Windows 10 Hard Links

Bowman15

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 7, 2015
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Has anyone here ever set up hard links using the mklink command?

We have an app on the desktop that needs to point to a map folder on the c: drive. Basically app.exe points to C:\Maps

C: drive is full so some of the map program layers won't open the files. Basically we want to move the C:\Maps folder to the spare E:\ drive, then use a hard link so the desktop app thinks it is still reading from the C:\Maps drive.

None of the examples I'm finding seem to work. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Could you not just uninstall said app, reinstall said app and point it to E:\drive?
 
Could you not just uninstall said app, reinstall said app and point it to E:\drive?

No, these apps are set up on the domain to point to the C:\ root drive folder. That was a work around to get map files viewable on desktops the first time there were issues. The Engineer who ordered these new pc's only got a 256GB os hard drive but was "smart" enough to get an additional 512GB spare drive. How that was going to fix the issues who the hell knows. Now he suggested hard links but left me to do it, yeah sure OK.
 
Could you mount the 512GB volume to C:\maps instead of hardlinking it?

edit: actually if remember right, hardlinking files across volumes I isn’t allowed, nor is hardlinking folders at all. You’ll have to use a junction or symbolic link.
 
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I've used symlinks, they worked perfectly. Bear in mind that if the user inadvertently deletes the symlink they wipe the entire drive.
 
I've used mklink /j to setup a junction as mentioned above for a wamp server running on server 2016 and it works fine.

While it works fine the OS certainly knows that it's a link judging by the shortcut icon that appears on the folder.
 
Could you mount the 512GB volume to C:\maps instead of hardlinking it?

edit: actually if remember right, hardlinking files across volumes I isn’t allowed, nor is hardlinking folders at all. You’ll have to use a junction or symbolic link.

This is the correct answer. Mount the other drive to the folder you need.
 
I used to use a program that would create them for you when I was playing some games on different computers so that my .ini file was on my OneDrive. No matter what computer I logged into it would have the most recent copy of my ui/settings. I can't remember the name but it would plug into the context menu and you could basically right click the file to set the file and right click again to paste where you wanted it.
 
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