windows 7 folder redirection


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I have a PC that i use as my media server. Running windows 7 x64 pro. It shares to my smart TV, xbox 360 and apple TV. I have started to run out of space on my films hard drive, so I want to move a couple of genres to another drive, but not have it effect the users, such as my kids. I tried making a shortcut but that didn't work. Is there a way that I can point a folder to another location on a different hard drive? I know you can do it windows server, but I'd rather not have to buy a license for that, and would like to keep the PC as a usable desktop. 

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Hello,

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link#Microsoft_Windows

 

Do note that this is a NTFS feature, NOT a Windows feature. You may have issues with your smart TV and your Apple TV, problably also with your Xbox 360.

 

Your best bet is to make a storage pool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_virtualization#Pooling

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Just to add on to the symlink suggestion above, a nice shell extension to add support for symlinks, hardlinks, junctions, etc etc to Explorer can be gotten below.  Has x86, x64 and IA64 builds, all versions of Windows with NTFS support, although XP needs an additional driver for anyone with an old install.  Click click done, faster than doing it through the console with mklink or ln.

http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

 

y5kj.png

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thanks max, ive got that installed, however when i select a folder on the same drive i have the hardlink clone, whereas on another drive I don't get that option. I read it is a hardlink that I will need to use?

 

 

edit: i think softlink is working!

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edit2. it hasnt worked, it has just made a copy of the files on both hard drives... 

It definitely works on 7.  Right click and pick link source, go elsewhere and drop as symlink, done.  You should get a greenish shortcut icon in explorer showing it's linked.  If you have other programs that add overlays like DropBox, OneDrive, TortoiseSVN/Git, etc etc you can quickly have too many, after.. 11(?) or so it'll "drop off" and won't show any others.  You can pick and choose which ones get priority in the registry, stupid restriction to still be in Explorer honestly.  You can also check the directory's properties or check via a console, it should show you the link info as well like this:

z58u.png

 

Note that directory now appears to exist in two places, it doesn't actually move anything.   For example, your videos can be on multiple drives and all appear in one directory for whatever media server to pull from. The file system treats the symlink as the "real thing" when in reality it's elsewhere.. delete a file in one location and it's gone in the other too, it's still the same file just showing up in two places, if that makes sense.

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Hello,

edit2. it hasnt worked, it has just made a copy of the files on both hard drives...

What command did you use?

I used

mklink /D test "C:\Users\user\Desktop\smtest\b"
And it worked perfectly.
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