Junction Points and Space

[DiminishedSR]

So, I've recently decided that I need to (thoroughly) organize my computer. I am running a dual boot with Windows 7 (primarily) and Linux Mint 13 KDE, and decided to move some of the extra ext4 partition to the Windows side. My plan is to move my most-used programs and documents to the new 100G partition, without reinstalling (most of them are games with multiple patches out, and that would take way too long). I found this great program called Junction Link Magic to move my programs to the new partition using, as the name suggests, junction links. I am relatively new to this concept, and my main concern is whether the original folder takes up space?

What I mean is, I copy and paste the original folder to the new partition, then delete the contents of the old folder (keeping the folder itself). Then I create the junction point between the old and new folder, and the old folder becomes filled with the contents that I deleted. I'm wondering if this simply redirects to the new folder, in turn using no space at all, or is just basically a more complex shortcut system that does?

 

[nukemaster]

It is a redirect and it works great The programs will THINK they are still in the old folder, but they will only take space on the extra partition.


Funny thing, I did a guide on just what you want to do.
Guide : Move software/games to another drive without reinstalling.

If you ever wish to do similar over a network, You will want to use a "Symbolic Link" instead
This software works a bit different in that the name you create becomes the folder so you tell it one level above then use the folder name for the link name.

So you want to link to c : \ folder 1 \ folder 2 \

you tell it c : \ folder 1
and name folder 2

 

[DiminishedSR]

It is a redirect and it works great The programs will THINK they are still in the old folder, but they will only take space on the extra partition.


Funny thing, I did a guide on just what you want to do.
Guide : Move software/games to another drive without reinstalling.

I actually used your guide (great work, by the way!), but I didn't see anything concerning the space. I might have just missed it. Anyways, thank you for the quick response.

 

[nukemaster]

strange luck that I found your thread then

I added some more info above you may find useful in the future and i WILL address the space issue in my guide.

It can be confusing because selecting folders that are setup this way will make it look like the files are on the drive or partition.

 

[DiminishedSR]

strange luck that I found your thread then

I added some more info above you may find useful in the future.

That will definitely come in handy here soon (I'm planning on tying together ALL my computers together once I get my new apartment). That way, my girlfriend can actually use one computer to find her pictures and whatnot between the different computers instead of asking me which one she put them on. Will take a while, but I am not a big fan of the whole "homegroup" situation. I don't know why, can't quite grasp the whole thing enough to use it much.

 

[nukemaster]

If you setup network shares with the right permissions, you can tell Windows to use a network location for users folders. I have a similar setup with my media center(because it is on all the time) hosting the desktop and music across my systems.

This way anything I save is on all computers and new music follows the systems as well.

I plan to extend this to include most files when I can get some larger drives(1 x 3TB should be a good start).

A quality NAS(With NAS appropriate drives) may be a better option if you do not have an always on computer.