Where are my files?

[Bill Ridgeway]

I want to copy (using a batch file) my files to another drive. My files
appear in both <My documents> and <Bill's documents>. Where are they
physically held and how to I refer to them in a batch file please?

If files are automatically copied between <My documents> and <Bill's
documents> is it possible to extend that automatic mirroring to another
drive? It would save having to run a batch file.

Thanks.

Bill Ridgeway

 

[Stan Brown]

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:10:39 -0000 from Bill Ridgeway <info@
1001solutions.co.uk>:

I want to copy (using a batch file) my files to another drive. My files
appear in both <My documents> and <Bill's documents>. Where are they
physically held and how to I refer to them in a batch file please?

"Physically" is a slippery notion in XP, but in a batch file you can
refer to the location

"C:\Documents and Settings\Bill\My Documents" (with quotes)
or
C:\DOCUME~1\BIL\MYDOCU~1 (quotes optional).


The "Bill's Documents" that you see in the GUI is just a pointer into
the above.

 

[Bill Ridgeway]

Tue, 13 Mar 2007 16:10:39 -0000 from Bill Ridgeway <info@
1001solutions.co.uk>:

"Physically" is a slippery notion in XP, but in a batch file you can
refer to the location

"C:\Documents and Settings\Bill\My Documents" (with quotes)
or
C:\DOCUME~1\BIL\MYDOCU~1 (quotes optional).


The "Bill's Documents" that you see in the GUI is just a pointer into
the above.

Stan,

Thanks. I haven't previously heard of the term pointer. Is this just your
way of explaining or is it a technical term? It's obviously different from
a short cut so I'm intrigued to find out more..

So if files in My Documents can be 'automatically' pointed into Bill's
Documents can this also be used to automatically point the files into, say,
a flash drive as a method keeping a backup copy? (I have this in mind as a
possibility for a Client.)

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

 

[Stan Brown]

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:17:01 -0000 from Bill Ridgeway <info@
1001solutions.co.uk>:

Thanks. I haven't previously heard of the term pointer. Is this just your
way of explaining or is it a technical term? It's obviously different from
a short cut so I'm intrigued to find out more..

There is an Official Microsoft Term, but I can't remember what it is.
"Bill's Documents" is something that looks like a folder in a
particular place in the folder tree, but when you do anything to its
contents those operations actually apply to the other folder.

There are lots of these in XP, both in the file system and in the
Registry.

So if files in My Documents can be 'automatically' pointed into Bill's
Documents can this also be used to automatically point the files into, say,
a flash drive as a method keeping a backup copy? (I have this in mind as a
possibility for a Client.)

There aren't two sets of files, one in My Docs and the other in
Bill's Docs. Rather, whatever you *apparently* do to Bill's Docs is
actually being done to My Docs. Bill's Docs itself takes up no disk
space.

You can get a better sense of the physical layout by opening a
command prompt and doing DIR commands.