The problem is this:
We had a user that about 6 months ago decided to rename 4 folders in a Data Directory used to store data for a database. As this was done 6 months ago, many new records have since been created using the renamed folders in their document paths.
However, any records created before she renamed those folders have the original folder name in the path for the documents that belong to those records. Needless to say, this is something that NEVER should have been done. But i have to deal with the current situation if i can find a way to fix things.
My first thought was to recreate the original folder names and put a copy of every document in them that exists in the renamed folders. This way, when the database is used, it wont come up with "document not found errors" due to those documents now existing with just a single folder name being changed in their path.
However: There are thousands of documents that would have to be copied as these are huge folders. And there is no easy way to sort out which were stored with the original folder names in their path and which were stored with the new name in their path.
I was wondering if there was a way to create virtual junction of sorts or a path "alias" where Windows would treat a path with both the old name and the new name in as if they were the same?
Example R:\Folder\A\filename.docx = R:\#1 Folder\A\filename.docx.
With All the documents actually existing only in the new path.
The person who did this did exactly that when she created this problem. She renamed four of the already in use main data folders by adding #1,#2,#3,#4 to the front of those folder names
No one even noticed as no one has tried to look up any of the filed document until now. And of course by now there are hundreds if not thousands of documents that have their paths stored as R:\#1 Folder\A\filename.docx as well as the original thousands that had their paths stored as R:\Folder\A\filename.docx.
I would like to find a way (if one exists) to make Windows treat any calls to find files located at either path end up going to the one as it is named now.
I have already contacted the database software company to see if we can mass edit the records in the database to change those paths as that would probably be the most logical solution but all of their software is proprietary. Unless we can get them to do it, it is unlikely that an open-source tool is available to work on their database structure.
I am also open to any other ideas that anyone can offer. Keeping two copies of every document in the database just so they would exists at the end of both paths would be extremely wasteful of space but may be our only alternative if we cannot find another way