Move Files to a New Location
Updated 4 months ago
Every Diode Drive Zone has a folder associated with it that is synchronized to other Team Members who are part of the Zone. The default location for Zone folders is ~/DistributedDrives/ (or, on Windows - c:/Users/<user>/DistributedDrives/).
However, sometimes you will want to locate your folders elsewhere on the system. This is convenient when wanting to specifically collaborate on subfolders within an existing folder structure, when wanting to use a larger storage device, and/or when wanting to use removable storage.
You can specify a different location either when first adding a Zone, or you can move it later on.
Change the Folder Location when Adding a Zone
Changing the base folder location when adding a Zone is simple - just click the "..." button when you Add Zone or if you accept an Invite to someone else's Zone.
This will open up a file explorer window allowing you to choose a new base folder location. In this example, we chose a USB disk and then typed in the folder name "acme-files".
This creates a folder on the USB disk called "acme-files" that your zone's files will be stored in.
Change the Folder Location on an Existing Zone
If you find that you want to move a folder later on, that can be done seamlessly if moving the location to a different folder on the same storage device, or with a few manual steps if moving to a different storage device.
Moving to a New Location on Same Storage Device
To move the folder to a new location on the same storage device / harddrive, open Diode Drive, go to the Zone whose folders you want to move, go to Settings and click "Move Zone Folder":
This will open up a file explorer window allowing you to choose a new base folder location. In this example, we chose the current user's base folder and kept the folder name the same - "acme-files".
After clicking "OK," Diode Drive will move your folder to the new location.
Moving to a different Storage Device
If you try to move the location to a new storage device / harddrive via the previous method, Diode Drive will give you an error / instructional message:
So, in order to move the Zone's folder, we will need to Drop Drive, and the re-add it.
- Back in the Settings pane, click "Drop Drive" and accept the warning dialog. NOTE: Drop Drive is non-destructive - it simply removes the Zone from the Diode Drive application, but doesn't erase any files or Team Member settings, or permissions - those will all be recovered in the next step.
- Next, locate the folder in your file explorer and manually move it to the new storage device in your desired location.
- Click "Add Drive" to re-add the Zone to your Diode Drive application. When it opens the "Set Drive Name & Location" dialog, navigate out to the location the Zone's folder is in (not the folder itself) and select it. In this example, the location containing the Zone's folder is "demo-new-location".
- Type the name of the Zone's folder in the box and click OK
- You should now see your Zone back in the Diode Drive app, now with its folders relocated to the new location!
