DS Fills up system drive
jpetersen1
Posts: 148
I keep all my assets, scenes, and render library pics on an external drive. I install as few things as possible on the system drive.
Even though I do this, my system drive has been eaten up by DS files.
Every time I install new assets, about 2 or 3 gigabytes disappears from the system drive. Even though it's a 1 terabyte drive, the amount of file space is now so low I can't run my apps (except for a word processor or browser).
What is DS putting on the system drive? And what can I do to move these files or have them deposited on an external drive? I have a constant need for assets, but I can't download any more (or even use DS) until I can solve this problem.
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Comments
How are you installing the content? If you are using Install manager where is it putting the zips, and have ytou set it to delete them after installation if it's on the boot drive?
I am using Install Manager. I don't know where it is putting the zip files. I will look. I don't know if I have it set to delete them. I will look at that too and get back to you. Thank you.
Okay, I don't understand these Install Manager directory designations well enough to know which ones are safe to change after a lot of content has been installed.
I'll start with two questions:
There is the Base Directory. I assume this is an overall directory? Is it safe to change it?
There is a Package Archive. What is this? Is this where the zip files are deposited? I usually delete the Downloaded files in the default downloads directory (the OS default directory) about once every couple of weeks.
Looking at this, if I change the locations of things like the Manifest Archive, does it leave all the existing files on the old directory designation, or will Install Manager move them to a new location if I change it?
If I change the Content Database Base will it re-index the Content? Should I wait until other changes are made before changing this?
The Package Archive is the zips, the Manifests Archive is files that tell Install manager what it has installed and where - the files are pretty small. You can safely chnage their location if you copy the manifest files across to the new location. If you just want to delete the zips you can simply delete them, and the .dsx files from the same folder, and to save having to do that in future you can check the delete after install option on the Ready to Install tab of Install Manager.
Okay, I started with Manifest files. I moved them to the external drive.
But now when I click on the link in the Install Manager window that shows the archive and base directories, I can navigate to the new location but there's no button to say Accept or Choose for the new location. Does this file path have to be changed in a different window?
Okay, hang on. I think I found it. It's in the Installation tab. (I figure if I document this, then anyone else who needs to do it will know what to do).
(I didn't know when I first started using DS how much I would be depending on assets and how much space all the files would require.)
I notice that the Content Database Base is in the system Library directory. This system directory is sometimes more fussy than regular user directories (applications sometimes treat it in a different way). Is it safe to move the Content Database Base files from this directory to an external drive?
I'm concerned that I might naively "break" something important.
I see the cms directory points to a small json file. Can I assume this can be left where it is?
Richard, thanks for the help. I stll have to try running DS to see if it can find everything and I won't be able to do that until tomorrow, but hopefully it will go smoothly.
The JSON file has settings, including the location of the ContentCluster folder which is the actual database. Changing the location and not moving the files across (with DS, DIM, Central, and any other applications that might use the database closed) will effectively do a reset, which you probably don't want.
I do NOT recommend deleting the downloaded files.
After your files have been installed to your designated drive, copy all the downloaded files to a backup some where (another drive or series of SD cards). One of the nice things about DIM is that when you redo your PC or buy a new PC, you can just copy those downloaded files back and DIM will reinstall everything for you. You can also backup all your installed files as well and do somemthing similar but I never delete anything. With the 1000s of assets I have, if disaster strikes I would have to re-download everything. And when Daz servers are acting up (which has been a lot lately) that will be a long pain.
When it comes to DAZ software, I have copies of every version of Daz Studio since 1.0 because every time they upgrade there are issues and you can't go backwards unless you have copies of the previous version.
Just my thoughts.
not backing your files is asking for problems.. consider if you get cut in how much you can download per month or at what speeds?
I have a 100g limit a month... would take me about a year to redownload all.
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as for the daz program.. I always copy the daz program folder off the C drive to another drive when I update... and the ones on the external drive will still function...
I have 414 and I have a 412 (that will doesn't care if there's another daz running on an external .. I run them both all the time.
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Ever wonder what would happen if some company bought out Daz and then decided to close the servers?
Adobe has made a lot of companies disappear over the years, for instance.