Backup forum

Hi,

I've been using IDrive for a few years now.

Some info on how to deal with a problem I ran into.  I had 700GB of data (photos mostly) stored in C:\Documents that was backed up to IDrive.  I reinstalled windows on an new SSD which became my C: drive.  My old drive then became D:.  So now my real data was on D:\Documents but IDrive had it mapped as C:\Documents.  IDrive technical support gave the sage advise to delete the data off of IDrive and re-add and backup the new location.  This would mean I would have to transfer 700GB of data over the wire to IDrive again.  With Comcast's 1.2TB monthly limit and the amount of video streaming we do, that was not a preferred option.   

This is not a solution for me but might work for some folks (untested): Create a shortcut on the C: drive pointing to the old drive.  Unfortunately in Windows 10+ I couldn't seem to create a shortcut in the root of C: (i.e. C:\Documents).

The solution that worked (in case it wasn't as obvious to you as it wasn't obvious to me): Create a symbolic link in C: pointing to the location on D:.  Yes, Windows seams to have symbolic links now (something inspired from Linux). Open a windows power shell (might work with normal cmd.exe also?) with administrator privilege (click Windows icon, type "Windows Power Shell", right-click on the power shell icon and select "Run as Administrator").  Then enter the command (replace link location: C:\Documents and target location D:\Documents with your locations):

New-Item -ItemType SymbolicLink -Path "C:\Documents" -Target "D:\Documents"

This works because while the data is actually stored on D:\Documents, the symbolic link makes it look like it is also stored on C:\Documents thereby allowing IDrive to traverse C:\Documents like it used to.

Hope this helps others.

-Mike