What is Reddit's opinion of Link Shell Extension?

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Speaking of Symbolic Links, there is an excellent shell extension that makes linking folders extremely easy.

Not surprisingly, it is named Link Shell Extension

In addition to that you can use GameSaveManager's utility called "Steam Spreader that will automatically do all the linking and moving of folders for you. You can also use this utility to backup all your gamesaves on to Dropbox.

I'm probably too late to get this noticed, but I figured I'd try.

Games should be using the %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\ directory and never trying to save to the Documents folder.

After enabling Controlled Folder Access in Windows 10, which requires that programs are whitelisted in order to write to protected directories, you would be surprised at how many games behave badly when they no longer have write permissions to that directory.

• Silently crashing at launch.

• Crashing with an error message at launch.

• Freezing or crashing when you try to change the preferences.

• Freezing or crashing when saving.

• Proceeding as though everything is fine - including saved games appearing to work - but displaying an error about being unable to save when you quit the game.

• Proceeding as though everything is fine, but failing silently without displaying any kind of error message.

• Creating directories in, or saving to, the root of the C:\ drive rather than the correct location.

Fortunately, CFA does not block symbolic links - they resolve to the source location. So my 'solution' to this problem is creating a directory for the game inside %USERPROFILE%\Saved Games\ and using Link Shell Extension to create hidden junctions that point to it, inside the Documents folder.

It's a nuisance, but does mean that the actual files are all stored in a single location, and I don't have to whitelist games and give them unnecessary permissions.

Tips for your system:

• Disable HT for arma as it has problems with it.
• Maybe you still have to do this (I don't know anything about nVidia and SLI): http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_sli_profile_patch.html
• Most important: Set up a RAMdisk and copy all big files like maps and textures to the created RAMdisk. Then you have to create a symlink with this Shell extension to the files where they should be originally. By doing this all the big, chunky files which usually would be accessed on the hard drive are now lying on your RAM which won't be used anyway because ARMA can't use more than 2GB of your RAM.

Edit: Size for the RAMdisk: 8-9GB would be good.

Always install games to your HDD. Then, if you want to see if performance is improved with the game on the SSD, you can just cut and paste the game files there, and create a symbolic link to the original install location.

Shell Extension for creating symbolic links: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

This comes in handy a lot of times with SSD/HDD based rigs.

I do this all the time, and the majority of games I've noticed barely benefit at all from an SSD (X25-M 160GB). Using this method, you can easily put the game back on your HDD without reinstalling.

Yes. Create a symbolic link to the scenery folders on your external. I use this tool: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

http://lifehacker.com/5530931/link-shell-extension-creates-windows-symlinks-with-ease

I keep my saves folder in Dropbox, then use Link Shell Extension to create a folder junction from Dropbox to the save location.

This does 2 things for me: 1) Save file syncing and 2) Dropbox has file versioning, meaning I can restore/rollback a borked save from the dropbox website.

Another option is to use Symlinks. I have Steam and games installed on a HHD as per normal, but them move the games I am currently playing to the SSD and Symlink them back to the Steam directory. When the SSD starts getting full I just move some games back to Steam location and delete the Symlink. (Just be sure not to use hard links as deleting can cause accidents)

This has great explorer integration and is super easy to use. http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html#download

Yup. Though you should use Symbolic Links instead. Rumor has it there's a good reason for it, but I don't recall it off the top of my head.

I used to use the mklink command, but some time back I found a shell extension that implements symlinking perfectly. Link Shell Extension. Enjoy.

Symbolic Links are what you're looking for.

There's the Link Shell Extension if you're looking for an easier way to work with them.

What you actually want is a Junction, not a Hardlink. You should download Link Shell Extension to give you a nice graphical context menu interface for managing them.

Most plugins cope just fine with setting up junctions (I use Link Shell Extension) from a real preset folder to the place where they look for (often in c:\ProgramData somewhere).

This is how I have most of my presets in my D:\UserFiles\Presets folder, which is auto-synced to my pCloud.

There are some plugins that don't like this though, and those I manually copy the files around.

It's important to note that this does not move your entire profile, just your documents folders. Things like appdata and such will still be written to the HDD.

To rehome entire user profiles, you can robocopy the profiles and then create an NTFS link from C:\Users<Profile> to the new location.

Note that Microsoft explicitly states that this should not be done, as it will block any future upgrades of the OS. It won't affect anything other than that in 99% of circumstance, however (the above, relocation if data folders only, is the supported solution.)

You have to do this from freshly booted machine on a different profile than the one you're using, of course, or from Recovery mode if you don't have two profiles to swap back and forth with. Be careful when working in recovery because what's D: in Windows might not be D: in recovery; always verify you're targeting the correct destination.

I can write up step by step instructions if anyone needs them, but you can find a number of guides on this pretty easily in Google. The Link Shell Extension makes it really easy to do.

Another alternative instead of the mklink command line stuff (which is good when you can use it proficiently, but is a hassle when it comes to many files) is a link shell extension which will add an option to your right click menu to pick a (or many) source file(s) and make a symbolic link somewhere else.

Check out symbolic links:

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

They basically allow you to locate physics files wherever you want, while making it appear they are elsewhere (e.g. the Steam folder).

or easier - get link-shell extension - you can create symlinks from your explorer menue: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html https://www.heise.de/download/product/link-shell-extension-39057

easy to use and very usefull also for origin, uplay - works perfect and easy like copy & paste. You can even mark more then one folder and create symlinks for all in one go.

Symbolic links is the answer.

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

There's several gigs of single player content alone that you can "move" to a standard hard drive. After that you can move individual map files of your choosing. Strangely, you'll still see a large load time benefit if a map file is tecnnically on your hard drive and not your SSD because so many other game assests that go into a loading sequence will be pulled off your SSD.

Windows instructions:

1. Install Link Shell Extension

2. Install ImDisk

3. Start ImDisk, click Mount New, set Drive Letter and Size (you'll need about 1.4 GB)

4. Close bitcoin-qt / bitcoind / armory

5. Open %appdata% (just type that in the address bar) and find the folder named Bitcoin (you need to have started Bitcoin-qt once to get that folder).

6. From that folder, move blkindex.dat to your new ram drive.

7. with the right mouse button, drag blkindex.dat back into the bitcoin folder, and choose Create Symbolic Link Here

8. Start bitcoin-qt again, and let it sync.

9. When done syncing, delete the symbolic link and copy blkindex.dat back into the bitcoin folder.

You don't need to read the whole wall of text, it's actually pretty simple!
Let me outline the essentials for you:

1. First step is, obviously, downloading the program from the download section and installing it (scroll down to Download if the link doesn't scroll you automatically);

2. Place the file you want "mirrored"/hardlinked in one of the folders;

3. Right click on the file and select Pick Link Source;

4. Right click on the second folder and select Drop As... > Hardlink.

All the "files"/hardlinks point to a single location on the hard drive, so no extra space wasted! Hardlinks are awesome!
I wish Windows had some build-in GUI for making them, so people would use them more. :/

I would say RAM disk. You can use this to create junctions (which is like a shortcut). What you do is copy the file to your RAMdisk, and create a junction to that file. Then, when it is accessed from your hard drive, it gets accessed from the RAM instead. You can use AutoIt to automate the task of copying for you, since you'll need to copy after every reboot.

The simple solution is just to install Steam to a different drive rather than Program Files, then any games it downloads will be located there.

The better alternative is to move your steamapps directory to another drive, then create an NTFS junction or symbolic link which points the "C:\Program Files/Steam/steamapps" directory to the wherever you moved it.

Doing it this way the steam application itself is still on the SSD so will still load real fast at boot, but the game files will be stored on another drive.

An easy way to set up junctions and symbolic links is to install this shell extension which adds the option to explorer's right click context menu.

np

If you end up doing this a lot, & you're on Windows, check out Link Shell Extension (and maybe ln) they make hardlinking much easier

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

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

To add further detail, you may want to use a Junction link for the OneDrive music if you want the local to be a backup. This keeps the folder with music in OneDrive (the junction) dependent on the original folder. I've just tested- even if the file is deleted online from OneDrive, it will just reupload itself straight away because the OneDrive folder (the junction) on the PC (which the server uses as a reference) DOESN'T lose the file because it draws from the original folder as a priority.

Install Link Shell Extension. http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

Move the video directory to another hard drive.

Right-click on the directory and select "Pick Link Source"

Go back to the parent directory of the original video directory location.

Right-click on white space in the directory and select Drop As > Junction (or Symbolic Link)

Folder structure should still be the same on the Windows drive but everything is being written to the second HD.

This works for moving games on and off SSDs without reinstalling too. Although for Steam games, it's more convenient to use Steam Mover to manage it.

Download and install this: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

Create a folder on any drive called "steamapps", right click it and select "Pick Link Source".

Go to your steam application folder, remove the steamapps folder (if you have stuff in the folder move the contents to the new steamapps folder first). Right click in the steam folder as if to make a new folder again, but click "Drop as" then click "Junction".

You'll then have a folder with a chainlink on it. This folder basically acts as a shortcut, but dupes applications into thinking the destination is the SAME location as the link folder, hence enabling you to install steam games directly onto a different drive.

Note you can do this with ANYTHING, so I have it doing it for Origin as well, and iTunes (music and apps).

Have you tried the RAMdisk approach to make your game faster? If you have more than 8GB of RAM you should definitely try it out.

Get yourself a RAMdisk program (eg. Dataram RAMDISK)

Start the RAMdisk, copy all huge files from the resources folders on it and make a symlink (Click me for a tool to make symlinks) for the original files on your slow hard disc.

Tada! Faster loading for maps/textures/and so on.

EDIT: And don't message me if you want something done in this subreddit. Message the subreddit, so I and all the other mod's can see it. I just got up :D.

Just cut/paste your saves folder (or just specific world folders) to where you want them, then use file system links to make Minecraft think nothing ever moved.

This can be done on Win XP and newer as well as Linux and probably OSX too.

On Windows I prefer [link shell extension] http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html) to make things easier.

Install that. Then after you cut/paste the saves folder, right click and drag it back into the original .minecraft folder, "drop here" as a symlink. Done.

I'd recommend searching for Minecraft symlink for a better guide as can't really post pics from my phone.

If you use Steam, or any other large install base programs, the Link Shell Extension is very nice for using on an SSD. Effectively you can install your games/programs on a different drive, then symlink or hardlink them to the SSD. Then the files exist without actually taking up the space on that drive. It's more for the Steam instance, but sometimes programs get large as well.

Junction links can be great for all sorta of things on SSD's.

For example, if you want to test a game on your SSD, but have already installed it to your traditional HD. You can just move the game folder to your SSD, then create a symbolic link back to the original install location. None of your shortcuts or installation info will get broken.

This program adds a super easy to use context menu to windows for dealing with symbolic links: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

I don't remember this ever happening to me, and if it does it's quite clearly a bug in need of fixing.

But if it does happen and the bug doesn't get fixed, making a folder junction would very likely get around that.

This can be avoided by using a hard link in your C:/ directory which points to anywhere else in the system (symbolic links might also work but with slightly less probability.) Making these is typically a command line operation but there is software for the PC that adds the capability to easily do it with the context (right click) menu from within a file explorer window. For years I've successfully used "Link Shell Extension" from here:

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

I can't personally attest to this specific use of it because I don't have the Rift installation but, understanding its internals, I can't imagine why it wouldn't.

Ctrl+Shift+Escape opens task manager without going into the whole ctrl+alt+delete window.

You can use Link Shell Extension to link two folders together. For example, you can make a folder in your google drive be a mirror of your development workspace (anytime you make a change in a folder, it is synced to your cloud)

This'll probably get buried, but just in case it doesn't, you can use Link Shell Extension to seamlessly move files across drives.

So you would decrypt the game on your hard drive, then move the decrypted files to your SSD. Finally, right-click drag the files back to their original location on the HDD and select "Drop Here" > "Junction" or "Symbolic Link". So basically you're tricking the game into thinking it's still on the hard drive. Works for any kind of file.

Just in case no one did answer you it's just my slag for symbolic linking folder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link. Pretty much you tell windows a folder anywhere on the pc also exists in another folder. I use it a lot because I am a lazy fuck. By doing this the folder is in two places but only taking up the space of one. In this case Odrive picks it up as a folder that needs to be synced to amazon cloud since it's a folder in the right place.

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

I use this one to be hyper lazy because no command window needed. Just be careful with doing all this as it's not something to use all willy nilly because you will end up with a cluster fuck.

Putting your software on a HDD defeats the purpose of having a SSD.

Your PC may boot quickly, but all your applications will perform slowly when it's running.

FYI, you can remap the Program Files Directory in the registry at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

• ProgramFilesDir
• ProgramFilesDir (x86)
• ProgramW6432Dir

You can do the CommonFiles too if you're that anal.

This essentially does the same as remapping your content folders in your user account (except the part of moving the files for you)

No idea if this will break any existing programs or what will break if you move it to the new location. It's probably best to uninstall programs and reinstall to the HDD.

It would be a PITA to do this with mklink as you'd essentially have to remove the entire directory from the SSD first (Impossible while Windows is running) - and some applications don't understand symbolic links and can screw things up.

Also, if you regularly use symlinks, hardlinks, junctions, etc, check out Link Shell Extension - Adds options to the Explorer context menu. (I have the x86 and x64 versions on my x64 system.)

Ok, I will try and make a long process short.

Close Glyph, Game, Everything.
Go to your "C" Drive and look for a folder called "Archeage". Delete it. Go to this link, and download the prereq for your system (32 or 64 bit)
Download the Link Shell Extension right below it.
Link: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html#download

Install both of those in order.

Go to your game files. The folder you want is called "Archeage" and if you open it you will see your Alpha and or Beta folders.
Right click on that folder and hit "Pick link source"
Go to your "C" drive and click in the empty space and mouse over "Drop as..." and click "Symbolic link"
Run Glyph as Admin and try to Play Alpha.

I don't know about how to change the save directory, but you could create a symlink in Windows for the save folder, pointing it at a dropbox folder instead.

I personally use this program at home, it adds the ability to create symlinks from the right-click context menu: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

Just look at the 6th post in this thread (The one by Terminaor). I think you have to log in to view the link though. (This is the most I can help you on my phone)

Edit: Got the link if you don't want to log in.

I have the same situation. As another commenter said, the best way to do this is with a symbolic link. The program I use is called LinkShell - After you've installed that, what you want to do is cut & paste the SteamApps folder to your other drive, then right click on it and select "Pick link source" then navigate back to your Steam folder, right click on a blank part of the folder and select "Drop as> Symbolic link."

So now the file system thinks your SteamApps folder is still on your SSD, but it isn't! If you want to put selective games on your SSD, you can paste them on your SSD wherever, and put a symbolic link to them in the SteamApps>common folder.

HOWTO for installing steam games to multiple drives on Windows. I use this to move games to/from my SSD, as I don't have enough space on it to have more than 2-3 games installed at one time. I installed steam on a non-SSD drive, and follow this procedure when I want to have a game installed on my SSD.

(needs NTFS-formatted file system on both drives)

First download and install this, which is a utility to allow you to create junctions, hard links, symbolic links, etc., from the Windows shell. There are also other ways to create junctions.

For a game that's already installed to c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\game, that you want to move to E:\Games:

• first exit completely from Steam
• move c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\game folder to E:\Games\
• right-click the 'game' folder in E:\Games, click 'Pick link source'
• Navigate to c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\
• Right-click inside this folder and click 'Drop as->Junction'

You can now re-launch Steam.

This will create c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\game, which is a junction point that points to E:\Games\game. This means that steam and the game will both see the game as installed at the original location, but the files are actually stored on the E: drive.

If you want to move it back, delete the junction point in c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\game (will only delete the link, not the files), and move the folder back.

It's trivial to do this on Linux/Mac -- use `ln' to make a hard link instead of making a junction.

For a game that isn't installed yet, you can create the junction before installing the game (find out what folder in steamapps\common the game will install to) and install as normal.

Symbolic links will work and if you install this it will make it really easy to create them.

If you install that you can copy your game folder to the SSD. Then delete it from the HDD. Right click the folder on the SSD and choose "Pick Link Source". Then go to where the folder used to be on the HDD and right click choose Drop As... Symbolic Link.

OP: You state you already use Dropbox to copy saves back and forth, and I've been doing the same for some time quite successfully now, but with one addition. My minecraft saves folder is contained inside my dropbox folder and it is symlinked to my .minecraft folder

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

Move your entire saves folder into your Dropbox and wait for everything to upload, then right click drag the saves folder from Dropbox to your .minecraft folder where it was and using the new menu created by ntfslink, to drop a symbolic link there.

Now your saves will be on Dropbox and updated on the fly. The initial upload of all your saves can take a little time, but updating the individual chunk files while you're playing is done pretty quickly, and is done without any further actions needed.

After that's done, you can just delete the saves folder on any other PC's and just make the junction, and poof, the saves are available everywhere. Even if you go on a trip with your laptop, you'll still have your saves with you.

-Edit-

Posted wrong URL.

It's a bit tedious to do it by hand, but there is nice app to do it - Link Shell Extension. I never run into any problems, except with uninstallers. Sometimes they choose to remove whole folder (instead of every file inside) and in that case they remove just symlink, so all content actually stays on disk. But it's easy to avoid by restoring folder to its previous location beforehand.

When I did it this way, I just used a folder named "PROGS", most worked fine. Adobe products usually didn't.

I got Photoshop working using symbolic links, via Link Shell Extension.

I used Link Shell Extension to setup NTFS Junctions for Steam.

For example, C:\Program Files\Steam is a junction that really maps to F:\Games\Steam

For my users directories I just mapped all my library folders to my D:\Libraries (2TB hard disk). I didn't use Link Shell Extension for this, though.

I am not sure how to do this with program files and users folders while windows is running as it will surely stop you from deleting stuff in use.

Perhaps if you had a PE environment live CD you could properly set up junctions/symlinks while Windows is offline.

This is what I did. I created symbolic links for my documents, appdata, etc. The folder names are reserved in Windows so you can't rename the symlink folders to the proper names UNLESS you boot up linux to do it. I just live booted Ubuntu to rename say "My Documents - symlink" to simply "My Documents"

Once I finished the symlinks to move all those kinds of folders off to a HDD W7 ultimate was only taking up about 28gb of space on the SSD.

This can help you make symbolic links. It adds an easy to use link creator in the right click context menu in windows.

It can be done in vista/win7 by using hardlinks (more specifically, directory junctions). Here's how:

1. Download and install this thing called link shell extension.

2. Right click your music folder and select "pick link source".

3. Go to where you installed oblivion. I'll use G:\oblivion as an example. Go to G:\oblivion\data\music.

4. Delete the folder you want to replace. e.g if you want to replace the battle music, delete the "battle folder" (back it up first).

5. Now right click on an empty area in explorer, and select "Drop as" > "Junction".

6. Your music folder will appear with it's default name (e.g. "music") with a chained icon.

7. Rename the link to your music folder to 'battle'.

8. Whenever oblivion tries to access this folder it will access your music folder.

NOTE 1: it won't go through subfolders.

NOTE 2: Oblivion just dumbly reads and plays all music in a specific folder in random order. It can be dynamic, it'll only play battle music from the battle folder, public music when you're in towns.. etc

As extrudedcow suggested, you could use Symbolic Links (symlinks) to link files and folders on the other drive.

While it's not actually possible to "expand" the size of an existing directory, you could either manually place stuff on the 2nd drive and create symlinks in the C:\Media folder, or you could move everything from the C:\Media folder to the 2nd drive (freeing space) and then create symlinks back to make it seem nothing was even moved out of the folder.

You can easily create symlinks with Link Shell Extension.

I agree with your complaint. For a work around I use LinkShellExtension to (conveniently solve this problem (http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html). Get the game with steam, move the content to the other drive, create the links.

Use Link Shell Extension to set up a hardlink for the save file. Alternatively you could use something like Belvedere to automatically copy the save file to the other folder every x seconds.

You can also use Link Shell Extension which integrates into Windows Explorer, so you just have to do some right clicking instead of using the command line.

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

The Link Shell Extension is a wonderful companion to Dropbox. It simplifies all sorts of neat tricks with Dropbox like syncing saved games and .vimrc files between computers.

If you are going to get an SSD, you should probably look at how symbolic links work in general (what Steam Mover uses).

They come in handy when you want files to appear as if they are once place, when physically, they are in another (if that makes sense).

This shell extension makes creating them easy:

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

I guess, but then you lose geekpoints for installing a program to basically type something out in the command line for you.

If you're going to do that anyway, I'd say it's better to use this which will just add creating symlinks to the right-drag context menu. Just right drag a file from one folder to another and select symbolic link. Easier than opening another program since you do it from explorer.

> Then I'll have to update every other instance of the file...

If you're on a Unix-like OS, like Linux or MacOS, you can create a symlink (or alternatively a hardlink) to your ".pde" file instead of copying it into your sketch's folder:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link

And if you're on Windows, it also has symlink/hardlink capabilities as well.

But if you prefer not to deal w/ Windows' command line, I strongly suggest you to install Hard Link Shell Extension:

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

Symlinks. Or Junctions. These are advanced tools added back in Windows XP with the NTFS system, IIRC.

I prefer to use a program rather than setting my links manually, and the program I prefer is Link Shell Extension.

I would think the real problem/solution is figuring out which folders and subfolders are the most appropriate. I also imagine you can use junctions/symbolic links if you need a certain subfolder to be mapped in multiple folders, in which case I recommend Link Shell Extension.

I use symlinks a lot because games keep putting crap everywhere except where I tell them. the worst offenses are storing game saves in %appdata% and ignoring a path other that the one I was allowed to set during install - why give the option of you are gonna ignore it?

here guys, easy context menu for making symlinks & hardlinks:

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

The best way to do this, if you've got room.

Rename your Modded XCOM 2 Folder to anything, for example.

XCOM 2 (Steam - LW2 Modded)

 

Simply redownload the vanilla game, and it will create a new version.

You'd Rename that, when you don't want to play it.

XCOM 2 (Steam - Vanilla)

 

Whichever you want to play must be named by the Steam Name, for Steam to run it.

XCOM 2

 

The real advantage to this is when Steam wants to force an Update you can let it update the Vanilla game.

When War for the Chosen drops, you will still have a working LW2 game.

Then when you decide, and modders have had time, you can update the modded game.

 

A better way of controlling all Steam games is to use Symbolic Links to store your games where you want.

The renaming system is still used, but the links are renamed, not the real folders.

Deleting a Link (How Steam Uninstalls), removes the link only, not the game.

I recommend using this incredibly powerful free tool, to manage Links.

Link Shell Extension

it allows Context Menu, Drag 'n' Drop, and uses Icon Overlays to make it easy in Windows.

This makes it incredibly easy, instead of using the Command Prompt, which isn't easy at all.

 

WARNING

Hard Links can cause infinite loops, if you cross link within, a folder tree, don't use them like that.

Symbolic Links are safer, and also can be used across hard drives. So are much better for this purpose.

 

It allows me to easily manage, over 500 active games, and thousands of mods, as if all on one drive.

In reality it's across 8TB (1.75 TB is SSD), and many games have multiple versions.

Here is the BEST way to do it for free : download the free Link Shell Extension : http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

It will add a new item in the contextual menu, where you can pick a folder : "Pick Link Source". Then, in the dropbox folder, you can select in the contextual menu : "Drop As > Junction".

A folder junction in windows is basically an enhanced version of the shortcut. The applications won't see the shortcut as a shortcut but as a real folder instead, and your files will remain where they are. Symlinks are seen as symlinks by the applications, and thus won't work with dropbox, but junction are seen as folder by the application, and will sync as if the files were in the actual dropbox folder.

What you can do to move programs off of the OS drive without breaking them is to use something called a symlink. Basically, it's a shortcut that's transparent to the file system, so the OS still thinks that the files are present on one disk when they might actually be on another. Grab a copy of this, it's simple to use and thoroughly documented on the site.

You could move the "software" folder to another drive and make a symbolic link to it. (either manually or with something like Link Shell Extention (After installation, pick the moved folder as a link source from the RMB menu and drop it in the oculus folder as a symbolic link))

Well, good thing I already use Link Shell Extension to sync files outside of OneDrive. I'll just be sure to do the same before going too crazy downloading stuff on Oculus Home.

On another note though...why Program Files (x86)? Considering Oculus recommends 8GB of RAM why not 64-bit?

If you're concerned about hard-drive space. You can use Link Shell Extension to create "Symbolic Links" which basically acts like a fake copy of the file.

eg. Dir_A/File_1.dat = Real File Dir_B/File_1.dat = Sym Link

When the program tries to access Dir_B/File_1.dat it will be directed to Dir_A/File_1.dat instead.

So your structure should be: create SymLinks of all your GTAV folder in say GTAVSP, drop your ACTUAL mods in GTAVSP (not a symlink). Then when you start GTAVSP it will use the original GTAV files for the game, taking up no extra data, and the mods folder from the SP only folder.

But as far as the game is concerned, everything is in the same folder.

I synchronize all of my save-games across computers by moving the original saves into Dropbox, then I use symbolic and junction links to connect the correct save location with appropriate Dropbox directory. The Link Shell Extension is a great way to do this on Windows - it's an immensely useful development tool, to boot.

There's no local "syncing" involved in this approach, as there is only one true copy of the files and the original save-game directories are now simply pointers to the files' new location - the game will transparently read and write directly to the files within Dropbox, while thinking it's manipulating the files in their default location.

I know you said you'd prefer a configuration file, but I thought I'd share my two cents... I prefer sym/junction links because I can use the same approach for the full spectrum of my game library - no fiddling with various configuration files to get all my saves set up on different machines, just a quick save-game location search on the web.

Other people already covered the majority of the stuff I use, but I wanted to add this one thing that REALLY helps and hardly anyone knows exists.

Starting in Win 7 (or Vista maybe?), support for ACTUAL file system symbolic links and junctions exists. It's restricted to command-line only though, so nobody ever uses them. You can download a context menu extension I'll post at the bottom to add them to right click menu though.

I use them for fucking EVERYTHING audio related. In particular, it lets you spread samples/presets/projects/whatever across hard drives and manage them all from your User Library and not have to specify multiple folders everywhere. It's also great for VST management. I like having mine organized into type subfolders like other people mentioned, but I hate having a bunch of jbridge files and assorted other trash some VSTs install alongside the .dlls sitting in my VST folder. You can also rename the symlinks to whatever you want without fucking anything up, so a DLL appears in Ableton with a specific name instead of whatever default DLL name it was given. If you use programs other than Ableton, many of them flat don't recognize basic windows shortcuts, so this prevents that too.

I didn't do a very good job of explaining this, but I dunno if anyone cares. You can try it out from http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

Check this out. I also found it just now by googling and am going through the documentation. Appears to be a neat little utility.

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

You could copy the files and leave symbolic links in the original location. Links are like the shortcuts on your desktop, but you can have them anywhere and for any file type. You can create symbolic links with Link Shell Extension.

This is a very clever idea. Thank you very much! For windows I found the utility below to facilitate the process, will test it later at home. http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

symbolic links is what you want. It works like a shortcut but for all type of files.

you can do that with some windows cmd as far as i know, or you install this shell extension.

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

Aye. As an aside, a 120GB SSD is usually more than enough for at least a couple of your most frequently played games; just put the couple on there you're currently playing. An easy way to manage this for Steam (and a lot more) is the free GameSave Manager utility.

It can create manual backups of all important game save information, and you can use it to create hardlinks from the game's normal locations to a Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, etc folder, so that your game saves are automatically synced the instant they update to an online storage account. The "Steam Spreader" function is the relevant bit here, though, it's a dead easy way to quickly rehome Steam installed games from one volume to another, so you can have a bunch of stuff installed on the HDD and painlessly move them to and from the SSD in just a minute or two. I have Steam set to put all installed applications to my spinning drive, and then move & link them to my SSD when I'm actively playing them.

Or you can do it manually from the command line, or use the Link Shell Extension.

Does everyone:

1) have Steam installed to program files?

2) Not know about junctions?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point

http://www.rohand.com/2009/how-to-create-a-junction-in-windows-7/

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

You actually want to do the reverse.

I find the best way is to install the game on the HDD, then move it to the SSD and symlink it back. This gives you the flexibility to move it via copy and paste back and forth depending on your needs at the time.

Most of the time I just move the textures to a folder on my SSD, then symlink it back to the game's folder on the HDD. This way I save space on my SSD and get a nice improvement on performance.

I use the Link Shell Extension to do this as I hate cmd.

If you want a bit more fine-grained control then you can link files & folders with symlinks. e.g. I usually install on the SSD and then move the multi-gig data files off. Another advantage is that you can do this after its been installed already. I use the following tool, but if you're hardcore you can do it via command line too.

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

You can use Windows hard links to create a link that connects a folder on another hard drive to Steam's games folder.

Its what I do to put some of my frequently played games onto my SSD, while the bulk of my Steam games are on a regular hard drive.

You can use the command line, or an application like this one http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

That exactly, there's a really nice shell extension available here if you plan on using them that allows you to create them with ease

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

Move files wherever you want them and create junctions (for folder) or symbolic links (for files) back in the original steam folder structure.

Just moving the content folders is alright, but it neglects some of the other folders in the User folder that should also probably be moved (like the temporary folders, among other things).

My suggestion is to try using this setup to install the OS on the SSD, and to move the Users folder to the HDD. I'm using this setup and it runs very well.

Protip: If you're having trouble setting up the junction (or don't want to fiddle with the recovery console too much), try using Link Shell Extension.

Unless you used NTFS junctions or symlinks I don't see how this could be causing problems. It's possible that your HDD is just bad/going bad if you're getting so many errors.

My setup:

C: (SSD) - Windows and often-used apps/games

D: (2TB HDD) - Libraries folders (music, video, download, documents, pics, etc) - less-used apps get installed here as well

F: (SSD) - I have Steam setup as a junction to this drive, as originally it was in C:\Program Files\Steam. That now maps to F:\Games\Steam (Steam sees the previous location).

I did this because through my own fault I ended up having to pay for 2 SSDs, so I split the load on them to keep them from being full.

You can use Link Shell Extension to setup junctions or symlinks. I still suspect your hard drive is the problem if you directly installed steam to it.

What you can do is set up some symbolic ("soft") links from folders on your SSD to your HDD. That way when you for example download something to your Documents folder it automatically gets stored on your HDD, but Windows reads it as it's on the C: drive.

There's a program called "Link Shell Extension" that let's you do this without CMD.

>SSD you have to do a bunch of hoop jumping with junction commands etcetera.

With Link Shell Extension creating a symbolic link is a three click process. Lets not blow it out of proportion here.

Use Linkshell Extension This allows you to create a symbolic link to another folder.

This is how it works:

• install Linkshell Extension
• Copy the game folder to your SSD and delete the folder from it's original location.
• right click on the folder you copied to the SSD and choose "Pick Link Source" from the context menu.
• go to the original location of the game folder, right click and choose Drop As... > Symbolic Link

When you do this Windows thinks the folder is still in its original location, but reads from the SSD.

To remove the link you simply delete the "folder" in the original location and copy the game folder from the SSD to there if you want.

I use this method for games I play frequently. When I'm done with the game I simply copy the folder back to the regular HDD.

You probably already know about symlinks, but Link Shell Extension makes moving games (or anything really) between drives absurdly easy.

Figured you'd appreciate this if you didn't already know.

You can try and use link shell extension to symbolic link the original campaign files (off the CD / external drive I guess) into your SC2 installation

If you take a look at this article you'll get a sense of what the best performers are in-class. I was in the same mindset as you with the 60-120GB range and I bought a 60GB OCZ Agility 3 because they're the top of that range right now.

Another thing to remember is that speed is not simply flat read/write speed, but simultaneous read/write operations per second on those speeds. The Agility 3 is currently top of class in the 60-120 range because it's got the huge 525MB/s read - 475MB/s write, but 50,000 simultaneous operations per second. The Vertex 3 has 70,000, but the price difference doesn't make sense right now.

Also, if you're running Windows Vista or later and you have another drive to hold content on, don't worry too much about getting more than 60GB. Using this symlink shell extension you can symlink files and folders onto your drive and never take up space on it.

Well until it is fixed: to make the symbolic/junction links easy I recommend using the Link Shell Extension.

Simply right click and select "pick a link source". Then right click "drop as -> Junction"

I used this when I got an SSD. Rather than re-installing windows I put the bulk of my program files on my old hard drive and linked the folders.

First of all, you can install Steam to any drive, so the only difference here is whether or not you want your games in a subdirectory of Steam or not.

Second, install this. Now you can make hard links that point to game folders or the common/username folder.

As for game installers, Steam doesn't even NEED installers. They're cut out of the loop entirely. It can GENERATE installers through its backup feature, though.

Choosing to keep installers around doesn't seem like a good idea though since they're using up lots of space doing nothing. Steam's solution is better IMO.

The easiest way I can think of at the minute is using Dropbox and making a hard link to the dropbox folder from local storage file called

chrome-extension_kbmfpngjjgdllneeigpgjifpgocmfgmb_0.localstorage

This file stores all your RES prefs and is the one you need to sync to maintain settings.

The safest way is to use junctions/hardlinks with Link Shell Extension or similar. Just google around for a guide to this, not forgetting to backup!

I wouldn't recommend doing this unless it's absolutely necessary. I assume this is SSD-related?

You have to do it a certain way for the folders to sync right, you have to move your saves to dropbox, make a empty folder in .minecraft and link the dropbox one to the .minecraft one, if you don't do it that way you end up with weird problems like you were saying. I had issues doing it with command prompt but this program works pretty well

You only need to do that when you change extension settings, but how often does that happen?

Dropbox is probably your best bet if USB is too much hassle. Any time you make a settings change just copy/paste the profile folder into your Dropbox folder. Either that or use this app to set up symlinks.

The whole process can be much easier if you use the shell extension for creating symbolic links: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/hardlinkshellext.html

Basically this allows you to drag and drop symbolic links of folders, like shortcut. It has been a huge time saver for me in the past, as I quite frequently use symlinks.

Basically, once you have the shell extension installed, simply drag a folder/file (with right click). Then when you drop, there will be an option to "drop here..." followed by "symbolic link".