Junctions on international systems

[Fr33m4n]

I´m trying to help out my computer illiterate friend. He just got a new computer with 1x120GB SSD and 1x1TB HDD. He was concerned that he would run out of space on his SSD and that it would abe a pain to manage the space properly so I suggested that he simply junction his "Users" folder over from his SSD to his HDD. I´ve done this successfully on my own system which is installed as english windows, however he has a localized version which comes in norwegian. Thus, in explorer, his "Users" folder is named "Brukere". But this must just be some visual trickery because in command prompt the Users folder still shows up as Users and not as "Brukere".

Having done some research on the internet I saw that it was generally recomended to boot from the install disk and use the command prompt in the recovery console to copy over the user files and create the junction. In the recovery console the Users folder was labeled Users.

First time I tried it I moved the entire Users folder over to the other disk (using robocopy) and created a junction that pointed to Users. This created havoc when I tried to log back in to normal windows because I guess it was looking for a "Brukere" folder. So I tried again but this time I pointed the junction to "Brukere". This didn´t work either.

So I kinda gave up on that and decided to try moving just the one subfolder of the user I was interested in inside the Users folder. Let´s call this user "John".

And this is where it gets really wierd. I copied over the folder named "John" into a Users folder on the HDD and then created a junction pointing to it inside the Users folder on the SSD. When I now rebooted and logged back in to windows things were seemingly working for the first time. However upon navigating "SSD:\Users\Junction\" I was not teleported over to the HDD. Insted it appears as if the files now exist in both locations at the same time. It´s like the folders are synchronized. And to further test this hypothesis I downloaded and then deleted a 50 mb file while watching the disk properties of both the SSD and the HDD and it seemed as if the free space on both drives were increasing and decreasing simultaneously.

Does anybody have any insight into how to properly set up a junction on a non english windows 7 system? I would really appreciate the help.

[jaclaz]

And this is where it gets really wierd. I copied over the folder named "John" into a Users folder on the HDD and then created a junction pointing to it inside the Users folder on the SSD. When I now rebooted and logged back in to windows things were seemingly working for the first time. However upon navigating "SSD:\Users\Junction\" I was not teleported over to the HDD. Insted it appears as if the files now exist in both locations at the same time. It´s like the folders are synchronized. And to further test this hypothesis I downloaded and then deleted a 50 mb file while watching the disk properties of both the SSD and the HDD and it seemed as if the free space on both drives were increasing and decreasing simultaneously.

I cannot comment on the issues you are having but the above sounds to me EXACTLY how a junction shoud behave.

You should take some time on this page (where also junctions are talked about):

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

Basically if you look at the junction directory it is a "mirror" of the target, try checking the available space on the WHOLE volume (and not the one IN the junction directory).

jaclaz

[bphlpt]

If the junction is acting correctly, it's not a mirror, it's two different paths to the exact same place. There is only one set of data. I wonder what the OP thought he would see? "Normal" Windows Explorer type apps can't even tell that it is a junction, which is why they work and why the resulting drive space measurements will be off. To make sure it's working as it should requires a program that can tell the difference between a junction, or reparse point, and the real directory. You can try using the "Junction" sysinternals tool - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896768. You can find other appropriate tools using Google.

Cheers and Regards

[jaclaz]

If the junction is acting correctly, it's not a mirror, it's two different paths to the exact same place. There is only one set of data.

Yes , to clear my previous post, the accent is on:

Basically if you look at the junction directory it is looks like a "mirror" of the target (but it is not) ....

@Fr33m4n

If you do a DIR of the WHOLE volume, you will notice it, example two (very small identically sized) volumes, E:\ and J:\, J: contains a "real folder" Test_source and in it there is a file "100Kb.000" in E:\ there is a "junction" test_jumction pointing to the J:\Test_Source:

E:\>DIR /S
 Il volume nell'unità E non ha etichetta.
 Numero di serie del volume: 7843-5EB0

 Directory di E:\

23/02/2012  18.39             1.024 1Kb.000
23/02/2012  20.55    <JUNCTION>     test_junction
               1 File          1.024 byte

 Directory di E:\test_junction

23/02/2012  18.38    <DIR>          .
23/02/2012  18.38    <DIR>          ..
23/02/2012  18.38           102.400 100Kb.000
               1 File        102.400 byte

     Totale file elencati:
               2 File        103.424 byte
               3 Directory         594.944 byte disponibili

J:\>DIR /S
 Il volume nell'unità J non ha etichetta.
 Numero di serie del volume: D84E-9528

 Directory di J:\

23/02/2012  18.39             1.024 1Kb.000
23/02/2012  18.38    <DIR>          Test_source
               1 File          1.024 byte

 Directory di J:\Test_source

23/02/2012  18.38    <DIR>          .
23/02/2012  18.38    <DIR>          ..
23/02/2012  18.38           102.400 100Kb.000
               1 File        102.400 byte

     Totale file elencati:
               2 File        103.424 byte
               3 Directory         492.544 byte disponibili

J:\>

jaclaz

Edited February 24, 2012 by jaclaz