Installation location

Drednort

Is there any way to select the directory where CC3+ installs itself? Not just the data files - the actual program files.

I don't want this program taking up the most precious real estate on my new PC and I'm not sure what advantage there is to it doing so.

Monsen

No, but you shouldn't worry about the space for CC3+ program itself. It is less than 50MB in size, you won't notice the difference if it is there or not no matter how small a drive you have.

Note that if you really want to move it, all you have to do is to move the directory after installing, then run fcw32.exe from the new location, and everything will work just fine (well, except for the desktop/start menu shortcuts, which points to the old location). But this is an unsupported configuration.

Loopysue

I'm thinking of moving everything to my terabyte D disk (same machine). Its supposed to be used more like a read only disc because of the type it is. Would that be a foolish move?

My main disk is more than half full right now, even though it is itself a terabyte disk. I was reliably informed that it was good housekeeping to keep it no more than half full most of the time to extend its lifespan.

And if you create a new shortcut to the exe file on your toolbar will it not work?

Monsen

As I said to Drednort above, you shouldn't worry about CC3+ install files. They are so tiny that it won't have an impact at all on your disk space. Those 50Mb is just 0.005 percent of that TB drive. Almost every single hi-res image export I have in the atlas is larger than that.

The CC3+ data directory on the other hand is worth moving if you need space. Mine is about 44GB, about one thousand times the size of the installation directory, and a full 5% of the size of a on TB drive.

Personally, I am mostly concerned about performance, so I have my CC3+ data directory located on the fastest drive I could get my hands on (An NVMe M.2 drive, connected directly to the fast PCI Express interface instead of the slower SATA interface most disks are connected to).

I wouldn't consider using just half my disks, but I do try to keep at least 20% free. For HDD's that reduced the chance of fragmentation happening, at least on a performance-hitting scale, and for SSD's it lets them have a reasonable amount of free space to use for cache, which makes the drive perform as it should, as filling it up will slow it down, especially if you have a new-ish SSD (generally, the newer the SSD [technology wise], the bigger a performance hit it takes when you fill it up.)

Loopysue

Thanks, Remy :)

I have an even bigger artwork collection, since it includes all the stuff I've made, and all the files that made it - all the GIMP, Krita, Blender and Genetica files as well as all the regular artwork. I keep them all in subfolders within the actual PF folder system where the finished assets are stored because I simply could not remember where they are if I kept them separately. Some of these files are immense so mine is more like 60GB.

And growing!

This is despite the fact that I have no CSUAC or Dundjinni artwork other than the Bogie Collection.

On top of that I have another 30GB artwork files stored separately where things are still in the very early developmental stages and not yet allocated to a space within the PF folders. I have 13GB of Genetica (textures) artwork alone, never mind all the 1GB FT3 files I have lying around the place.

Monsen

Make sure you keep backups.

Loopysue

I've been thinking about that a lot just lately, even though my machine is less than a year old.

I think I might need to invest in a TB external drive, even though I have the D drive unused. I am very reticent to use it at all, since it is of the type that isn't supposed to be written to all the time. So when I use it, the information I store on it will have to be regarded as read only. I think that kind of defeats the purpose of a true backup disc, which I would want to re-do once a week.

jslayton

For disks that "aren't supposed to be written to all the time", the notion of "all the time" is literally multiple accesses for every minute of the day. What that means is don't use it for things like the system swap file or running a database or running a web server. Such drives are great for backups or for storing documents that you don't change hundreds of times a day (like CC3 working files). The limitation is usually less that the drive will wear out, but more that it is slow to write (and some of those drives get slower as they get hotter from lots of use).

Loopysue

So I could use it once a week to backup all the extra artwork I have made - as long as it's not current artwork but stuff that is finished and done with?

That sounds better!

Thanks Joe :)

Now to set up the backup...

JimP

I tend to back up all of my maps to external USB hard drives. And templates I created, etc.

Also have backups of the free symbol sets.

Hard drives have failed on me in the past. So I try to be extra careful about my files. Reinstalling files that could take days is not a process I want to deal with again.

Loopysue

I'm going to have to stick with just the D drive on my PC for now - maybe get a second external backup in a few months time.

ScottA

I have two external USB hard drives I back-up and save to. I had one fail on me not long ago, so I try to be sure I have copies of most everything on my computer, as well as on both external drives. A little paranoia, maybe, but better safe than sorry...

[Deleted User]

I do that too, Scott, ever since my desktop died 2 years ago with the loss of a fair bit of data.