Program that automates moving files, but then places them back?

[Pedeadstrian]

So, here's my situation. I have two hard drives, a relatively small (223GB) SSD for stuff I'm actively using and a 3TB HDD for storage. My 3TB HDD sucks, so I try to use it as little as possible. I have a playlist of videos that I like to watch, but there's not enough room on my SSD to put them all (or even 10% of them).

What I'm looking for is a program that would allow me to move files, but then once I'm done using them, have it place them back exactly where they got them. My videos are all organized in folders, and the way I set up my playlist is that I added a random number between 1 and 9999 to the beginning of each file's name, so it's essentially in shuffle mode. Ideally, I'd be able to move around 10 or 20 files at a time, finish watching them, then place them back where they belong, and grab the next 10 or 20. Anyone know of a program that can accomplish this?

 

[gifi4]

Right off the bat: Media files do not need to be on SSD's. A 5400RPM Drive (Making the assumption that you're using a 5400RPM drive) is good enough for media files.
So long as the software is installed on the SSD, you shouldn't notice any slowness at all when opening the video files.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Right off the bat: Media files do not need to be on SSD's. A 5400RPM Drive (Making the assumption that you're using a 5400RPM drive) is good enough for media files.
So long as the software is installed on the SSD, you shouldn't notice any slowness at all when opening the video files.

Oh, I know that. I'm just worried about my HDD crapping out on me. It's not in the best of shape, so I want as little wear and tear as possible. Since my SSD is always gonna be running (since it has to), I just want to keep everything I'm gonna use on it.

 

[FAST6191]

Why move when you can copy? It saves writing it back at the end.

Personally I would probably back up the 3TB drive and run it into the ground. A drive that is "visibly" on the way out is as good as dead and it is not like a laser printer drum where you know you have so much life remaining.

What about instead finding a media player that allows you to set a cache and pumping that right up. You may have to fake a network share to get the really good caching options, though if the 3tb is USB you might also have some options. Speaking of USB if it is that then rip it out of the caddy and stick it in a nice cool tower (assuming you are not on a laptop) -- the nasty controllers they stick in USB drives and poor heat dissipation does worse.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Why move when you can copy? It saves writing it back at the end.

Personally I would probably back up the 3TB drive and run it into the ground. A drive that is "visibly" on the way out is as good as dead and it is not like a laser printer drum where you know you have so much life remaining.

What about instead finding a media player that allows you to set a cache and pumping that right up. You may have to fake a network share to get the really good caching options, though if the 3tb is USB you might also have some options. Speaking of USB if it is that then rip it out of the caddy and stick it in a nice cool tower (assuming you are not on a laptop) -- the nasty controllers they stick in USB drives and poor heat dissipation does worse.

Copying is fine too. I just figured programs would have an easier time moving them over copying.

I'm a bit of an hypochondriac when it comes to, well, everything. It's entirely possible that I'm just exaggerating. It's not like I hear loud screeching noises from the HDD or anything like that.

The HDD actually came from a USB. I bought it specifically so I could take it out and put it into a PS3, but like the silly goose I am, I didn't pay any attention to its dimensions, so I just decided to chuck it into my PC. And in regards to your mention of caching, like everything else you ever post, it went way over my head, but I'll look around on google and see if I come across any good results.

 

[FAST6191]

Many media players, including many of the better ones that actually have options, will have an option to set how much you want to cache of a network shared film. Set it up in the hundreds of megs and you can then avoid having too much read action going on for your hard drive.

Alternatively if you have enough ram then you might also consider a RAM drive.

 

[Arras]

Copying is fine too. I just figured programs would have an easier time moving them over copying.

This is true if it's from -> to the same hard drive, as it basically just moves the index files. However, for had drive A -> hard drive B, to move something it copies the entire thing to drive B, then deletes it from A. That's also why the default action in Windows if you drag files across drives is copy instead of move.

 

[Pedeadstrian]

Many media players, including many of the better ones that actually have options, will have an option to set how much you want to cache of a network shared film. Set it up in the hundreds of megs and you can then avoid having too much read action going on for your hard drive.

Alternatively if you have enough ram then you might also consider a RAM drive.

So, I looked it up a bit. I'm using VLC, and the caching options are in milliseconds, not megabytes. The max I can set it to is 60000, which would be a minute. It seems like that wouldn't be a huge change, unless I'm completely misunderstanding something, which is highly likely.

 

[jurassicplayer]

Get raspberry pi, setup media server, stream media.
Problem solved.