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What is the essential difference between Windows 7 smart moving (files) and the regular Windows file moving?

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In Windows 7, even renaming a folder would cause the OS using smart moving, which is not desired. Since back in Windows XP, renaming a folder or move a folder to another place (in same partition) is instant. With smart moving, all the files have to be re-copied again. Is there any way to disable that? Or what could be a right way to deal with that?

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up vote 17 down vote accepted

Have you installed Link Shell Extension? This is the only tool I know that replaces the standard copy dialog with "Smart Copy"

From that page:

Smart Copy

  • Smart Copy basically creates a copy of the directory structure from the source location to the destination, but it preserves the inner hardlink structure and inner junction/symbolic link relations of the source, and recreates this inner hardlink structure and inner junction/symbolic link relation at the destination location

Smart Move

  • Smart Move enables folders with junctions and symbolic links beneath to be renamed, and the junctions and symbolic links' targets are updated below that folder. Without Smart Move renaming of such folders would end in dead junctions and symbolic links.

So from that the smart copy is effectively trying to preserve the structure of symbolic links within the directory structure rather than simply copying the files.

Uninstalling link shell extension will stop this behaviour, or you can disable it using the configuration tool.

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Yup, I installed that. –  Stan Jul 16 '11 at 10:43
@Stan, From the LSE documentation: "Smart Move: It might be usefull to totally switch off Smart Move, if there are folders with really much folders. This can be achieved by ticking the Smart Move checkbox." As I detailed you can do this using the configuration tool, though I suspect the author actually means "unticking" the checkbox. –  Mokubai Jul 16 '11 at 12:34
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