Any way to move odrive folder without having to re-download everything?

[Zero_G]

I want to move my odrive folder out of my /User folder, but according to https://www.odrive.com/usageguide that will create a new empty folder and then everything will have to re-sync … correct?

Can’t I ‘seed’ the new folder with the contents of the old folder?

I don’t want to use a hardlink or symlink.

[Tony]

Hi @Zero_G,
Take a look at this thread for details on this. If you have encrypted content then you cannot move it in this way, but everything else should be fine.

What would be the safest method for an Windows OS reinstall?

Hi @christianorpinell, For all non-Encryptor data, you can basically just copy/move the local data over into the newly initialized odrive folder, alongside the linked storage placeholders. The steps would be: Install odrive on the new system, go through the setup process, and log back in (make sure you are logging in as the same user you were using previously). Once odrive fully initializes the go to the new odrive folder, which should now have all placeholder (.cloudf) files… Go to the old/…

[Zero_G]

I see an option in menu “Move odrive folder” … is that new?
Can I just use that?

[Tony]

Hi @Zero_G,
That option has been there for a long time. When moving the odrive folder, it will not move the cached data with it, so it starts in a “fresh” state (all placeholders). You would need to use the “Move odrive folder” function and then copy in the data from the now old odrive folder.

The best way to do this is:

1. Make sure everything is in sync and odrive is idle
2. Choose the “Move odrive folder” option and choose the new location
3. The new location will have all placeholders (.cloudf files for all of your storage links)
4. Move the contents of the old odrive folder to the new odrive folder. This means that your link folders will be copied alongside their placeholder couterparts. When odrive detects this it will get rid of the placeholders and scan the folders to see if everything matches the cloud.

[Zero_G]

OK, I did that, but now when I double click a .cloudf or .cloud it says “This file doesn’t exist.”

Also right clicking says “no options available”

Some of them work … maybe it needs time to rescan everything?

[Tony]

Hi @Zero_G,
Can you send a diagnostic so I can see what the status is?

Can you also provide a screenshot of the odrive folder, as it appears now?

If the structure was large it may take quite some time for odrive to scan through all of the content once you drop it in. I would advise letting it do that before trying to make any more changes or syncing manually.

[Zero_G]

I sent diagnostics.

The folder looks like a regular folder … there are no odrive badges. (I tried relaunching Finder, same thing.)

[Tony]

Hi @Zero_G,
odrive is still going through the data that you moved over. It has to look at everything. It’s gone through about 10,000 folders so far, the majority in “/Amazon/PHOTOS & MOVIES/iphoto” which is probably a very extensive structure.

My advice is to let it run. It may take quite a while if you had a very large structure, which it looks like you do.

[Zero_G]

Roger Wilco.

I logged out & in, and now I’m seeing the badges … so I can see what it’s doing.

Thanks!