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    File system redirection in Windows?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Peon, May 11, 2011.

  1. Peon

    Peon Notebook Virtuoso

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    What options do I have if I want to create a folder pointer in Windows, where the folder appears to be in one location but the actual data within the folder is elsewhere? To add a twist which eliminates regular Windows shortcuts, as long as a program works with files and folders (as opposed to blocks and sectors), operations on the 2 folders must be identical.

    For example, let's say I have 2 folders - C:\Data (which contains the actual data) and D:\Data (which is the pointer). If I use Windows Explorer to copy D:\Data to a USB drive, I want the actual data from C:\Data to be copied over, not the shortcut. Likewise, if I tell my backup software to back up everything on the D: drive, D:\Data should contain the contents of C:\Data when the backup is restored, even if the C: drive has been formatted or replaced in the meantime.
     
    Peon, May 11, 2011
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  2. Pirx

    Pirx Notebook Virtuoso

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    You use junctions or symlinks for this purpose. See here. For a more comfortable (and much more powerful) tool, you could look into Schinagls Link Shell Extension to accomplish this as well as some other advanced file system wizardry.

    P.S.: Backup and restore (actually, the restore mostly) can be a problem depending on the software you use. Many file-level backup tools aren't properly dealing with these filesystem constructs (image-based tools should always work fine). Depending on what exactly you are backing up and how, after a restore you can end up with your data copied to D:\Data in your example, so it's now present in both locations.

    Sorry, I overlooked this one on first read: Note that what you are asking for here is, in fact, an inconsistent, and therefore wrong way to backup your data. The issue is that after restoring such a backup, with the C:\ drive untouched, you'll end up with two copies of your data, which will then get out of sync as soon as you modify one of the copies. Not a desirable situation. A proper backup of D:\ should only contain the symlink, not the files in the folder it is pointing to. Like I said, many file-level backup tools will in fact do what you want, even if they shouldn't. Sometimes there's switches to control this behavior.
     
    Pirx, May 12, 2011
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