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Hard link? Symbolic link? Something else to trick cloud drive?

Amazon Cloud Drive recently updated their Desktop software to install, like many other cloud storage programs, in a folder called "Amazon Drive" under the user profile. I have all my media, on a second drive in a folder called Multimedia:
Multimedia
-Books
-Movies
-Music
-Pictures
-TV
Previously, I could tell AD to sync the Pictures folder. Is there a way to make the Amazon Drive folder think the Pictures folder is in there without having to change the directory structure to Multimedia\Amazon Drive\Pictures?

Shaun Vermaak

I use Dropbox Folder Sync http://satyadeepk.in/dropbox-folder-sync/

Do not worry about the name, it can work with any Cloud Drive.

Basic steps that it automates

Moves the source folder (the folder on which you right-click) to the Dropbox. Creates a symbolic link at that location pointing to the corresponding folder inside Dropbox.
Thus you can access the same folder from two locations.
Symbolic links are created using the junction utility (installs automatically with the setup) from Sysinternals.
If a folder with the same name already exists in your Dropbox, then it asks if it should merge & overwrite. If you wish not to merge, it moves the folder to Dropbox with a modified name.

sflesch

ASKER

Thanks, but I am using Amazon due to the unlimited photo storage.

David Johnson, CD

Syncback Pro will do what you want. The native Amazon software is rather limited
Maybe SyncBackFree will suffice for you

sflesch

ASKER

Free won't work. It's server. I'm not going to spend $55 on a piece of software that does what I can do with a few Windows commands and I'd rather change the directory locations if it really came down to it.

Shaun Vermaak

You can use Microsoft SyncToy https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=15155
Although it is old, it is basically just an interface for .NET sync framework which is actively updated (it was meant as a sample app)

sflesch

ASKER

SyncToy just syncs two directories as I recall. I'm not trying to sync them - I don't want two copies of 86GB of pictures. I'm trying to put my pictures folder inside the Amazon folder so it syncs to Amazon without actually moving it to Amazon.

Hard links, soft links, symbolic links, please?

Shaun Vermaak

Hence my first comment

sflesch

ASKER

Which part? Did I miss something? You recommended a plugin I'm not using for a service I'm not using, so I'm not sure how that fits either.

If I'm missing something, please explain.

Shaun Vermaak

You recommended a plugin I'm not using for a service I'm not using, so I'm not sure how that fits either.

Dropbox Folder Sync http://satyadeepk.in/dropbox-folder-sync/

Do not worry about the name, it can work with any Cloud Drive.

I'm trying to put my pictures folder inside the Amazon folder so it syncs to Amazon without actually moving it to Amazon.
Hard links, soft links, symbolic links, please?

Exactly what Dropbox Folder Sync does. Do not worry about the name (The Dropbox part)

Shaun Vermaak

Here is video of process
http://somup.com/cbnODQP40

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Shaun Vermaak

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sflesch

ASKER

So hopefully I did this right. I shutdown Amazon Drive, deleted D:\Amazon Drive, and did:

mklink /j "d:\Amazon Drive" d:\Multimedia\Pictures

Open in new window

Then opened Amazon Drive. For some reason, when I browse d:\Amazon Drive, all the pictures are there plus a directory called Amazon Drive, but it does seem to sync.

Shaun Vermaak

Wrong way round :)

sflesch

ASKER

Wrong way round :)

It is syncing. Don't I want the picture folders inside AD folder like this? I thought that was the objective to make AD think the contents of the picture folder was inside it.

Shaun Vermaak

Move pictures from D:\Multimedia to d:\Amazon Drive then run

mklink /d "d:\Multimedia\Pictures" "d:\Amazon Drive\Pictures"

Open in new window

sflesch

ASKER

But that's the problem. I want to keep them in D:\Multimedia with all my other media. If I was OK with moving them, I would have just dropped them into the Amazon folder to begin with. I want the Amazon folder to think the pictures are in it without actually moving them.

Shaun Vermaak

You move it to Amazon folder and trick Windows into thinking it is D:\Multimedia, this is the only way to sync data

sflesch

ASKER

But it's actually working the other way around, oddly enough. Either way, I'll give you credit. Thanks.

sflesch

ASKER

I did figure out the command line code myself, but thanks for the pointer in the right direction.