Struggling with My Categories: where is that database stored?

a_s_lord

I upgraded to Windows 10 but suspect that I have managed to mess up my drive mappings.

Part of the problem is that I wanted to keep Windows 8.1 to boot off the old HDD.

Prior to upgrade:

OS on HDD drive C;

content manager and DAZ 4.8 on drive P (other content scattered around)

I got an SSD and put Win 10 on it, this became the new drive C. The old HDD drive C renamed drive D (with win 8.1 still on)

I can get DAZ 4.8 running on this win 10 configuration, but it doesnt find my categories.

When I switch back to the pre-upgrade win 8.1 configuration (the drive letters swap around again to HDD as C with 8.1 and SSD as D with win 10) it works fine and finds the categories.

I think this might be something to do with the PostgreSQL configuration, but cant seem to figure where that should go, either in DAZ or the windows file structure.

Any ideas anyone?

 

 

fixmypcmike

From 8.1 where it works, Content DB Maintenance > Export User Data.  On Win 10, make sure PostgreSQL CMS is installed and DS has the correct content locations in Content Directory Manager, then Content DB Maintenance > Re-Import Metadata will restore your data.  (Content Directory Manager can be accessed from the same options menu in the Content Library pane, or in Edit > Preferences > Content Library).

Trake118

There has to be a place where this data is actually being stored on the hard drive.  PostgreSQL CMS is so insanely difficult to work with precisely because it's so incredibly well hidden and you are almost garaunteed not to be able to keep up with your data with this kind of system.  Isn't there some way to use the old system?  Under sthe old system you could find the files and they were there without you having to remember to do an export before moving to another computer.  Your files simply automatically came with you if you kept your database folder and content folder bundled together.  There has to be some way to find out where those files are.  Sometimes you can export the user database, but that's not reliable and sometimes you don't remember to do so.  There needs to be a way to find those files!

fixmypcmike

Edit > Preferences > CMS Settings, Content Cluster is the database.  I'm surprised you find exporting user data less reliable than copying the database files -- moving database files is a delicate operation and if there's a problem it's a lot harder to salvage.  What problem are you having exporting user data?

Trake118

It times out.  Also I don't tend to remember to export the data when I need to format my hard drive.  I'm not always thinking about my Daz categories.  I thought I had them backed up because under the old system the data was right where my content is.  So now I'm having to redo everything because I didn't think to do a backup.  Now I'm moving some of my new categorization attempt from my laptop and the backup option is giving me problems due to it timing out.  This time I will make sure that the cluster is set up within the same base directory on my external drive where I keep my content.  Hopefully this will take care of the problem and I won't have to go through all of this again.  If the cluster was in that same location by default none of these problems would have been encountered, but at least now I know how to stop them from occuring again.  Thank you for your help!

Trake118

Sorry for the double post, but I have one more question.

 

I have a ContentDB.dat and ContentDB.ind file.  Can you tell me how to use those old files?  I assume those are my old categories from back before the new CMS.

 

Thanks for all of your help!

a_s_lord

That did the trick Mike, thanks - you are a star!

 

A bit of forensics for future generations.

I had installed PostgreSQL before, but also put that on drive P (near Daz 4.8). When I messed the drive letters with installing win 10, Postgre somehow became overlooked and didnt work..

I copied and pasted the Daz Install Manger files from the win 8.1 to the win 10 file structure (D: -> C:\Users\Public\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager  I think), which told me what I had installed, as before it was wanting to reinstall everything.

A confustion arose as DIM had already installed PostgreSQL and so it was not showing up (it was on P, but not being accessed). So when forum posts were advising to download and install Postgre, I gather they were making the assumption that it would be showing up in DIM. The simple solution was to find the Postgre using the filter, although thinking back, uninstalling them might have got them to show up ready to reinstall. From there I reinstalled them on my windows 10 SSD drive C:.

I beleve that the key file for categories is UserData_1, which is put along with the content (in my setup P:\DAZ3D_Originals\Runtime\Support) when Exporting User Data from the Content DB Maintenance.

When I added the contend directory (Edit > Prefernences > Content Library  ( "P:\DAZ3D_Originals" in my setup)), Then it allowed me to Reimport Metadata from the Content DB Maintenance. It also updated the cluster directory (found in Edit > Preferences > CMS Settings). Note that the Start and Stop CMS functions seem to turn the categories on and off in the Content Library.

Trake has a point that these data structures are somewhat unintuitive; I dont know if this answers that issue but perhaps the UserData_1 file might be your target.

 

Thanks again.