transfer DAZ to another computer
I've searched the forums, and found nothing about this.
My problem is that my main art PC never, never gets connected to the internet. Did I say never?
It has the huge monitor, the massive amount of memory, the fast graphics card....
My internet computer is a small, slow throwaway laptop that is loaded with antivirus and anti-malware softeware.
How do I transfer DAZ and it's associated files to my main computer once I've downloaded them to my laptop?
I've tried copying all of the folders to an external hard drive and pasting them into the same locations on the desktop, but no joy. DAZ fires up, but it can't find anything that I've downloaded.
I have only been using DAZ for a few days, so please assume that I know few of the terms and none of the acronyms!
Thank you.
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you might find something helpful in the top section http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/306/
did you transfer all the files in the User > name > App Data > Roaming > Daz 3D folder too?
You'd think I'd bookmark one of my answers on this - or at least keep the screen captures . . . :-)
First, get an inexpensive USB disk drive you can move between the two systems. You could do without it, but this will make the process MUCH easier; I got a 1 TB Toshiba drive for less than $100 that works just fine.
1) Plug the drive into the laptop and go through whatever hoops you need to jump to get the drive recognized.
2) Create two directories - one for the DAZ Install Manager installer and one for all of your downloads; I used 'dim-install' and 'dim-download'
3) Log on to your account here at DAZ, click on the 'My Account' link in the upper right and then click on 'Product Library' on the account page.
4) Enter 'install' (without the quotes) in the box under the 'Product Library' header and click on 'Filter'
5) Select the version of Install Manager you need - MAC or Windows; when the page loads, click the blue manual download link. Save this to your installer directory.
6) Run the DIM installer - I'd recommend using the defaults here, it isn't all that big.
7) Launch DIM when the installer finishes.
8) Enter your login ID and password for the DAZ web site; you should get taken to an EULA page that you'll have to agree to in order to continue.
9) Click on the 'gear' at the top left of the install manager screen (the 'setup' link)
10) Select the 'Downloads' tab.
11) Click on the browse button to the right of the 'Download To' field and browse to the dim-download directory on the USB drive
12) Check-mark the items in the 'Show' list that you want to be able to download; I'd recommend just DAZ Studio 4.5+, Install Manager, General, Software, Plugin, and both the 32 and 64 bit OS that is appropriate.
13) You really shouldn't need to worry about 'Installation' or 'Application' on your laptop, so just click on 'Accept' to get out of setup.
14) You should end up with a list of items in 'Ready to Download' at this point; if not, click on the paired arrows (circle) to the left of your logon id to refresh the list.
From this point on, all you should need to do on the laptop is fire up DIM and log on to the store; you'll get a current list of your 'Ready to Download' new purchases and (if any) a list of the updated products.
Before downloading anything - Select everything, right-click, and select 'Retrieve Thumbnails' - this will get the thumbnail images that will show up when you mouse over a product entry.
Click on 'Add to Queue' to actually start the downloads; do NOT select 'Install after Download'
And that's almost it for the laptop; the stand-alone system will be the next post.
OK, now to the other system -
1) Plug the USB disk into the system and again go through whatever is required to get it recognized
2) Run the DIM installer from the install directory - again, the defaults should be OK
3) When DIM launches this time, click on the 'Work Offline' check box and click 'Start'
4) Click on the 'gear' icon for setup again
5) Put the same configuration in the 'Downloads' tab as you used for the laptop - browse to the USB disk and select the 'dim-download' directory for the 'Download To' path
6) Click on the 'Installation' tab - you can go wild here, but I'm going to start with a minimum config -
7) Leave the 32 bit and 64 bit software paths at default unless you want to use a different drive; if you decide to change them, note that they must be two DIFFERENT directories, and all you want are the top levels. I put the software on my D: drive and went with 'bits-32' and 'bits-64' for the directories.
8) Pick what you want for the Shortcuts; these will be used when installing the software.
9) You'll want the first radio button for the Content Updates; it makes installing product updates easy.
10) Virtually everyone changes the 'My Library' path, just to get it off the 'C:' drive; just browse to where you want it, create a new folder, and click 'OK'
11) Click on 'Accept'
And now we can start the installation; you'll want to do this in steps the first time through. Do NOT click on the 'Delete Package Once Installed'!!!
1) Install the new content management database. Enter Postgres in the 'type here to filter' box
2) Select the 64-bit (I'm assuming the mega-box is a 64-bit system :-) ) version and click 'Start Queue'
3) Key Filter in the filter box, select the Install Manager Default Filters, and click 'Start Queue'
4) Click the red 'X' by the filter box to clear it
5) Click on the box beside 'Products' to tag everything and click 'Start Queue'; Install Manager will install Studio first, then the studio plugins, and then the content.
6) Start DAZ Studio; click 'OK' on the DAZ Studio Home screen
7) Edit -> Preferences
8) Select the 'Content Library' tab
9) Select the 'Content Directory Manager' tab at the bottom
10) Click the '+' sign by DAZ Studio Formats, then click on the 'DAZ Studio Formats' entry itself
11) Click on 'Add'
12) Browse to your 'My Library' directory you defined to DIM up in step 10 in the previous section and click 'OK'
13) Repeat 10, 11, and 12 for the 'Poser Formats' entry
14) Click on 'Accept' on the Content Directory Manager pane
15) Click on 'Accept' on the Preferences pane
16) Shut down Studio and DIM; count to 10 slowly (it takes a while for the CMS database system to shut down
All done - you should be able to start DAZ Studio at this point and play with the interactive tutorials - and then go wild.
One more post, on the day-to-day process for a two-system setup like this.
Day to day procedure for the dual system described in the previous two posts.
1) Move the USB disk to the laptop (follow your OS procedures to safely disconnect the drive from the other system)
2) Fire up DIM
3) Log into DAZ
4) Select the updates (if any) and the new products/purchases (Right-click and retrieve the thumbnails)
5) Click on 'Start Queue' and wait until everything is downloaded
6) Shut down DIM
7) Dismount the drive and unplug it from the laptop
8) Plug it into the stand-alone system
9) Start DIM (DAZ Studio should be shut down first, if running)
10) Click on the 'Products' box and the 'Start Queue' button.
11) Shut down DIM - and do a slow ten-count before starting Studio
If you get an update to DIM on the laptop - go to your Product Library page, filter on 'install', and download the new DIM installer - you will need to manually run the installer on the stand-alone system before installing the content.
I suggest a USB disk drive and not a thumb drive because you will want to keep all the download files - again, there is a way to avoid this, but it is ugly with a capital U'. I currently have just over 5,000 products downloaded, using about 270 GB on my drive.
I'm bookmarking this puppy this time! :-)
I have a tutorial on this here: http://deslea.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Daz-Content-Library-Migration-437235160 - it covers some of the Windows-specific nitty-gritty like how to copy files without missing any (Windows sometimes thinks Daz files are system files and doesn't include them in standard copy-paste).
I've been doing this since DIM came out - I do the downloads at a wi-fi hotspot on my laptop, then install on a win-7 ultimate system at home. My home internet access is dial-up :-( but the hotspot I use (Starbucks) just switched to the google gigabit; what used to take days at home and hours at Starbucks now takes half an hour. :-)
I am lucky to have 50MB broadband so DLing is very fast.
I've been doing this since DIM came out - I do the downloads at a wi-fi hotspot on my laptop, then install on a win-7 ultimate system at home. My home internet access is dial-up :-( but the hotspot I use (Starbucks) just switched to the google gigabit; what used to take days at home and hours at Starbucks now takes half an hour. :-)
I know what you mean. I live waaay out in the country (which is good), so the only internet available is cellular (which is bad... very, very bad)
So downloading all of this stuff again is out of the question.
This would be so much easier if we were given the option to download DAZ and all else to someplace other than the C: drive...like a USB drive.
Hint, hint, daz3d.com!
I've had too many computer failures to want to have anything more than the OS on my C: drive.
You Can. Just set the DIM download Folder to a big enough Stick before each use. And Even doing it more than once will only be needed if your Plug and play changes the Drive address for every use of the Device... Then just Install FROM that Downloads folder on the other PC. I do know the Browse will work just fine in DIM even if the Address is dynamic. AS Long as its used who cares if it must be done every use?
I've been doing this since DIM came out - I do the downloads at a wi-fi hotspot on my laptop, then install on a win-7 ultimate system at home. My home internet access is dial-up :-( but the hotspot I use (Starbucks) just switched to the google gigabit; what used to take days at home and hours at Starbucks now takes half an hour. :-)
I know what you mean. I live waaay out in the country (which is good), so the only internet available is cellular (which is bad... very, very bad)
So downloading all of this stuff again is out of the question.
This would be so much easier if we were given the option to download DAZ and all else to someplace other than the C: drive...like a USB drive.
Hint, hint, daz3d.com!
I've had too many computer failures to want to have anything more than the OS on my C: drive.
Follow the directions above - you can put the software and the content on any drive you wish. I have everything installed to my D: drive on the big system.Even at the wi-fi hotspot it took me 5 months to re-download everything, but it was worth the effort.
Okay, I'm not too sure just how I managed it, but the transfer is complete, and was fairly simple.
I was stuck at home, unable to travel to a wi-fi hotspot, so tried a little experimenting.
I loaded all DAZ files from my laptop onto a thumb drive (I searched my system for "DAZ" and copied everything)
I then loaded the files to the same locations on my desktop.
When I fired up DAZ Studio, I could find all of the files in the Contents Library on the left, but none of them showed up under "Actors, wardrobe and Props" on the right.
So I opened DAZ Install Manager, everything showed up as installed.
In frustration, I uninstalled everything, thinking to start from scratch.
Then, instead of disappearing, everything showed up as "Ready to Install"!
So, with my brain in the twilight zone, I re-installed everything.
Surprise! DAZ Studio is working fine now, and everything is showing up where it should.
Proof that you don't need a million monkeys typing at random to get something done.
One monkey will do fine, in the right circumstances.
Short form:
1) Copy all DAZ related files onto removable drive
2) Transfer files to same locations on second computer
3) Open DAZ Install Manager, uninstall all files.
4) Reinstall all files
5) Open DAZ Studio and play.
Weird, huh?