I would like to move my Daz Library from my "C" drive to another drive. Bad idea?
ben-2464235
Posts: 5
Hi boffin dudes, my PC has a 1 Terabyte SSD "C" drive, almost full to capacity and I need to do reinstall. However, as the majority of space is taken up with Daz stuff (and I don't want to be in the same position again), this time, I intend to house my new 'Daz Library' on a seperate SSD. I know it's possible to specify a path for Daz to import a 'Library' from a new location, but I am nervous that when opening my previouly created projects (before re-install), Daz wilI be unable to locate the products used, and I will have to manually search and replace each item from the new drive. If this is the case, I will have to review my life choices.
So, in a nutshell, is it possible to make Daz search for files on a new drive automatically, when opening old projects? I sincerly hope this is possible.
Many thanks, your advice would be much appreciated.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
224 S 200 W, Suite #250
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2024 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Not necessarily a bad idea, the software itself doesn't care where it's located. For example... both my main libraries (the 3D & Connect libraries) reside under D:\media, and I've been using this setup for a long time. No issues.
See, the main thing to keep in mind here is that your projects will use the main root of the library as their starting point. They don't access the full path (C:\users\you\appdata\daz3d\etc.) but they access "library:\People\Genesis" (as an example).
The only thing you need to be careful with is the actual movement. If you have the space then I'd copy the library to its new location, fire up Daz Studio, F2 => Content => Content directory manager, and change the paths accordingly. After that it should be a smooth transition (that's how I did this many years ago).
Hope this can help
The only potential issue is your installations using Install manager of Daz Central, as those record the actual location of the files - not usually an issue, but it might be a problem if an update needed a file to be removed and not replaced. If you kept the zips in Install Manager you can select everything in the Installed tab and, via the right-click menu, opt to reinstall using current paths.
How comfortable are you with tweaking computers?
There is two (free) ways not to change your current setup and still safely move your content to another drive, while protecting it also from problems when the C-drive and it's content gets messed up.
SysInternals Junction is free and distributed by Microsoft, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/junction
You could also mount the new drive as your content library into your current Content Library path, again preserving the current configuration without the need to make any changes to your current DS/DazCentral/DIM settings. The tools for this are included in Windows.
Just move the library to whatever drive you want and adjust/add the "content" folder in Daz preferences
I guess this will break content manager for those items but everything will work as before
you can also adjust the content folder in the install manager. for all new items to install in the new directory
I'd argue that those programs are a lot more riskfull to use. See, they are aimed at moving installed software but the Daz Library isn't anything like that, as far as Windows is concerned this is purely unregistered data. It might be able to eventually find the right registry keys but... Daz Studio uses several, how sure can you be that it will change the right one? You can't.
Sorry but IMO it's a lot safer to do this manually.
(edit)
There's also the issue that not all software can fully handle the symbolic links which are used by Windows. Some will not accept a symlink because it's just that: a link and not an actual folder. So.. it's not a given that those solutions are going to work.
I have been using both methods with DS for at least a couple of years, with the content library divided between several disks and there has been not one hint of any problems, and I do have the background to spot the problems if there would be any.
Mounting a drive onto a directory on an other drive does not even require installing any programs, that is done within Windows with the tools it comes as standard.
Can happens but is fixable easily!.
Just make sure to adress your new Content Folders on Directory manager and you're done, I have scenes from 2006 and still opening on my 4th PC because from 2006 to 2020 I've burned 3 PCs due to cryptominning so...yes you can, and your scenes will open with no problems.
Nice one - top advice and not too complicated! Cheers!
Thank everyone for your advice - much appreciated. I am now confident to march onward with a re-install! Eek!
The library folder is completely redundant, as I use the content library to help find the data/content files: K:\TZO_S***\****_(3D PROGS)\DAZ 3D_(64)\****_DAZ CONTENT you can have the content file (Or even library file) anywhere you so choose just so long as you have the location configured in Daz studio...
To keep DIM up to date with you're previously installed content and not breaking the updates see below. The last time i did this it worked fine.
1. Copy the content folder to its new harddisk/location
2. Copy/backup the following 2 dim folders:
C:\Users\<<USERNAME>>\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\InstallManager
C:\Users\Public\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager
After reinstalling windows etc, in DIM:
3. Change te following in the advanced settings:
tab INSTALLATION, add the new contact location and remove the unwanted location(s)
4. Click Show details in the ready to install tab
-Make sure "content updates install to" has "selected path" selected.
- Install the DAZ Studio programs etc and all plug ins (no content installation)
5. After succesfull installation of DAZ and the plugins. Overwrite the 2 DIM folders with the BACK UP you made earlier
C:\Users\<<USERNAME>>\AppData\Roaming\DAZ 3D\InstallManager
C:\Users\Public\Documents\DAZ 3D\InstallManager
All you're previously installed content should show up as installed again in DIM and updates of products will be done in the new folder. When using smart content in DAZ studio don't forget to re-import the meta data.
Brilliant - Thanks you!
my library is off "c", the install isn't
the issue is the content managers like to still hard code some of the asset parts to C so you need to check, Manual downloads are my go-to option. Why they cant centralize everything that is content, I don't know, but it would be great.
Everything can be customized in DIM.
Despite that I've seen some things get "misplaced" during installs.
Which is liklely to be down to misconfiguration of DIM or a packaging error (or misunderstanding where things need to be). Since you don't give specific examples it's impossible to be sure.