Daz Need to transfer my DAZ files to a new SDD

[moose_puck]

I'm fast running out of room on my current Daz drive and so I plan on buying a new SDD soon and transferring everything over.

My DAZ installation is currently on a smaller SDD as drive "I". I was thinking I should be OK if I just install the new SDD, then transfer the whole contents of my exisiting DAZ drive over. Finally, I'll uninstall the old drive and change the new SDD to drive letter "I".

Anyone have any warnings or suggestions? I have the assets all backed up separately, on another drive, but I really want to avoid having to reinstall 200GB's of assets again, lol. Espeically all the non-DIM ones.

 

[rayminator]

follow these steps look at the red dots this is for smart content for all 4 steps the rest just have to do but for 2 you need to select location by pressing edit

1.



2.




3.



4.

 

[moose_puck]

follow these steps look at the red dots this is for smart content for all 4 steps the rest just have to do but for 2 you need to select location by pressing edit

1.
View attachment 2083514


2.

View attachment 2083515


3.

View attachment 2083516

4.
View attachment 2083517

Interesting ... thanks. I'll go through this in detail when I buy that new SDD.

When I installed DAZ, I saved myself some headaches by following people's advice over on the DAZ forums and setting up everything manually, so all my content is on the "I" drive (Including the DIM folders) The only thing not on the SDD is the temp directory which, as usual, is under C:/users/<your name>/AppData ... etc.

I also didn't install Daz Connect and I never will, so that's another headache averted.

I'm gonna shop around this weekend and maybe try and get this done next week.

 

[rayminator]

Interesting ... thanks. I'll go through this in detail when I buy that new SDD.

When I installed DAZ, I saved myself some headaches by following people's advice over on the DAZ forums and setting up everything manually, so all my content is on the "I" drive (Including the DIM folders) The only thing not on the SDD is the temp directory which, as usual, is under C:/users/<your name>/AppData ... etc.

I also didn't install Daz Connect and I never will, so that's another headache averted.

I'm gonna shop around this weekend and maybe try and get this done next week.

the thing I never said anything about Daz Connect

Daz Connect is the same thing as DAZ Install Manager when I said smart content I mean this

 

[moose_puck]

the thing I never said anything about Daz Connect

Daz Connect is the same thing as DAZ Install Manager when I said smart content I mean this

View attachment 2084138

Ya, I realize that the content DB is about the Smart Content. I'm not too worried about that as 90% of my work I do using the content library instead. I only mentioned Daz Connect because that can introduce a host of other issues when you need to do a drive swap like I will be doing.

BTW though, DIM is not Daz Connect. I have the old style Daz Install Manager, which is tied to your account for purchases, but can also be run offline. Daz Connect is something totally different, as it is one of those apps that basically just micromanages everything about your DAZ software and needs to be connected all the time. It's a growing trend in software to do this sort of thing so they can track statistics and trends and target products for you, as well as possibly monitor pirate activity. I refuse to participate in this sort of application. Adobe did the same sort of thing when they put everything on their "Creative Cloud" and Microsoft also with their 365. In every case, I find the individual licenses and I use them instead.

 

[rayminator]

Ya, I realize that the content DB is about the Smart Content. I'm not too worried about that as 90% of my work I do using the content library instead. I only mentioned Daz Connect because that can introduce a host of other issues when you need to do a drive swap like I will be doing.

BTW though, DIM is not Daz Connect. I have the old style Daz Install Manager, which is tied to your account for purchases, but can also be run offline. Daz Connect is something totally different, as it is one of those apps that basically just micromanages everything about your DAZ software and needs to be connected all the time. It's a growing trend in software to do this sort of thing so they can track statistics and trends and target products for you, as well as possibly monitor pirate activity. I refuse to participate in this sort of application. Adobe did the same sort of thing when they put everything on their "Creative Cloud" and Microsoft also with their 365. In every case, I find the individual licenses and I use them instead.

then you just need to follow the first 2 images that I have showed if you just using content library but if you do have stuff in the smart content then you will have to all 4 steps

I use Daz Install Manager as well but I have windows 11 22H2 version the Daz Install Manager starting to freeze up here and there

 

[moose_puck]

Just did the upgrade and it was way too simple!

If you have a spare SATA port on your MB, then all you need to do to swap out your DAZ SDD is to put the new drive in your system, then format it and assign it an unused drive letter. Then you just copy your old DAZ drive onto the new drive (took me about 10 mins to do it for my installation, but I only had ~200 GB or so) After you have the whole drive copied over, then simply just rename your old DAZ drive letter and then rename the new drive to have the same letter as your old DAZ drive.

Took me less then half an hour, including mounting the new SDD in my case, and DAZ acts like nothing is changed. All my shit is still there, except I have now doubled my space so it's time to start installing all the clothes assets I have been saving!

It's nice that all the other computer hardware has returned to pre-pandemic levels and storage space is especially cheap now with 2.5" SDD's only about $90 for a TB and M.2. ones even cheaper at around $75 for a TB.

I'll keep my old SDD mounted for a while until I am sure the new drive works good, then i can use it for a couple of new games.

 

[coffeeaddicted]

I went to have different DAZ asset folders.
characters have their own, as do poses and morphs. I make also one just for testing.
That way, if something breaks it won't harm the rest.
So i use the directory manager quite often though i did not see the import option.

This is really useful and i can attest to installing manually is a pest.
I think for me personally it make my life easier if i separate all the things and only have the real important items in the main folder like anatomy parts or materials.

Though, do you need to re-import? I usually just add the folder and DAZ loads whatever is in there.

 

[rayminator]

do you need to re-import

that depends on if you are using smart content as he stated that he mostly uses the content library not the smart content
it's best to use re-import so that nothing goes wrong later down the road

 

[coffeeaddicted]

that depends on if you are using smart content as he stated that he mostly uses the content library not the smart content
it's best to use re-import so that nothing goes wrong later down the road

Ey, i don't use that.
SO that make sense then.
I usually really have 3th party items.

Though, i am not sure where i read it but someone said to not use the smart content option at all.
I never tried it myself so i can't really say.

One reason i make different folders is, to find items easier.
If you put everything in one folder it becomes very polluted over time and makes it harder to find the things you are looking for.

But i think everyone has it's own system with what everyone works best. It's just how i do it and i am not claiming it's the best. I am just an amateur though i like to have everything organized. But this is not easy with lots of content. A curse really.

 

[moose_puck]

The only time I need to use Smart Content is that some of my characters are installed in such a way that the actual character preload is only showing under the Smart Content tab, but all the materials and morphs are in the content library. Not sure why that is... I imagine it's just how the manifest files were scripted. But in any case, I'm pretty quick zipping around my content library.

My latest love is the scene subset option. I'm building a library of my characters doing poses in various outfits. The ones that took me hours to arrange and pose originally, I now save as a scene subset and I can quickly add them to any future scene.

 

[coffeeaddicted]

The only time I need to use Smart Content is that some of my characters are installed in such a way that the actual character preload is only showing under the Smart Content tab, but all the materials and morphs are in the content library. Not sure why that is... I imagine it's just how the manifest files were scripted. But in any case, I'm pretty quick zipping around my content library.

My latest love is the scene subset option. I'm building a library of my characters doing poses in various outfits. The ones that took me hours to arrange and pose originally, I now save as a scene subset and I can quickly add them to any future scene.

I am just curious as i don't know the answer.

Some character if moved to a different file directory, will not load by clicking on them. Is that it then?
You have to load first the Gen 8 body and then apply it.
So is that what avoids that step? I always assumed that a duf is maybe missing that loads the figure automatically.

 

[moose_puck]

I am just curious as i don't know the answer.

Some character if moved to a different file directory, will not load by clicking on them. Is that it then?
You have to load first the Gen 8 body and then apply it.
So is that what avoids that step? I always assumed that a duf is maybe missing that loads the figure automatically.

TBH, I have no clue really. I've been so busy learning how to make better renders that I still haven't dug into some of the deeper functions of DAZ. Especially the script side of things.

I have had some characters that you had to first load a base Genesis character in then apply the custom character DUF to make it work. And I "think" that some of the stuff installed as Smart Content is just a script that does that additional step for you. I always do things ass-backwards though, so when I started learning DAZ for the first time, last March, I did it via the content library and ignored the smart content all together. Now it takes me almost no time to find any asset or material or pose, etc.

I've also learned that a lot of the people making assets, make frequent simple mistakes. Stuff like missing material textures or DUF's might only be located in the wrong folder, or the script files might have a typo... that sort of thing.

 

[coffeeaddicted]

TBH, I have no clue really. I've been so busy learning how to make better renders that I still haven't dug into some of the deeper functions of DAZ. Especially the script side of things.

I have had some characters that you had to first load a base Genesis character in then apply the custom character DUF to make it work. And I "think" that some of the stuff installed as Smart Content is just a script that does that additional step for you. I always do things ass-backwards though, so when I started learning DAZ for the first time, last March, I did it via the content library and ignored the smart content all together. Now it takes me almost no time to find any asset or material or pose, etc.

I've also learned that a lot of the people making assets, make frequent simple mistakes. Stuff like missing material textures or DUF's might only be located in the wrong folder, or the script files might have a typo... that sort of thing.

I always think my life is too short to know everything. Like all the in/out of DAZ.
Now, i started to look more into Blender.
I like to do my own characters, rather than use pre-made ones.
You can do a lot of things with sliders but i think to sculpt it yourself is actually fun.

Anyway, i know some packages complain sometimes that a duf isn't there. And that after you downloaded it.
I think like a character like Sep happens to miss something. But i didn't really investigate why.

I remember the blur thing. I do that now with FOP in the camera setting. It's easier for me and looks good i think.

The same for the lighting. I use mostly primitives now instead of pre-made ghost lights. I discovered that there are many things you can do yourself rather than relying on someone else that made something. And sometimes assets are futile.

In no way i know enough though. There are still many things i just don't get but i am ok with that.
And i think that the missing duf's, as you wrote, have indeed a script that loads the figure. That would make sense.

But the most issue i have is that i can't get assets that i want. So i have to learn how to make things myself.

There is one thing that is the hardest. Making a game.
I started over several times and tossed old ideas. Sometimes things are just right or make no sense.