7 ms·

For your second issue, couldn't use just use a symlink from the Music folder to the external drive?

by lean 15y ago

georgieporgie 15y ago
Symbolic links can be used, but many apps that I use don't respect them. Hard links have the advantage of being indistinguishable from a real directory unless an app actually goes out of its way to inspect it.
- aristidb 15y ago
  No operating sytem that I know of supports hard links across device boundaries. Symbolic links are really the right solution there, and that many apps don't work with them is a shame.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    > and that many apps don't work with them is a shame. shouldn't a fopen work seamlessly with symlinks? Shouldn't it be dealt with at the filesystem level instead?
  - georgieporgie 15y ago
    You're right, I misspoke. I have to revise my statements a bit. On Windows, there are hard links, junction points (I believe they're the same, junction points are for directories), symbolic links, and shortcuts. Junction points only work for local NTFS drives. Shortcuts work on anything, pointing to anything, but they're just .lnk files and an app has to know how to process them. Here's the kicker: you basically can't create a symbolic link in Windows unless you're running as Administrator! There's even an option to enable symlinking in the Local Security Policy, but it doesn't actually work (a known bug since, I believe, Win Vista)! The 'runas' command (basically, sudo) can't really be used, though perhaps it works if you create a 'real' Administrator account (by default, there isn't one that you can log into). So, you can create a symbolic link to a file on a network file system, but not to a directory. And you'll have to run as Administrator to make it happen at all. I'm sure that's more than you ever wanted to know about Windows and links. :-)
vacri 15y ago
I tried hard to move my win7 user directories off C: on my home box - this requires the use of ntfs 'junction points', apparently. I managed to get it working smoothly, with one glaring problem - I couldn't hide the junction point from the filesystem view. The junction point looked like any other file, and refused to be hidden (they're supposed to be), meaning that it was possible for them to be accidentally moved by an errant command - which would then lose the connection to the user dirs and screw up the system. So close and yet so far...

For your second issue, couldn't use just use a symlink from the Music folder to the external drive?

by lean 15y ago

For your second issue, couldn't use just use a symlink from the Music folder to the external drive?

Symbolic links can be used, but many apps that I use don't respect them. Hard links have the advantage of being indistinguishable from a real directory unless an app actually goes out of its way to inspect it.

aristidb 15y ago
No operating sytem that I know of supports hard links across device boundaries. Symbolic links are really the right solution there, and that many apps don't work with them is a shame.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  > and that many apps don't work with them is a shame. shouldn't a fopen work seamlessly with symlinks? Shouldn't it be dealt with at the filesystem level instead?
- georgieporgie 15y ago
  You're right, I misspoke. I have to revise my statements a bit. On Windows, there are hard links, junction points (I believe they're the same, junction points are for directories), symbolic links, and shortcuts. Junction points only work for local NTFS drives. Shortcuts work on anything, pointing to anything, but they're just .lnk files and an app has to know how to process them. Here's the kicker: you basically can't create a symbolic link in Windows unless you're running as Administrator! There's even an option to enable symlinking in the Local Security Policy, but it doesn't actually work (a known bug since, I believe, Win Vista)! The 'runas' command (basically, sudo) can't really be used, though perhaps it works if you create a 'real' Administrator account (by default, there isn't one that you can log into). So, you can create a symbolic link to a file on a network file system, but not to a directory. And you'll have to run as Administrator to make it happen at all. I'm sure that's more than you ever wanted to know about Windows and links. :-)

vacri 15y ago

I tried hard to move my win7 user directories off C: on my home box - this requires the use of ntfs 'junction points', apparently. I managed to get it working smoothly, with one glaring problem - I couldn't hide the junction point from the filesystem view. The junction point looked like any other file, and refused to be hidden (they're supposed to be), meaning that it was possible for them to be accidentally moved by an errant command - which would then lose the connection to the user dirs and screw up the system. So close and yet so far...