OK. I need your help. I have a poorly organized hard drive and I want to be able to locate files of a certain type that could be in any number of directories and I want to be able to move them to new homes.
I have a visual disability and am sort of dyslexic so I need to be able to keep the found files separate from the already moved files.
A common stupid mistake using windows file manager would be to do a general search for my ISO file for instance. Then I attempt to move them into the directory I want. It works fine but then the already moved file appears again in the global search and I attempt to move it again or accidentally delete it.
I would like something that would give me a global view of the files I want in their correct directories and be able to move them to where I want them.
Again, I’m not a file management expert. If I were I would have not let this mess build up.
$ find . -type f -iname "*.iso" -exec mv -t /mnt/new {} \+if you use Linux, runs cygwin or install a Linux VM, that’s what you could do.
Assuming your terminal is currently navigated to the drive with your files, and the new hard drive is mounted to /mnt/ with a folder called new.
said he uses windows, so that won’t help ha.
try this app from the app store, from what I can tell it’s super easy, few buttons and easy to read. search for it in windows store
google for alternatives to file explorer
Not exactly what you describe, but I guess WinDirStat could help with the general problem of “what is taking up my drive space, and where is it”. In the next step you can then move it.
It shows your drive(s) and what’s on it. Files in same folders are next to each other, different file types have different colors. If you click on ISO files in the upper right corner, it highlights all ISOs on your drive.
While unfortunately this tool does not allow to directly move stuff (only delete), you can right click a file and chose “explorer here”. In that explorer window you can then chose the files you want, right click, “cut”. Then go to the folder where you want them, right click, “paste”. This moves the file to there.
Hint: If both cut and paste folders are on the same drive, typically this move is instantaneous - no wait8bg for file copying.
Get a USB drive of required size. Move/Copy all files to USB and then clean/clear/format your HDD. Run WizTree (faster and newer than WinDirStat) on the files to find what you need, and move/copy them over to your now clean HDD.
Will take some time, but the end result should be what you want.
Perfect, thanks a lot! This indeed looks much better, and even allows copy/paste. How could I not find that when I googled yesterday for alternatives 