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Linked Folders and External Drives: What to Do If You Linked First

If you linked folders from an external drive before adding that drive to Mylio, those folders are currently associated with your computer rather than the drive. This can cause missing folder warnings when the drive is disconnected. If you later add the drive to Mylio, it will create a Mylio_abc123 folder on the drive to sync your library. This folder will contain its own copy of your linked folders, while the original linked folders remain associated with your computer. You will end up with duplicate folder structures in two separate locations on the same drive.

The steps below will walk you through how to correct this. Please read the entire article before proceeding.

Before you begin

This is not a trivial process. Review the following carefully before you start.

Your files are safe, but some aspects of your organization may be lost.

Your original photo and video files will not be deleted or moved at any point during this process. Any metadata saved to XMP sidecar files will be preserved and re-indexed when you re-link your folders. This includes titles, captions, keywords, dates, face tags, and more.

However, unlinking your folders will remove those photos from any Albums you have created, and any Events and Categories associated with those photos will be lost. There is no automatic way to restore this organization afterward. If you have heavily used Albums, Events, or Categories, consider making a note of how your photos are organized before you proceed. Depending on how much you have built up, this may be a lengthy and complex process to reconstruct.

This process can take a significant amount of time.

When you re-link your folders, Mylio Photos treats the contents as new media and re-imports everything from scratch, then syncs it across all of your devices. If you are working with a large amount of data, this can take a substantial amount of time. Your files will not be duplicated on the drive you are linking from, but plan accordingly before you begin.

What you need:

  • Your external drive connected to your computer
  • Mylio Photos open on your computer

Step 1: Unlink the folders from Mylio Photos

Note that only top-level linked folders can be removed. Subfolders cannot be unlinked individually.

  1. Double-click the Folders View icon to go to the top level of Folders View.
  2. Select a top-level folder you linked from the external drive, then right-click or tap the Actions menu and choose Remove Folder from Catalog.
  3. When prompted, confirm that you want to remove it. Your files stay on the drive. Only the link is removed from Mylio Photos.

Repeat for each top-level linked folder on that drive.

Step 2: Add the external drive to Mylio

Follow the steps in [Add an External Drive] to add the drive as a Mylio device before continuing.

Step 3: Re-link your folders

Once the drive has been added to Mylio:

  1. Click the Add Media icon in the top app bar.
  2. Select Add media accessible from this device.
  3. Navigate to the folder on the external drive and click Open.
  4. In the How do you want to get these photos into Mylio? dialog, select Link Folder.
  5. Click Link Now.

Repeat for each top-level folder you unlinked in Step 1.

Your folders are now properly associated with the external drive. Mylio will correctly recognize when the drive is connected or disconnected. On the device where the folders are linked, they will remain in their original location on the drive. On all other devices, the linked folders will appear nested inside the Mylio folder associated with that drive.