Tag/Labels lost when file moved

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woomy
Posts: 2
Joined: 10 Jun 2017 18:11

Tag/Labels lost when file moved

Post by woomy »

I tried this feature out and gave two image files in my Downloads folder (Win 10, 17.90.0400) an orange label and a tag named "test". I moved those two files into a subfolder I named "images" inside my Downloads folder and both the tag and the label were lost. When I moved the file back into Downloads, they regained the tag and label. What Gives? I am moving the files using XYplorer.

Also, IMO the fact that those tags and labels are kept in a DB in XYplorer is a poor design decision. Those labels and tags should persist along with the file even if the file is moved by Windows Explorer or another application other than XYplorer -- why was this feature not implemented using ADS (Alternate Data Streams)? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS#Alte ... _.28ADS.29

I understand that ADS is an NTFS feature so it wouldn't work with FAT32 and whatnot, but it covers a vast majority of the use case. Also, you could still fall back on the DB method for non-NTFS file systems.

admin
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Re: Tag/Labels lost when file moved

Post by admin »

Hi and welcome to the club,

1) Tried to reproduce your issue but could not. Works flawlessly. Can you actually reproduce it?

2) This is a fundamental design decision that has pros and cons. Now it's your decision whether it works for you or not.

Don

woomy
Posts: 2
Joined: 10 Jun 2017 18:11

Re: Tag/Labels lost when file moved

Post by woomy »

Yes, I can reproduce it -- it happens every time. I guess I will have to make a video of it or something...

Can we get a feature request going to have the option/setting to persist this metadata (tags & labels) to an NTFS alternate data stream instead? I understand various pros and cons of both approaches. For one, having a central DB makes the system a lot faster since the metadata is in one place whereas with my proposed approach it would be slower since each individual file will have to be checked for an ADS; however, I think most users would vouch that to them it's most important that the dozens (if not hundreds) of hours put in to tagging and labeling are not lost. Also, if I tag/label files on an external drive, it seems unreasonable to me that when I put the drive in another machine running XYplorer all my tags/labels are gone. There is no reason both options of metadata storage can't work in tandem (the DB can be used as a cache to speed up lookups whereas the ADS can be used to persist the storage for long-term/safety). I am a paying customer and a programmer as well and would love to discuss implementation details regarding this feature with any development staff if they so desire.

admin
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Re: Tag/Labels lost when file moved

Post by admin »

Yes, a video might help.

Sorry, no plans to use NTFS alternate data streams at the moment. There have always been rumours that these might stop to exist for all the dangers that are lurking in this technology. It's the dark side of NTFS.

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