Deleting items in an alias folder deletes original

[BingClawsby]

I dunno. Maybe its supposed to work this way in how I'm using the aliases but I created aliases of some folders and was disturbed when I saw that if I deleted an item within one of those folders the same item in the original folder gets deleted.

I don't really use aliases so I'm not that familiar with the details. I noticed this happened way back on OS8-9 and I can't remember if I had to do something to change the behavior. I mean, seems pretty frikken dangerous if you go about making an alias of something only to find you trashed the original content when you trashed the alias as well!

I'm thinking it might have something to do with deleting the word 'alias' from the name of the aliased folder.

What I did was copy some folders containing audio samples that Logic Pro uses to an external drive and then place aliases of those folders back where the originals were copied from within the system library.

However instead of leaving the alias name as "EXS sample folder alias", I deleted the word 'alias' so it now matches the original name.

But when I did that and try to open the alias folder, it says its a broken link and do I want to fix it... which I do... so now it points back to the original again. Bad news is, as I said, is that anything I might trash in the alias folder will also trash the original file as well.

Hmmmm. Am I right here in that getting rid of the word alias has something to do with it?

l

 

[Dalton63841]

You created an alias of the FOLDER. As soon as you open it, it goes into the original folder where you are deleting the original files. If you delete the alias itself, that doesn't happen. Changing the name of the alias does nothing.

 

[rocknblogger]

In the most basic terms, an alias is a shortcut back to the original folder.

 

[Nermal]

This thread is nothing without a bad analogy, so without further ado *ahem*...

Making an alias of a folder is like a house with two doors. Whether you go in the front door or the back door, it's still the same house, and you're still smashing the same TV.

 

[BingClawsby]

Lol.. I git it.

Trashing the alias folder itself does no harm but going into the alias folder and messing with the enclosed items will

Thanks

This thread is nothing without a bad analogy, so without further ado *ahem*...

Making an alias of a folder is like a house with two doors. Whether you go in the front door or the back door, it's still the same house, and you're still smashing the same TV.

But you can delete the whole house though. That's some magic trick!