Daz Library split across 2 or more external drives?
sunnyjei
Posts: 502
Hello! I asked this nearly 4 years ago and the easiest solution then was to upgrade my drive. However, with hairs and outfits clocking in at a GB or more by themselves I'm back but buying a 6 TB or more ssd is more than I would like to pay at the moment. Is there an easy way to have Daz use two drives for its library of assets? I use the Daz Install Manager mainly with some manual installs for Rendo items. Thanks in advance!
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You can have many libraries, but DIM can only install to one.
You could create a new library and then point DIM to that. If there is an update of a product, DIM knows from the manifest files where the product is installed, and will remove it from the old path and install it on the new.
I have my main Content Library split over several drives without DS knowing it.
1. One can mount any drive to a subdirectory on an other drive with Computer Management->Disk Management, this way one can move for example the whole "Runtime"-folder to another drive.
2. One can use "Junction" by Sysinternals to move any folder to another drive https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/junction
I have used both methods for years without any problems
Thank you both. When someone mentioned junction before I looked it up but it seemed like a potential problem in one drive could be a problem for both. Glad to see it has been working for years for you. Was it difficult to set up?
To make sure I am understanding this- I can leave my files on Drive D (which is almost full) and have new files install on Drive E. And Daz will know where all my files are and essentially I won't notice a difference when using Daz? (as in my files show up in the smart content window, when I open older Daz scenes all of the assets load correctly,etc) How do I go about setting this up?
I am looking for the most K.I.S.S. style way of doing this as I have had major issues with Daz in the past not connecting properly to my drive T_T-thank you!
You have to add the new library to Daz Studio, and then it will use them simultaniously (also for Smart Content).
For DIM to work it must have acces to the old manifest files. You can leave that directory in place (uses limited space), or move it to the new drive. But if you move it, you must move all the manifest files to the new destination.
Microsoft is also using Junctions to redirect folders to other folders.
Very easy to use, install "Junction", create a folder on the new drive, move the contents of the old folder there, select the old folder and use Right Click to open a popup menu, select "Pick Link Source", select new folder and right click to open popup menu, select "Drop As -> Junktion" and you are done.
Now going into the old folder, shows all the files on the new folder.
I ever had the very same case as OP have. My first Daz Library (actually a Proudct Library + my working Daz Library) were built on a 4T SSD, then it was nearly full around 3 years ago. Then I bought a 8T SSD (a slower model) 'cause 8T high speed SSD was pretty pricy at that time while as the first priority I mostly needed one with more capacity...
Then I didn't have to move old Libraries to the new SSD... otherwise what would I do with the old faster 4T SSD ? So I definitely kept them both... and simply created a new Content Path in DIM (ss1), then configured this new Path in DS > Contenet Directory Manager (ss2), as felis said above.
Job was done ! (One day after that, I moved my working Daz Library from old SSD to the new one, then just modified the Drive letter in CDM ...)
How do I add a new library to Daz Studio? Ideally I will be using both drives Drive D and the new Drive E- so assuming I would not need not move the manifest files (wherever and whatever those are
)
Maybe this is the answer to the question about the new library. But how does Daz determine where to put the new stuff? My Drive D is almost full so idealy the new stuff would go to Drive E and Drive D would have a little space left for just in case. And why did you move your working Daz Library from the old to the new- or do you mean that as you were using both drives but the new drive became the 'working' drive with files still on the old or do you mean you moved everything to the new one? Just curious about the last as it seems you had the exact problem I am having now but thinking about getting another 4TB ssd (haven't seen any 6b/8b that weren't $500 usd+)
Again thank you all- doing everything in Daz seems like it might be the most straight forward but good to know the OS has a junction option too.
I showed the way in the above screenshots... again pls check the more precise screenshots down below. The reason why I moved my working Daz Library was just because working Daz Library is used for saving all my Scene Files, Presets, the Products I make, yada yada, so the number of those files had been increasing... then I lacked of disk space on the old drive. So I just completely moved it to the new disk.
Thanks that makes sense and thank you all for the detailed explanation and info! Waiting for the new external hard drive to arrive to do this. Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend :)