Content move question

gederix

I have started a new content library on an external drive due to space limitations on my daz harddrive, and basically it seems to be working well, I have linked the new directories in the content manager, stuff shows up, only pain is having 2 libraries to browse instead of one.

In order to free up space on my old drive I unistalled some content and reinstalled it (thru the dim) to the new directory and this appears to work for the most part but the smart content pane still wants to see some of the items where they were. I am assuming I can fix this with the content DB maintenance panel but Im hesitant because Ive never used it and I do not want to break things.

I read the info here: https://helpdaz.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/207530353-Using-the-Content-DB-Maintenance-Dialogue

And I am thinking I should do the re-import metadata function and maybe that will allow the smart pane to see the new file locations, but as I said, not sure, dont want to break things. Should I reset the database first or would that be bad? And what does this mean regarding re-import: This option tells DAZ Studio to re-read all the metadata for installed content.  It does not re-read custom information for content.  That should be backed up using the Export User Data.  

What is 'custom information'? Is this a thing i need to worry about if I have never messed with customizing beyond defining new content paths in the content manager?

To more clearly explain exactly what Im trying to fix, by way of example I moved a 750mb hair product from my old library to the new but now the hair shows in the smart pane as a broken link and when rclicking tells me the content is missing, so I want to update that broken link to the new location.

Lastly, some of the content that moved okay still shows broken links pointing to the old location, but I also have valid links to the new location so I weant to clear out those 'orphans'. I assume 'remove orphaned file references is correct? Would I still need to do this if I reimported the metadata? Obviously I could try it and see but Im trying to avoid mishaps...

Please advise, so far I have been solving the issue by moving the problematic content back but I am hoping for a proper fix, thanks!

G

 

Richard Haseltine

Which version of DS is this?

gederix

4.8

Richard Haseltine

OK, I don't have that installed anymore but if you find a bad item in the products list and right-click on one of the fiels you should get a DB or Database sub-menu with a command to change the base path - in the dialogue you pick the new content directory that should be used, and you set it to apply to all files using the original base path - that should fix the problem.

fixmypcmike

Make sure the content paths in Content Directory Manager are correct, then "Scan Known Directories For Files" should clear out all the invalid links.