets copied to an internal drive on my main system (no internet access). This drive also get the install manifests DIM creates. I do weekly copies to a pair of extrenal drives. I also grab the store product pages with a firefox extension, including all the promo images. And I get the product readme pdfs.
In addition, I grab YouTube items of interest - tutorials, music, and any other items of interest. And I grab web articles and tutorials as well - either with the firefox extension that creates PDF files or by copying the text into a LibreOffice Writer document, including images if needed, and create a PDF from the document.
All of this ends up on internal drives on the main system with two backup copies on external drives.
I recently deactivated my CS6 on Win 8.1 as I am planning to upgrade that PC to Win 10, and then reinstall CS6 there. I found this which seems to indicate that it is still possible to activate it, at least on Win 10 or earlier, but haven't tried it yet myself:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/download-install-discussions/petition-started-adobe-enable-the-activation-of-adobe-cs6-licenses/m-p/15458067
I'm reading this and feeling traumatic flashbacks to my sense of loss when ShareCG evaporated. How many "gonna need this someday" products should I have archived? God knows.
Hallelujah!
Disciple
I'm currently trying to decide if I can justify $119 for an 8TB Seagate internal (desktop) drive at NewEgg. I'm also running out of space mostly due to having too many DAZ .zip files. And then there are all the Poser files I've accumulated over the years. I don't even have any pre-Genesis generations installed, or I would be completely out of space.
Not to derail the original thread ... thanks for calling my attention to this problem. I too am a CS6 user so this was news I can use.
I hate rentware with a passion.
If there's anyplace that hoarding is justified, I think it's with computer files. As for 3D product zips, I keep everything, no matter how old and unused.
And it's been fortunate in many ways. For example, when I had to babysit a house with cats a while back, I brought a laptop with DS installed, and passed time avoiding the cats by doing little scenes and testing ideas I've had on my mind. I would never go online and sign into Daz3d or other places with that laptop! It's old and the OS hasn't been updated in years.
Lots of other reasons I save these things, including sillier things like memories, just memories. Anyway, that's my take on it.
Cheers!
@Toaz, @paulawp,
Thanks for the info about the possibility of activating CS6 again. I’ll follow the links. Regrettably, I don't think it's going to pan out in favor of users who bought CS6 though.
This thread has reminded me that when I set up my present PC in 2022, I did have to contact Adobe to activate my CS6. What surprised me, is that I actually have the CD for CS5; I got CS6 through an offer to update from Adobe. It was the CS6 update that I had to get activated from Adobe when I set up this PC. When it comes time to set up my next PC, I'll follow your advice, and keep this one for CS6.
Also, thank you for the links to the information about activating older boxed versions of CS I still run PhotoshopCS5 and a couple of other members of the CS 5.5 suite. I'd hate to lose them, or have to keep an ancient machine running just for my Photoshop needs. Would I like to play with some of the new features in Photoshop? Sure, but I'm not a fan of cloud services, and I don't want to switch to another product. I'm an old dog. New tricks are hard.
Yes, if you're left with nothing if you cancel your subscription. There are however decent subscription schemes out there, like JetBrains' Perpetual Fallback License:
"If you purchase a yearly subscription or keep renewing a monthly subscription for 12 consecutive months, you get a perpetual fallback license when the 12 months are complete. The license allows you to continue using the latest major version of your tool that was available when your subscription started [/ was renewed]." Also, the subscription gets cheaper every year for 2nd and 3rd consecutive year, then stays at 3rd year price.
Personally, I always keep two offline copies of purchased assets or assets I've spent significant time/money to acquire. Has saved me more than a few times when I wanted an old asset only to discover it was no longer available online, and two drives provides redundancy for when old disks finally fail. Where possible, I use the 321 backup strategy: 3 copies of my data on 2 different media with 1 copy stored off-site. For my Daz assets, that's two offline copies on mirrored portable drives, and the Daz cloud serving as the off-site copy.
Start a budget and save for a portable hard drive. You can watch holiday sales and pick up 20TB for around $275 USD. (I only buy Western Digital for external drives but you can find a better price if you're willing to experiment with other manufacturers.) That'll let you offload all your stuff and keep your main drive clear.