Copy search results with full path

V

VistaUser

Is there a way to copy the results of a search into a folder and maintain
the directory structure of the original files? For example, when searching
for protected music content in my Music folder, I get over 500 records. I
wish to copy these records to a different drive but when I select ALL from
the search results window and drop them into a new folder on a different
drive, the original path information is lost.

I have come up with a "workaround" but it is tedious: I drop the files into
WinZip (with the "Save full path" option ticked in WinZip) and then extract
them to the new location. Seems like there should be an easier way to
accomplish this in Windows.
 
S

Synapse Syndrome

VistaUser said:
Is there a way to copy the results of a search into a folder and maintain
the directory structure of the original files? For example, when
searching for protected music content in my Music folder, I get over
500 records. I wish to copy these records to a different drive but
when I select ALL from the search results window and drop them into a
new folder on a different drive, the original path information is lost.

I have come up with a "workaround" but it is tedious: I drop the files
into WinZip (with the "Save full path" option ticked in WinZip) and
then extract them to the new location. Seems like there should be an
easier way to accomplish this in Windows.

If you are interested in using command line or batch scripts, I can spend a
bit of time making a command using ROBOCOPY or the bewildering array of
switches in XXCOPY. I'm not going to bother unless you want to do this, as
it will take a few minutes.

Otherwise, I am pretty sure that you can use SyncToy 2.0.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en

ss.
 
V

VistaUser

Synapse Syndrome said:
If you are interested in using command line or batch scripts, I can spend
a bit of time making a command using ROBOCOPY or the bewildering array of
switches in XXCOPY. I'm not going to bother unless you want to do this,
as it will take a few minutes.

Otherwise, I am pretty sure that you can use SyncToy 2.0.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...36-98e0-4ee9-a7c5-98d0592d8c52&displaylang=en

ss.
Thanks. Your offer is very kind. My question was somewhat academic, as I
had actually accomplished what I needed by using the workaround I mentioned
in my original post. Interestingly enough, I had tried using the native
Windows folder compression program to see if I could compress the folder and
subsequently extract the files to my desired target location, but after
about 10 minutes of watching Windows crawl through the compression of
hundreds of files, I aborted the process and resorted to using WinZip.
WinZip compressed the files in a minute or so and I managed to complete the
task without any problems.

I am an old DOS geezer who used to live on the command line. I don't miss
the command line, especially the switches and parameters I had to master in
order to use programs like PKZIP and, yes, COPY and XCOPY. Been there.
Done that. God spare me from that experience again!

I will look into SyncToy for future potential use.

Thanks again.
 
J

Jon

Part of the problem is that it's ambiguous. For example, what would be the
expected folder structure if search results threw up 2 identically named
files eg

C:\SomeFolder\SomeFile.txt
D:\SomeFolder\SomeFile.txt

But without being pedantic, yes an appropriately written script would sound
like the way to go. Ir's also possible to script 'windows search' to be able
to do it all from the command line, eg using vbscript or powershell.
 
D

Donald Lessau

VistaUser said:
Is there a way to copy the results of a search into a folder and maintain
the directory structure of the original files? For example, when
searching for protected music content in my Music folder, I get over 500
records. I wish to copy these records to a different drive but when I
select ALL from the search results window and drop them into a new folder
on a different drive, the original path information is lost.

I have come up with a "workaround" but it is tedious: I drop the files
into WinZip (with the "Save full path" option ticked in WinZip) and then
extract them to the new location. Seems like there should be an easier
way to accomplish this in Windows.

FYI, XYplorer File Manager offers this as a standard feature under the label
"Rich Move/Copy". Works via drag'n'drop directly from the Search Results
listing. The folder structure is recreated in the target folder relative to
the top folder of a recursive search.

Tip: The free trial version will do the job without pay for 30 days...

http://www.xyplorer.com/

Don
 
V

VistaUser

Donald Lessau said:
FYI, XYplorer File Manager offers this as a standard feature under the
label "Rich Move/Copy". Works via drag'n'drop directly from the Search
Results listing. The folder structure is recreated in the target folder
relative to the top folder of a recursive search.

Tip: The free trial version will do the job without pay for 30 days...

http://www.xyplorer.com/

Don

Thank you. Will try.
 

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