Copy/Move Directories

Directories may be copied or moved to any other directory on any writeable drive available. The root directory may be copied only, resulting in a drive copy operation.

Directories may be dragged to a target directory. See Drag and Drop for more info.

Using the Copy/Move Dialogs

Select the directory (or directories if directories are shown in the active Files window) to be moved or copied, then click on Copy or Move in the Directories menu or Toolbar to initiate the operation. A directory copy or move dialog will appear, allowing modification of the default target directory or drive.

Copy Directory Dialog

Set the target parent directory by clicking on that directory in the appropriate tree or type in the full target directory path. To copy or move a directory to a drive different from the source drive, read the target drive into the Directories window. If the multiple trees option is not used, the target tree may be added to the Directories window by holding down the Ctrl keys while double clicking on the drive letter. Alternatively the second window may be used to set the target directory, which will update the dialog target path, or the target path may be entered manually.

Press Copy or Move in the dialog to initiate the action. In a Copy operation, pressing the Copy button while holding down the Ctrl key results in an update of the target directory where only new, or newer than existing, files are copied. A message window similar to the one below will appear notifying the user that the action is in progress. The Drive, Directory and File Windows are locked while the operation is in progress to insure the integrity of the operation. To abort the operation, push the button in the message window or hit the ESC key.

Directory Copy In Progress Dialog

Global filename characters are not allowed in target names.

Directory attributes, such as date of creation, and time of creation, and extended attributes are copied from the source to the target.

Moving a Directory

A move directory operation on the same drive is very fast and involves only changing its subdirectory location. The file system does not support moving a directory to a different drive. Therefore, a move to a different drive results in a directory copy, followed by a directory delete operation, and is much slower.