Having to do a full reinstall

Riggswolfe

So, the hard drive Daz is on is failing. DIM and (I believe) my content database are on C but Daz and the content is on the failing drive.

So, my question is, can I simply fire up DIM when I get the new hard drive in (presuming I set it to the same drive letter) and just let it redownload everything? Or will DIM "believe" that Daz is already installed?

While I'm at it, should I perhaps install Daz itself on the C drive while I'm doing new setup and the content on my new hard drive that hopefully arrives today?

PerttiA

C should be reserved solely for the OS and maybe the applications if you only have one or two additional ones, but anything else is better saved/installed on other drives.

The reasoning being "Where does the problem occur WHEN it does occur?" and "Do you really want to go searching for your important files amongst thousands of non-descriptive OS and application files with a recovery program?"

I still don't understand, why installing DS and/or moving the Content folders from one drive to another would require re-downloading everything, but then again I'm not using "Smart" Content.

Riggswolfe

PerttiA said:

 

I still don't understand, why installing DS and/or moving the Content folders from one drive to another would require re-downloading everything, but then again I'm not using "Smart" Content.

 

In my case it's because the drive is failing. The content library appears to be compromised as stuff isn't showing as "installed" and has big exclamation points. Yes, I could copy it over but would likely to have to reinstall a lot of it anyway so I believe it might be better simply to redo it all from scratch.

Richard Haseltine

If the Manifests folder is still on C: then DIM will think everything is still installed, if you still have the zips (or download them) you can just select everything (or selected items if you want to do it in batches - DIM will sort by various things), then right-click and choose the option to reinstall all selected using current paths.

Riggswolfe

Richard Haseltine said:

If the Manifests folder is still on C: then DIM will think everything is still installed, if you still have the zips (or download them) you can just select everything (or selected items if you want to do it in batches - DIM will sort by various things), then right-click and choose the option to reinstall all selected using current paths.

 

I set my internet to unlimited for the rest of this billing cycle. I'm thinking of simply having DIM reinstall it all. Can I simply delete that manifests folder and reset my database and just treat it like a free install? Or would it be best to uninstall SQL and make it truly a fresh install?

 

For context: DIM tells me I have 12,856 products installed. I also have another library that has stuff from other stores DIM doesn't install. So I think having DIM reinistall it is probably much less labor intensive for me.

Edit: I just looked. The SQL install is on my C: drive but the actual CMS is on the failing drive my Daz content is on so it'll be gone regardless. I think finding a way to make DIM do a full reinstall is the least labor intensive option here.

 

Richard Haseltine

You might try exporting your user data, if you have made any modifications or want to keep the metadata for your own files. Content Library pane option menu (the lined/hambuger button in the top corner)>Content DB Maintenance, select export User data. That will write some userdata.dsx files to the /Runtime/Support/ folder in your first Daz Studio content directory, so you will need to rescue them from the failing drive. You can then  bring them back in with the Reimport Metadata check box in the Content DB Maintenance dialogue.