No More Drive Letters! How to use Hard Links, Symlinks, Junction Points and Mount Points on Windows
Dave Plamer, a retired Microsoft developer, explores the historical and technical reasons behind Windows' continued use of drive letters, despite the availability of more modern alternatives like NTFS mount points, due to legacy compatibility requirements.
MAIN POINTS FROM TRANSCRIPT
- Windows uses drive letters due to legacy compatibility with early operating systems like CPM and MS DOS.
- Drive letters originated from floppy disk designations, with C: becoming the default for hard drives.
- NTFS mount points offer a more flexible, Unix-like file system alternative, but are underutilized.
- Compatibility with existing software and systems prevents Microsoft from abandoning drive letters.
TAKEAWAYS
- Drive letters persist in Windows due to the need for backward compatibility with decades of software.
- NTFS mount points allow drives to be mounted into folder paths, offering a modern alternative to drive letters.
- Hard links in Windows provide multiple directory entries for the same file, similar to Unix systems.
- Windows supports alternatives like junction points, soft links, and hard links, reducing dependency on drive letters.