Multiple instances without tons of wasted harddrive space.

[pipakin]

Ok, now you've got multiple copies of WoW on your harddrive, and each one takes up 7 or so gigs. also, updating the addons for that many copies is a pain!

So how do you fix that problem while maintaining seperate keybinds/macros/resolutions/graphics settings per install? Not to mention file conflict issues. Well, there is an easy way. First, you'll need a program you may not have. it's called "linkd" (it's microsoft). You should be able to get it off microsoft's site.

Then, go into one of your wow directories and delete all the files in the dir and the following folders: "Data" and "Interface". Leave everything in the other folders.

Then, you'll need to set up two batch files:

CreateInstanceLinks.bat

fsutil hardlink create "WoW.exe" "[main wow dir]\WoW.exe"
...[same for all other exe, wtf, and dll file]...
linkd "Data" "[main wow dir]\Data"
linkd "Interface" "[main wow dir]\Data"

DeleteInstanceLinks.bat

del WoW.exe
...[same for all other exe, wtf, and dll file]...
linkd /D Data
linkd /D Interface

place those in the directory and run the Create one. You now have a working copy of wow that takes up SIGNIFICANTLY less space.

PROS:

1. a ton less space wasted.
2. addons only need to be updated in one folder to update all folders.

CONS:

1. complex to set up.
2. cannot maintain different addons in different copies.
3. slightly slower load times with > 3 or so instances running.


NOTES:

DO NOT DELETE THE COPY DIR BEFORE RUNNING DeleteInstanceLinks.bat! If you do, the Data and Interface folders in ALL linked copies will be emptied.

Make sure to back everything up BEFORE you try this. I'm not the best at writing guides, and if you get confused, you could screw up your install.

[Diamndzngunz]

I don't know who all in here cares about space. I am sure alot of people have like 250-500 gig HD.
Its not hard to maintain things when you have one copy of WoW installed. Its simple.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

This has been linked before but it is still great info. Makes things very manageable when patching and does save quite a bit of disk space for those of us that are conscious of it.

[Sanctume]

Just move porn stuff off the HDD into DVDs and I'm golden!

[pipakin]

I don't know who all in here cares about space. I am sure alot of people have like 250-500 gig HD.
Its not hard to maintain things when you have one copy of WoW installed. Its simple.

Next time I want to post something I found helpful, I'll keep it to myself then :-P

I just thought some people who don't want to waste 35 gigs of space for 5 installs might benefit. I wasn't aware of hard/softlinking in XP and wasn't sure how many of the multiboxers out there were.

[Knytestorme]

Well I hadn't looked into this before and with 2TB of space I'm not that concerned with a small footprint but what I am interested in is the fact I can do this and not have to run 5 patches on patch day or worry about if I'm running the same versions of add-ons (or even all the add-ons I want) on all 5 chars....this is a very good thing, and while others may have already been doing it I'd like to say thanks for the post to bring it to my attention and save me the time of having to trawl msdn to get it working the way I'd want.

[laeelin]

Thank You!

Even with a 500gb hard drive thats ~5% of your total space (and probably 20%+ of most players free space). Wasted space adds up.

The more important issue for me is *1* patch on patch day... not 7! (5 multibox wow folders + 2 normal wow folders [for diffrent add-on's].)

[Diamndzngunz]

Next time I want to post something I found helpful, I'll keep it to myself then :-P

Aww Im sorry buddy.

Maybe I was speaking for myself. I FOUND it easy when I had 1 copy installed. Now I got 4 seems fine.