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Choose temporary files directory - option


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Hi,
I would like to ask if there is a way to add option to choose temporary files directory :)
I design walls and scenery for different attraction parks, so the files often have more than 5 meters in print. That said, I work with really large files and to edit them I need quite a lot of free disk space (my cache files in Photoshop have around 40-100 GB). In PS  it wasn't a problem, because I could redirect cache files to my storage disk, but in Photo it just takes over all my SSD space.
I write it here, because I think it could be applied to all your products.
I would really appreciate that change.

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Are you on Windows or Mac?

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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In C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0 there is a temp folder, if this is the one you are concerned with you might be able to move the "Roaming" folder to another drive

In it's properties there is a "Location" Tab which normally means you can move it.

I have never tried it so I cant say what will happen, so if you are not technically competent with PCs I would stop now

Otherwise, if I was in your situation, I would ensure I had my latest c: drive clone copy up to date and give it a try.

This link (below) is not for the "Roaming" folder specifically but it outlines the procedure for moving folders.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-tip-move-your-default-data-folders-to-a-different-drive/

Once again only try this if you know what you are doing with PCs and can spare a few hours doing a full system restore (if it all goes horribly wrong).  Even if it appears to work I have no idea if Affinity will work correctly with a relocated "Roaming" folder.

 

I might try it myself on a lazy Sunday afternoon, but for now I have plenty of space on my SSD drive so there is no urgency, for me, to do this. :)

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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After some time of digging throught the topic I managed to find a way around it which seems to be less invasive.
You can create a symbolic link to a folder on different drive and it seems to work fine with the program (after only a 30 minutes of testing, if it won't work for anyone reading this just reverse the process).
How to do this:

First of all turn off your Affinity Photo.
Now:

  • You need to find command prompt - press start button and type "cmd"
  • Open it as an administrator (black window with some text will show up)

Prepare your folder:

  • Open your file explorer as a directory type %appdata%
  • Find Roaming\Affinity\Photo\ - there should be folders named by the version you are using. In my case "1.0"

Leave that window be and open new one to create the folder in which you want to have your temporary files:

  • open your file explorer and create a folder wherever you with your files to be stored (in my case "E:\Affinity Photo Cache")
  • now enter the folder with affinity version in your %appdata%\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\ - in my case "1.0"
  • copy everything from that folder into the new folder you created elsewhere - in my case I copied %appdata%\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0 to "E:\Affinity Photo Cache"
  • To be safe, make another copy of your %appdata%\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0 and store it somewhere else.
  • Delete the version folder from your %appdata%\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\ - in my case "1.0" folder. (remember the original name of the folder, we'll use it in a second)

Now it's time to use command prompt:

  • Before we go to the command, select full directory to the %appdata% folder you are in and copy it -it should look like C:\Users\[my_user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo
  • In your command prompt: Type: mklink /D "[paste the folder directory here and add \(the original name of the folder) at the end]" "[the new folder you created and copied the files into]" - in my case it looked like this mklink /D "C:\Users\[my_user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0" "E:\Affinity Photo Cache"
  • Remember about those "" signs on the start and end of every directory.
  • You should see in your command prompt this: symbolic link created C:\Users\[my_user_name]\AppData\Roaming\Affinity\Photo\1.0 <<===>> E:\Affinity Photo Cache
  • Done - you are good to go :)
     

To read more about symbolic links visit those sites:
https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/ - general info
https://devtidbits.com/2009/09/07/windows-file-junctions-symbolic-links-and-hard-links/ - what different types of links do

I hope this helps, but in the same time I still wish I had a simple "insert directory" option inside Serif programs :)

 

Edited by IDT Adrian
Oooops I accidentaly posted it :)
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  • 5 months later...
  • 9 months later...

I would very much like to switch cache directory. Just a couple of minutes ago I had a cache that went up to 6-7 GB for a single file because I was working on a pretty big project, but since my main hard drive for running Windows on only has around that much I had to reset the whole thing and reopen. I do have plenty of disk space on other hard drives, so I would very much appreciate being able to direct all those cache files there instead. :)

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  • 2 years later...
  • 6 months later...

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