Moving library to second hard drive
sketchbo0k_4e344e940f
Posts: 3
Hello,
My main SSD is nearly full so I can't install anymore DAZ files. Is it possible to move everything to my second Hard drive or do I need to reinstall everything all over again onto the second hard drive?
Comments
Yes, you can move your library folder to a new drive, without having to reinstall.
You need to tell DAZ Studio where the new library is located in the Content Directory Manager in Preferences, and you will need to tell DIM where the new library is if you use that.
hello sketchbook I moved my content last year and wrote down the instructions
1- go to second harddrive create a new folder named My DAZ3D content
2- Go to your daz install manager DIM Usally on the desktop.
3- Go to your installed content uninstall all your Daz content you can leave any Poser content alone.
4-Now your entire daz content will be in the ready to install file,untick install after download.
5- Go to the INSTALATION coloum in your DIM , browse to the folder you created in second hard drive and select to make a new path.
6- Now go back to ready to download in DIM and redownload everything it will now be in the installed column in the new folder.
7- You may have to Re import your metadata in DAZ studio when you open it.
If all is well you can delete all the content out of your old drive ,but I would leave the actuall folder intact with nothing in it ,this will free up your main hard drive.
Any problems post in again!!
Use Symlinks
If you're on windows get linkshell extension http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/linkshellextension.html
Then move your library wherever you want then drop a symbolic link or a junction to the original library place so that windows believes your files are still at the same place
Simpler and quicker. No need to uninstall or reimport metadatas or anything else
This is a great idea. Thanks I'm gonna try this.
Whoa! Hold the fort!? You don't need a lot of fancy work! Trust me, I've moved my stuff from PC to Mac, and all around the place on 3 different Macintosh computers.
First, I'll assume you've saved all your original DAZ Studio content files in a folder on your computer. I always do that!
You can copy your DAZ install content folder over to a new hard drive. Just copy all the content itself. You can even rename the content folder if you wish. Just remember you need to tell DAZ Studio and DAZ Install Manager (DIM) where to find it later!
Once you've copied all the content, run DAZ Install Manager (DIM). Immediately go in and tell DIM where to find your content. Remember you'll need to also tell DAZ Studio where to find that content later. Add the new content folder info into DIM, then delete the entry for the old folder location. Now close down the Preferences pane.
Go to the main DIM pane. Look in the "installed" pane. It's showing your content in the old folder. You'll notice on the right, the box says Uninstall. Select All, then click Start Queue. DIM will uninstall all the stuff that was in the old folder. The next step is a little tricky.
Now go to the Ready to Install pane, and select all. Click Start Queue. This part will take awhile. DIM will go through and rewrite the "dsx" files that tell DIM where to put your stuff. Eventually DIM will be done, and you are done.
The entire process is easy if you saved your DAZ originals on your computer. If not, you could be waiting a few hours for the job to finish. I have 16 years of DAZ content. It's a major deal for me.
I'm getting ready to build a new computer so this info is good to have. I generally move all the downloaded cntent out of the DIM download folder once it's installed, as that drive isn't the main storage drive. However, if I'm reading this right, I can, once I do all the redirection adn uninstalling, just copy all the files back into the DIM download folder and reinstall. Now, my question is this; since my DIM download folder was never on my C: so, technically, won't be changing, do I actually need to do this since the only thing changing is my installs of Daz and DIM (fresh). None of the other drive paths are changing since those drives are staying the same.
Just a heads-up, because it might be a problem for you, who knows:
Note that there are 3rd party plugins that don't work anymore if the content library has been moved to a non-default location.
Besides that, no problem at all. Above are good descriptions on how to do that, I'd go for a symlink, which should also prevent troubles with 3rd party addons. Don't forget to update the path in DIM, I did. ;)
All you need to do is to set the correct paths in DIM after you re-installed it. No need to backup the downloads - though, be warned, I have no clue if those get deleted if you do a regular uninstall of DIM.
Everything moved fine with out sybolic links but Victoria 4 and Michael 4 need to be reinstalled to a local directory or they won't completly work for me.
I apologize I'm a bit fuzzy-headed these days. Let me put it to you this way:
You can place your stuff wherever you want it, within certain parameters. I use Macintosh computers these days, and often can't install all my stuff on the internal "Macintosh" drive. My Mac Mini has a 320GB internal hard drive, and that filled up fast. My iMac has a 1TB hard drive, and I filled that up at least once. I've used various combinations of external hard drives for my stuff. (I'm trying to simplify this a bit, because this stuff can be easily confusing.) OK, so we have something in common. You don't want to store a massive amount of stuff on your "main hard drive." Neither do I.
Awhile ago I took an old 1TB hard drive, and installed it into a new external hard drive case. Unfortunately the hard drive case didn't work out well. I moved all my DAZ Studio stuff over to a 3TB hard drive along with some other stuff. Of course, my DAZ Studio program itself stayed on my main Macintosh hard drive. Your DAZ Studio program itself will be on your C drive.
I have one folder called DAZ Originals. That where I store all the DAZ original files! I have another folder called DAZ Install. That's where DIM installs all my DAZ Content. I've also manually installed 15 (16?!) years of content into its own folders. (These choices have changed over time, to the point of confusion.)
The point is that you have lots of freedom. I just wouldn't separate stuff like the data and texture folders. They should all be together under the same folder structure. DIM and DAZ Studio don't talk to each other directly. You need to tell both DIM and DAZ Studio where to find your stuff!
I just wanted to add that I try to back up everything. I have "duplicate" hard drives for every hard drive. I have a clone backup drive for the main Macintosh hard drive, and two different 3TB hard drives. In addition, I use Dropbox to keep another backup of my original install files, etc.
It's not exactly that they need to be installed to a local folder, it's that all Generation 4 (V4, M4, etc.) figures and all their morphs must all be installed to the same content location. It's because of the way Gen4 morphs are designed for installation, if you (or DIM) get it wrong the installed morphs can't be found and won't work. This limitation isn't a problem for any other earlier or later figure generation.
One important note: after reinstalling with DIM on top of the new location (which already has content), go to Settings > Installation, right-click on the content path, and choose "Fix Installed File Registry". Otherwise DIM will be unable to correctly update or uninstall anything.
Ok, I've said all I have to say. Other people are obviously more familiar with the intricacies. I'm out of here. I wish you all the best.
So I finally built my new computer. Funny how it turns out it was mostly just for running Daz better.
After installing Daz and DIM fresh and redirecting them (back) to the old file locations, I found something interesting in Daz itself, even after I had reindexed the Database, reinstalling everything (in Connect) that had the install icon on it, then updating everything that was left that had the update icon on it (which was weird since most things needing updating were items I had just reinstalled). Now I'm left, on the Daz side of things, with a weird situation. I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on what's going on with the files shown in the attached screenshot? There are three more in the Lost and Found/Available tab as well. The only real option for them is to update Metadata, but that does nothing.
I have some testing to do with DIM now as it's showing pretty much everythign I own as needing to be installed, and about 300 items in the Ready to Install tab. This may be a good time to just retire DIM and go strictly with Connect as it's all fresh and cleaned up (except for the aforementioned items).
One day somebody is going to make a video of this process showing exactly where to click, showing exactly what needs to be changed (and how) and showing what needs to be moved.
I've followed several of these lists to the letter (or so I thought) and now I can't download anything to a spot where Daz can find it.
I need to tangibly see what something looked like before, and what it should look like after I've done what I'm supposed to be doing.
No need to uninstall reinstall anything. Here is what I just did (and working for me, just tested):
- Close DIM (Daz Install Manager) and DS (Daz Studio). Preferably disable any might-be-interruptive things like Antivirus etc...
- Create a new directory for the new content in the new drive: In this example, I'll go with: D:\Daz\Content
- Go to C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Daz3D Library, inside that folder CTRL+A
- Go to the inside of new content folder just you've just created (D:\Daz\Content), CTRL+V, wait it to finish
- After finishing it, open DIM, go to "Settings" (top right icon)
- Go to "Installation" tab, at the down left side, click the "+" icon
- Put a new label for new content place like "Content on D drive". In the path box, write down the path you've just created (it is better to copy-paste the path from windows explorer), in my case, D:\Daz\Content
- Click "Accept". If you don't get any sort of confirmation box at this point, you did everything right. Move on to next non-bold instruction step.
* [If you get "The folder you selected is not empty and DIM didn't manage the this new folder" message, you didn't successfully copy the content to the new directory. Delete everything in the new location, re-copy and make sure that everything is copied from old content directory to the new directory!]
- Your new content directory (with its label) should be showing up in the Installation tab of DIM Settings (current window).
- In the down-middle of the current window, there is a Dropdown box labelled "Current: ". Switch that one to the new content label you've just created.
- Click the old content in the content list "Recommended Daz content" (or something like this). Click "-" from the down-left of the window. This will remove old content known to DIM and only leave the new content directory.
- Click Accept. Close DIM completely.
- Open the mighty DS.
- Edit -> Preferences -> Content Tab -> Click "Content Directory Manager" button at the bottom of that window.
- In the new "Content Directory Manager" window, under the "Content Sets" field. Expand all "+" signs to see all possible directories known to DS.
- Under the "Daz Studio Formats" and "Poser Formats", seperately, do this very same thing: Right click to the one (second one for me) with original content directory (C:\Users\Public\Documents\My Daz3D Library) -> Edit Base/Runtime Directory (doesn't matter which shows up).
- Go to and select your new content folder for both: D:\Daz\Content (or wherever you created it)
- Click Accept in "Content Directory Manager" window.
- Click Accept in Preferences.
- Close DS. Wait 10 seconds (If you check task manager, closing ds does NOT immediately shut it down, it does some after-cleaning)
- Restart DS. Don't forget to re-enable your disabled stuff like anti-virus, firewall, yourself, etc... :)
EOF O.o
That's pretty much how I figured on moving my library from my 480gb SSD C: drive (where it took up 222gb) to the new 4tb HDD I bought just before Xmas. Worked a treat!
Now I need to buy a bunch of stuff just to make sure DIM installs it in the new location.
@Felix_Nukem -
Perfect! I just spent the last two hours digging through various voodoo like explanations of how to accomplish this, and this was the one that worked fine :)
Thanks!
You are welcome. Instructions *may* seem big, but I paid very much attention to the details that would otherwise confuse new users if skipped.
After CTRL + A in the My Daz3D Library, is there a step missing? Do we CTRL + C before CTRL + V in the new folder (EDIT: yes, we do. I figured it out)? I'm attempting this now and don't want to fudge it all up. Thanks!
Oh wow, it worked. It actually worked. With no troubles at all. Thank you! If you're ever in Portugal, I'll buy you a beer.
Did it and works fine. But what is with the stuff from DIM?
My 126 Installed stuff is at the moment still in "Installed to: C:/Users/Public/Documents/MyDaz3DLibrary".
If I delete now my old library from C: is this stuff (126!) from DIM gone? Should I uninstall everything from DIM and Install it again with the new path in D?
Other stuff what I installed manual over the years on C drive is now in D and in the daz3d application I see the new file path D.
On the screenshot you can see it ----> last line: Intalled To:
Go to C:/Users/Public/Public Documents/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/ManifestFiles folder and open with WordPad program your installed content and change path: <UserInstallPath VALUE=“C:/Users/Public/Documents/My DAZ 3D Library”/> to your new custom path and click save. I hope this helps.
I did the content movement to drive D: 18th day and all the things worked well just like on this tutorial, and also new content worked...
But now when after computer reboot, the install manager shows 0 files installed, or downloaded, and 532 to install!
There stands
Downloads-tab
Package Archive:
C:/Users/Public/Documents/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/Downloads
Thumbnail Archive:
C:/Users/Public/Documents/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/Thumbnails
Installation-tab
Manifest Archive:
C:/Users/Public/Documents/DAZ 3D/InstallManager/ManifestFiles
On C:/Users/Public/Documents/DAZ 3D -folder is only My DAZ 3D Library-folder, but similar folder I have also on D:\Daz3D
On D: is D:\Daz\Content
I have gone clueless how those folders should be, and am going to try manual installations of few new purchases, as on Daz Studio things loads..?
Thank you very much, man. This helped me out a lot.
Felix_nukem, may I thank you for this? It's exactly what was needed. :) -- DD
Thank you very much for your contribution.
This [STUFF] WORKS!
Hey guys. I got a new pc and moved my D:/Daz/Content SSD drive over to it, following Felix's instructions to the letter. Studio can see the products, but they're all greyed out and asking to be downloaded, even though technically they have already been downloaded and are sitting in the D drive. What am I missing? Thanks!
BIG FAT EDIT: I thought I'd try reimporting the metadata and that worked! LOL Should have tried that before posting this...
I followed this and now I get a CMS error and can't start CMS. How do I restart CMS?
**EDIT**
And it seems restarting my computer fixed the problem.