Drag and Drop Questions

[soccersquirt82]

I was wondering exactly how the drag and drop function works.

If I drag a file from the desktop to documents, I am assuming it is moved, not copied?

If I drag a file from the desktop onto a flash drive, I am assuming it is copied?

Which leads me to: dragging a song from iTunes onto a folder in the desktop and then dragging that folder onto a flash drive. I am assuming the iTunes song will be in the new folder and on the flash drive? I thought there was something weird about having to have the iTunes songs in the iTunes folder?

And finally, if I decided to make an alias folder with songs (let's say it was an artist folder within all the iTunes folders and I made an alias on the desktop), and I dragged that alias folder onto a flash drive, would the flash drive's folder have the real files of the songs?

 

[jmann]

AFAIK when you drag something from iTunes to a folder or onto the desktop the song is simply being copied there. Then you can move that copied file wherever you wish without it affecting iTunes. That is how it has always worked with me.

 

[Zerozal]

When using Finder, the general rule is that files dragged within the same volume are moved and files dragged to a different volume are copied. Holding down the option key reverses the behavior (i.e., copies within the volume and moves between volumes).

If you are dragging from within an application, then the application itself governs how the files gets moved/copied. For apps that maintain their own databases (like iTunes), I would think that copying is the norm, since the app will maintain its own copy of the file in its database.

 

[EndlessMac]

I thought there was something weird about having to have the iTunes songs in the iTunes folder?

You don't have to use the iTunes folder to put your music in. I created a music folder in my documents folder and in iTune's advance preference setting I just selected my new folder. I manually put all my music there and anything downloaded from the iTunes store will go to the new location. Just make sure to turn off "copy files to iTunes Media folder" or you will quicker fill up your hard drive with back copies of your music.

The reason I don't use the default iTunes folder is because when I do manual backups of my hard drive I just backup my whole Documents folder which basically has all my data.

 

[JosephDuffy]

As a general rule, Drag/Drop a file within the same Drive, and it's MOVED.
Drag/Drop a file from one Drive to another, and the item is COPIED.
From iTunes to any other folder (Same drive or not), it's generally COPIED. The song/video/app is usually kept within the iTunes folder you specify the file to be in when adding it to the iTunes Library.

 

[Gregg2]

And finally, if I decided to make an alias folder with songs (let's say it was an artist folder within all the iTunes folders and I made an alias on the desktop), and I dragged that alias folder onto a flash drive, would the flash drive's folder have the real files of the songs?

No. Copying an alias to a flash drive does not transform it into a copy of the original. It becomes a copy of the alias.