Symbolic links

Greetings.

My ORBX folder is currently located at F:\steam\steamapps\common\fsx\ORBX. That is on my SSD that is about to be full.

I would like to move the ORBX folder (86 GB) to somewhere on my D: drive which has plenty of room. Will Symbolic Link work for this situation? I have looked at Symbolic Link on Google but don't seem to be able to wrap my aged brain (73) around the syntax. Would I copy the files to the D:\ORBX folder before I create the link?

Thanks,

Habu

I did the same lately (boxed FSX, same principle). Works great.

First copy the complete contents (with subfolders) of F:\steam\steamapps\common\fsx\ORBX to D:\ORBX.

Check twice if the copy succeeded and is complete !!!

Then you have to DELETE F:\steam\steamapps\common\fsx\ORBX (creapy!!!) as a symbolic link will only work if the linked folder doesn't exist yet. So the original Steam ORBX folder first has to die, only to be resurrected soon.

Now create the link:

(admin cmd prompt)>: mklink /d F:\steam\steamapps\common\fsx\ORBX D:\ORBX

Done.

PS. As I assume D: isn't an SSD, you might encounter minor performance (loading) issues.

Wim

creapy!

Can't you just rename the original ORBX folder?

Then create the symlink,

and only delete the original renamed folder after success?

Sure, why not.

Depends on how much trust you have in yourself.

After all, you already just made a backup on D:

But definitely check the equality of source and target by right-clicking -> properties.

Check for total size, number of files, number of folders... on both before proceeding.

Wim

Hi,

First, I have no problems with any of the suggestions given and Googling the subject often results in bad info.

But here are a couple of quotes that I found by Googling:

"If you think of Junction Links as "shortcuts that fool the OS as to location" you'll have a good practical simile of their use."

So after you've moved the folder you just put a shortcut to it in the original location.

"The creation of Symbolic Links requires administrator privileges whereas Junctions do not."

In this case Symbolic links and Junctions do the same thing and I like doing things as simply as possible.

So here's what I recommend:

After the folder has been relocated to the new location and the original folder has been deleted or renamed do the following:

With the cursor In the original folder location hold down the Shift key, right-click and select "Open Command window here".

In the CMD window type:

mklink /J ORBX D:\ORBX

and press Enter.

As you've opened the CMD window in the folder where you want to create the link it's not necessary to type the folder's location nor have admin privileges.

Jim F.

As we are talking about links to another drive on a local system (a PC), all proposed solutions are equally good IMO. The real difference between symbolic links and junctions (and the need for admin rights) only comes in the picture when linking to remote systems and network drives.

And that would lead us way to far.

@OP: everything proposed in this thread can be used, make your choice.

Wim

Thanks again to all. I went the symbolic links route, combined with the suggestion to rename the original folder while I made sure everything worked, which it did!

Habu