Force windows to move (not copy) to another drive?

[Big Dan]

Hi Guys,

Here is the deal, Yesterday I reinstalled Windows as I have the need for a couple of Windows programs. I thought about my partitioning scheme before hand here's what I did:

25 GB - Windows (NTFS)
25 GB - Ubuntu (ext3)
02 GB - Swap space (Ubuntu)
22 GB - FAT32 (for sharing between Win & Ubuntu) [Windows: F:\ : Ubuntu: /media/share]

Long story short, I've put all of my documents, pictures, and mail on the FAT32 partition and mounted the My Documents link to a folder on that partition.

Now, I have another folder that I call 'temp' on the FAT32 which I use as a catch all for website backups and for what ever I'm files working with at the current time. I created a shortcut on the Windows desktop to the folder.

The problem is, it doesn't act like a regular folder, I cannot drag and drop to move files. When I drag and drop, it copies the file, doesn't move it. Which makes me go through the extra step of deleting the copy on the windows drive.

It's not that big of a deal it would be nice if it would work the way I want it to. ;) I am thinking a registry setting should change this. I'm hoping it's not a global setting, this way i can move to F:\ and still only copy files to removable drives.

Thanks,
Dan

[bigH2O]

The default behavior of windows when you drag and drop something differs depending on where you are dragging it to. If you drag and drop a file to another folder on the same partition (same logical drive) it will move it. If you drag and drop to another folder on a different drive, it will copy it. I know of no way to override this default behavior.

There is a workaround though. Rather than left clicking when you perform the drag and drop, right click. When you drop the file to the new folder you will be presented with a menu giving you the choice to copy, move, create shortcut, or cancel. Not exactly what you're looking for, but quite a bit easier than copying and then going back and deleting.

[Big Dan]

Thanks H20, it's not perfect but the right click work around is good enough for me. :)

[vantim]

H20 is correct though. That is the default behavior of windows. You can override this another way also. This works anytime, not just between drives. When dragging and dropping, if you hold down 'ctrl' you will force windows to "copy". If you hold down 'shift' it will force windows to "move" the files.

I'm sure there is a reg hack out there. I'll find it if you want.

[BDW]

Yea you want to MOVE the files not copy and paste. And you shouldn't be using partitions. If one goes they all go. Get multiple drives. Hds are cheap now. Plus if one hd goes bad you still have your other OS up and running to work with.