Popup for Destinations (Copy/Move/Hard Link/Symlink/Shortcut)

[jimspoon]

I have been moving and hard linking the same files to multiple destination folders. At least with the methods I have been using, this is much more laborious than it should be! The main problem is finding/displaying all the destination folders. It seems that Everything could provide the perfect solution to this problem. Select the files to be copied/moved/hardlinked/symlinked/shortcutted, then hit a hotkey. Up pops a destinations dialog, which is a Everything search window with searches limited to folders. In a Search bar, type in just enough characters to locate one of the destination folders, then check a checkbox for that desired destination. Continue searching and selecting all the desired destinations, and then click one of the following buttons - copy/move/hardlink/symlink/shortcut. (For hardlinks, if the selected destination folder is on another volume, a symlink could be created instead.)

[MoanChomsky]

I second this motion. Or idea. Its a good idea. I'm suspicious of NTFS hardlinks though.. I'm not sure if it was my de-duper software or the 3rd party hardlinker I use- but SOMETHING completely scrambled most of my files, shifting the names -> inodes around apparently in a random fashion. I didn't notice it until I had over-written my backups. 40,000 videos mangled- including all my episodes of Peewee's Playhouse! (j/k )

the hard linker is something called "link shell extension". It sounds Nintendo'ey, (because the Link thing, and maybe koopa shells), but it provides a great explanation for some high and some low copy and backup mechanisms it has, which includes knowledge/detection of hard links, and keeping the link structure intact. You might want to glance at it as food for thought, and maybe something to hack into your own code.

[jimspoon]

Link Shell Extension is great! But in my attempts to send hardlinks to multiple folders scattered across the volume, I've discovered some oddities:

1. Right-click source file(s) > Pick Link Source to get source path(s). Right-click destination folder > Drop As > Hardlink. Hardlink is dropped. Now right-click another folder - Drop As option no longer appears! The "Drop As" option is only good for one drop!

2. Right-click source file(s) > Pick Link Source to get source path(s). Right-click a single destination folder. Drop As option appears. But select multiple destination folders > right-click selected folders > Drop As option does not appear. Hardlinks can be sent to only one folder at a time.