Syncing Folders with Shortcuts on a NAS and a Computer. Tough Problem!

I can't seem to figure this one out and it's annoying the hell out of me. It should be so simple but I have a feeling that this might be hard for even the experts out there.

Right now, I sync all my work files on my NAS to a computer on a remote network. There wouldn't be a problem if the folder was synced on two similar computers because the shortcut would be exactly the same. However, the addition of a NAS totally complicates things because the shortcuts are now slightly different.

Here is the situation. The shortcut on the NAS would point to something like "\\NAS\My Work Folder\Synced Data Files". However, the shortcut on the remote computer would point to "C:\Work Folder\Synced Data Files".

As a result, when the shortcuts on my computer gets synced to my NAS, the shortcuts don't work when I try to open the shortcuts on the NAS. It obviously can't find the C:Work Folder since I'm accessing the NAS.

So what should I do so that synced shortcuts will work on both the NAS and the remote computer!?!?

I use A LOT of shortcuts in order to arrange my data. I guess the obvious solution is to create 2 shortcuts and put them right next to each other. One shortcut would work when I'm using my remote computer and the other shortcut would only work when I access my NAS.

But I hate doing that. Not only is that an inelegant solution, that would constantly create double the work for me whenever I have to make a new shortcut. I would have to create a shortcut and then make a another similar shortcut and but tediously re-type it so that it points to the other device.

There has to be an easier way to fix this problem. Would using hard links (I have no idea what they are) solve this problem?

Any experts out there that can fix this seemingly simple but mind boggling problem?

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If you map a drive to each then use built in robocopy and simply mirror one drive to the other that will make exact copy of the drive and it's super fast as it only copies files that have changed

I donot understand the problem cited with shortcuts etc., and you donot mention your sync method.
Did you try FreeFileSync? I am very lucky with it. Syncing between PC and Linux drives works fine.

I'll simplify the problem. Say that I have a folder called Work Folder that I want to sync. Within this folder, there many shortcuts that point to other folders within the Work Folder. (It helps organize all my various folders.) This folder is also located on a remote NAS.

Now, I made the same exact copy of the folder located on my User Folder on a remote desktop. The shortcuts within this folder will point towards other folders by using an address like "//NAS/Work Folder/Folder A/Folder AB/Document A.

However, since the copy of the Work Folder was copied to my remote computer, the shortcut should instead point to, "C:Users/User Name/Work Folder/Folder A/Folder AB/Document A."

I haven't tried Samuria's suggestion. I am assuming it will work? Because if it's mapped to my User folder, the shortcuts should still work since it will point to "//NAS/Work Folder/Folder A...." The only problem of course is that I have to map a remote NAS.

I was already going to connect the two remote networks via OpenVPN so I'm thinking that it won't be a problem. Hopefully....

PiKo said:

I donot understand the problem cited with shortcuts etc., and you donot mention your sync method.
Did you try FreeFileSync? I am very lucky with it. Syncing between PC and Linux drives works fine.