It would be really nice to have an option to move all the models to a non-default folder.
I use a symbolic link on Windows to do that, but it’s removed each time the software is updated.
It would be better to have an option in the preference, with a way to select a custom folder for the models.
Richard,
Thanks for your idea! I appreciate your for sharing.
Sadly, downloading the models to a separate drive than the application is installed on is not recommended since it can lead to conflicts where the application can’t access the model files.
Not recommended? OK, but let’s still have it as an option and leave to us users to decide how to deal with it, if there are issues. Currently it eats almost 40 GB - the last free space on my system drive and is the only big thing I could move to another partition, but nope - it’s not possible 
This is true arrogance on the part of Topaz Labs. “You’re too stupid to ensure your Models drive is available to the app when needed.” REALLY?
It’s appalling that the devs and marketing both think it’s OK to suck up 40Gb+ PER PRODUCT on models on the C drive, when we REALLY want to put it on another drive. Even when that drive is a different partition on the same PHYSICAL drive as drive C.
Topaz, please take a long hard look and stop treating customers like incompetent fools. If the models folder is NOT present if and when required, the app should simply and politely say so. That’s it.
You need to add your vote, it would help my request 
Done. Wasn’t obvious how to do it at first.
Open Registry Editor and copy the address below and paste it in the empty row and check the right column and you will see the current model folder default location.
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Topaz Labs LLC\Topaz Photo AI
Change it to your own preferred location and move the folder there.
Thanks, but I won’t do that.
Even if it’s not ideal, I prefer to just remove the symlink, and then add it again after an update.
And the thing is, Video AI already gives us this possibility by selection a folder for the models, so it’s something they could add very easily in Photo AI
Yes, they should have done that in the first place and here we are wondering why?
Well, I had to recover space on my ULTRA FAST (7,500Mbps, 500Gb) primary drive. It’s not huge because ultra fast is so expensive. And all my other drives are also fast and larger M.2s (3,500Mbps, 2Tb+).
I decided to have a go at moving Models files and found that Topaz has no actual programmatic policy or standard about this. In none of the versions of photo products I have is there an option to move the Models folder. (But there is in Video AI, go figure). There is also no standard about its registry records. Some products refer to a “DataDir” (in which models are kept in a subfolder), some refer to a “ModelDir” which in some cases refer to the model directory specifically but in others refer to the overall Data directory (which contains logs and other things too). And some Dir entries end with a backslash, some don’t (so you have to keep that standard when you edit it). A real hotpotch.
So I moved product data folders from Drive C to drive D and edited the Registry location of the ModelDir or DataDir with the following results (yours may differ depending on what app versions you have):
I recovered 53Gb of primary C drive space by moving these data/model folders to a secondary drive. (Video AI models were already on another drive.)
So, Topaz, how about establishing some policies that give users flexibility, and making them consistent across products? That should reduce your support workload too, if all the products behave the same at least in this respect.
I like your post and the details - I have had a gripe or three about some changes and a lack of conformity with Lingyu and others at Topaz for a while.
My system is Windows 10 PC based with an old but good Intel i7 7700K and new Gigabyte GEFORCE RTX4070 Super GPU. I have 2 M2 SSDs and a 10TB Seagate WolfPro drive.
When I started to run out of space on my 256GB C: - I uninstalled all my Topaz products and re-installed them on my 1TB D:
It is a bit tortuous but possible to have say two (or more) Photo AI betas if you move the existing one to a new D: folder and setup different desktop shortcuts for each version. That works and even allows updating the current version without using the full version msi download.
I have two new and larger M2 SSDs to install which will give me space to have more than one version of all my Topaz products for ease of comparisons without have to un-install my current version - install the previous one - then un-install that one to re-install the original one - WHAT AN UNESSESARY HASSLE !!!
I don’t know.
They managed to unify the UI, which is great but I think it’s time to focus on the model management.
Topaz isn’t the only one stacking up gigabytes of models, and honestly, this just isn’t sustainable long term.
Letting users choose a folder for models should be one of the first things any AI-based app implements.
But unfortunately, it feels like most developers out there are still building software as if it’s the only thing running on someone’s machine.
That’s a great point.
Support is often treated like a one-off thing, instead of a buildup of recurring issues.
Sure, responding to someone with a model location issue, storage problem, or whatever else they contact support about can be handled quickly.
But no one really stops to consider how many of those same tickets come in every day, every week, every month.
It adds up and over time, it becomes a massive drain on time and resources, all for something that might seem unimportant at first glance.
