Issues with hard links are common. Check your system settings and file permissions.
Issues with hard links are common. Check your system settings and file permissions.
About a week ago I sought a method to transfer my iCloud photos to a secondary drive, as referenced here. The solution involved using hardlinks, but I encountered issues applying it. Here’s what I did: I right-clicked on my iCloud photos in File Explorer, selected "Pick link source," then navigated to the desired location and chose "Drop As..." Unfortunately, the "Hardlink" option wasn’t available. I tried several times but it didn’t work. Thanks for any assistance.
You are choosing a genuine folder or the "Pictures" folder that Windows generates from various locations, though it isn't actually a separate folder.
Hard links function only on the same partition. They operate by linking several references to one object. In a foreign partition, there’s no existing object for you to point to. Therefore, the advice given won’t apply. I have an alternative idea: you’d need a second partition on your secondary hard drive, ensuring there’s enough room for all your photos—current and future. After setting up that partition, disable iCloud Photo, then use the Windows "Computer Management Tool" to change the drive letter to point to your iCloud photo folder. After completing this, restart iCloud Photo and your images should appear on the hard drive. You can confirm this by checking the remaining space on your main drive after adding or deleting photos—it should stay the same. Just a note: this method worked on Windows 7, and many applications weren’t built for it. If you moved or created a file larger than the available space, it failed regardless of extra partition size. I also don’t recall a warning about running out of space on that partition, though Windows might handle it differently.
The only thing you can't alter is where the files are stored in iCloud.
I understand you might be confused, but it seems the instructions are unclear. You mentioned checking iCloud settings, but it looks like you might need to adjust the storage location within the app itself. If this isn’t possible, please let me know so we can explore other options.
It seems you're ready to proceed without documentation links. Let's move forward.