Thoughts on deleting these files?
MegaP
Posts: 178
in The Commons
Hi Daz people,
Like a lot of us, I'm continually running out of space.
I've come across some files, deleted them and they've made a bit of space.
Are they important and will I regret it?
Could be answering my own question here
Thanks for your time
remove-1.jpg
750 x 655 - 434K
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Comments
I've never messed with anything in that folder as I'm worried they would impact performance. Those DAZ script 2 file extensions makes me wonder if they are important for "under the hood" functionality. Then again I am no expert when it comes to that kind of stuff.
They are scripts.
If you have never used them you might not need them. But if you want to remove them Iwould suggest to uninstall them instead of deleting them.
Although they are takeing up rather little space.
I have a large D drive where I have my content.
OP, do you use Smart Content ? If you haven't ever and will never use Smart Content, technically you can delete them. But if you do use Smart Content, even just for reviewing what products you've installed, NEVER ever delete them.
Because all the metadata from the products are stored in *.dsx files, and all the product level thumbnails in Smart Content are from the *.jpg and *.png files in that folder. If you delete them, you'll be crazy when you open Smart Content or when you need to re-import metadata if there's anything wrong in cms database.
So, be cautious before taking action of 'deleting'...
Thanks Semperequstri and Felis (I should be doing the same with adding another drive)
Crosswind, I use Install Manager for all my installs.
What do you think? Sounds like I should be leaving them alone
Nah... not for installation. I meant if you use Smart Content or not, like SS attached ~~
The images in that folder will be the thumbnails for your products which you will see when browsing Smart Content and I also believe when using the Products area of Content Library. The DSX files contain a record of all the metadata in the smart content. I don't think Daz would need to access these after the product install outside of using re-import metadata in Content DB Maintenance - however they are designed to be stored there so they could be used for something else I suppose. Also, if you manually edit the metadata then these will get recreated. As far as I know the dsa files are useless - but they take up so little space so deleteing them won't make much difference.
Not just Smart Content, a specific pane that uses the Content Management System, but the whole CMS (including presets tabs in property panes, Categories and products in the Content Library pane, and some other features that rely on content type data). However...
The non-image files are not actively used, but the .dsx files are needed if one wishes to reimport metdata at a later date. The folder is also used for any exported userdata files, again not referred to live but needed for a reimport.
Crosswind, I don't use Smart Content but thanks, I should take a look at that column as it'll make finding things quicker.
SofaCitizen and Richard, this explains a lot.
Thanks for your advice, by the sounds of it, they're small files so I'll leave them as is.
Better to remove old products I'm not using
Exactly, any product level thumbnail will be gone...
Affirmatively : 1）If one needs to re-import metadata, *.dsx files in there will be used; 2) If one modify product metadata by using Content DB Editor with the option of Auto-Export, dsx file will be updated. If dsx was deleted, a new dsx file will be save to user's Daz Library rather than Daz Library where the dsx file used to be. So it's not really good. 3) dsa is not a big deal as you said, very small file size.
One thing to check - just on the off-chance you have not already done this - but if you have left the option in DIM to keep the downloaded zip files after you install then you could potentially remove those without too much issue. Those WOULD take up a lot of space and are only really needed if you need to quickly re-install (without re-downloading). They are also a backup on the off-chance that a product you purchased gets removed from the Daz Store. I don't believe I have had this happen yet so I am not sure if you could still access the zip files or not - I would like to think they'd still be there for those that paid for them but cannot say for certain.
Another area where you can possibly "trim the fat" is if you have any files in the "Templates" folder (not to be confused with the other folders beginning with T). Those are optional files only really needed if you wanted to make your own textures for a product. You might not have any at all since DIM does not download or install these (they are optional downloads under the product page) but if you have any third-party products then there may be some in there. They would be reasonaly large bmp/png (or similar) image files which just contain an unwrapped wire-frame of the product to guide you on making your own custom textures.
Sorry for the delayed response Sofa,
This is brilliant! Removing templates gives me at least a bit of space before I address the inevitable moving files to another drive.
Great helpful post, thanks again
You're welcome. My vote would be to leave them alone. But if you're desperate, try to find the corresponding product in the DIM and use that to uninstall rather than just deleting. Often there are little bits and pieces elsewhere on the PC ( like in the Registry) that could cause an issue if you just randomly dump unfamiliar files.
I don't use Smart Content and organize my stuff via Windows Explorer. That way I can mix my homemade/kitbashed stuff with purchased stuff more easily. One thing I do to free up space is the tick the "delete package once installed" box at the bottom of the DIM interface. If you don't then the downloaded packages from the store stay on your PC which eats up a lot of space.
I leave anything in the Runtime or data folders ALONE...lol.