The Dr's Office

1. Two New Applications - MailBin 2 and Suction | Team Hack-a-Day, on May 15th, 2009 at 3:21 pm Said:

   [...] Click here to try Suction [...]

2. 
   S, on May 19th, 2009 at 1:51 am Said:

   For some reason I cannot get this to work, I start up suction and drag the folders in to the box, but after it finishes processing them it just stops, no completion message or anything. I’m thought at first maybe it’s putting the folder somewhere and I just can’t find it, but when I looked into the folders I was trying to merge I saw that the filenames had just been changed (“-1″ was just added to the end of every file)

3. 
   DrNathan, on May 19th, 2009 at 4:46 am Said:

   That is a pretty interesting result you had with the program. Let me ask a few questions, and maybe we can sort out what exactly is happening.

   To start, the program does not really offer any feedback when it is finished with what it is doing. I did not create any dialog boxes or the like at the end of the job to keep the amount of clicks needed to run the program to a minimum. If people really clamor for some sort of feedback after a completed job, I would consider changing this behavior.

   As for your weird file renaming experience:

   1) What OS are you using? 32-bit? 64-bit?

   2) What version of .Net is installed on your PC?

   3) Is every single file renamed with a “-1 ” at the end? Suction typically does not do any file renaming at all unless there is a name collision – that is to say, Suction should not alter a file’s name at all unless there is already a file in the top directory with the same name as the file Suction is trying to move. If you have a lot of files with duplicate names, you will end up with a lot of “-1″ files.

   If however you have no duplicate names and this happens, something else is going on.

   If you can answer those questions, I can work on fixing the issues you are having.

4. 
   S, on May 21st, 2009 at 5:20 am Said:

   My computer is running WinXP Media Center edition. I’m not sure how to check if it’s 32 or 64 bits. I’ve never installed or dealt with .net but I have heard of it before. Basically what happens is I have multiple rar files with pictures. The pictures are are chapters of a book and they are named so that they can be read in order. (ex. gto pg1, gto pg2, gto pg3, and so on) When I extract, lets say 5 rar’s, Each one makes a folder with the pictures inside. [1-30 folder, 31-60 folder, 61-90 folder and so on]
   Normally I just drag and drop everything in each folder into one folder to make it easier, but I was trying to use suction for that. I start up suction, select the folders all at one time, and drag them into the suction box. After it finishes is when the files in the folder became renamed (gto pg1-1, gto pg2-1, etc.). If I try it again after that it does it again (gto pg1-1-1, gto pg2-1-1, etc.)

   Also, when I try to do it from the context menu nothing happens, I have to go to the 180kb suction application file and start it up that way. Not sure if this changes anything though.

   Sorry if that was a bit long-winded

5. 
   S, on May 21st, 2009 at 5:25 am Said:

   Forgot to mention, when the files are renamed they are still in their original folders. Pictures 1-30 will still be in the 1-30 folder for example.

6. 
   DrNathan, on May 21st, 2009 at 10:27 am Said:

   Which version of Suction are you using by chance? Have you been using the latest 1.0.4 version?

   As for .Net, you can try this app to determine the version you have installed:
   http://drnathan.teamhackaday.com/misc/What.NET.exe

7. 
   S, on May 21st, 2009 at 11:05 am Said:

   The .Net is v2.0, and suction v1.0.4 was downloaded from this page.

8. 
   DrNathan, on May 22nd, 2009 at 5:15 am Said:

   Your description was really helpful, I think I know what’s going on now. It’s a two-fold problem, partially on my end, partially on yours (but still probably my fault!)

   1) Suction brings files to the root of the folder which you drag into Suction. For the sake of argument, lets say you have a folder named “Book 1″, and underneath that folder you have 5 folders, each containing 30 images.

   What Suction was designed to do was to have the folder named “Book 1″ dragged on to its interface – at this point, it would take the files from each of the 5 sub folders and move them up under the “Book 1″ folder. In the end, your path should look like “Book 1\image 1.jpg”, “Book 1\image 2.jpg” and so on.

   So technically Suction is doing “what it should” when you drag those 5 folders onto its interface. It is ensuring that within each of those 5 subfolders, all of the files are moved to the folder which you dragged onto Suction. Make sense? I know it’s a confusing concept, which is why I said it’s still probably my fault for not making the process clear enough. I think I will write up an example or add some images detailing the process for this page.

   That being said, Suction is kind of doing what it is supposed to, as there is nowhere for Suction to move the files to. Had you dragged the “Book 1″ folder to Suction’s interface, it would have moved all the files up.

   2) The real problem here is that although I swear I made sure that Suction ignores all files in the root folder you drag onto the interface and only pays attention to the actual sub folders, it is messing with the files as well.

   Specifically, it is looking at the folder you dragged, say “Book 1\Images 1-30\” and it sees 30 files there. Since it wants to move the files to the same folder (because there is nowhere for them to go), Suction goes about its business, checking to see if the destination file exists before it moves the file.

   Suction now sees that “Book 1\Images 1-30\Image 1.jpg” exists, so before it “moves” the file, I have instructed Suction to rename the file in the event that duplicate file names exist for different files. So, suction names it “Book 1\Images 1-30\Image 1-1.jpg” and so on. Each time you run Suction, it appends another “-1″ to the file name because it thinks the file still exists, which it technically does.

   Anyway, long explanation short:

   I need to fix part of Suction and add a clearer description with pics on this page. I will try and get it patched and uploaded today.

   Thanks a ton for your feedback and your explanation as to what was going on, it is incredibly helpful!

9. 
   S, on May 22nd, 2009 at 7:12 am Said:

   Ah, I understand now! I should have been trying to use suction on the parent folder (book 1) instead of the subfolders (folder 1-30, folder 31-60, etc.) that contained the pictures. Everything works perfectly when I try it like that. Thanks for all the help!

10. 
    DrNathan, on May 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 pm Said:

    I have updated the application to both ignore files that exist in the root directory you have dragged into Suction as well as to show you how many files it has moved as an indicator that the Suctioning process is finished.

    Thanks again for your help in nailing down the bug. Enjoy the app!

11. Over 40 Awesome Free Windows Apps You Can Download in Literally 3 Seconds « TechWorthy, on June 8th, 2009 at 7:21 am Said:

    [...] Suction (180Kb) – One great way to keep mess to a minimum on your system is to consolidate similar directories – that’s exactly what Suction does. It’s portable, too! [...]

12. Consolidate Files With Suction, on June 9th, 2009 at 4:28 am Said:

    [...] Suction is a portable software program for the Windows operating system that supports drag and drop and context menu operations. It will automatically move all files that are located in subfolders into the main folder. The subfolders will be removed in the process so that the root folder will only contain all files that have been located in subfolders. [...]

13. Consolidate Files With Suction | Popo Cat, on June 9th, 2009 at 8:37 pm Said:

    [...] One of the new features of the soon to be released Windows 7 operating system is the ability to consolidate folders into so called libraries. This can be used for example to create a library for all music or videos that are located in various folders on the computer’s hard drive. Suction on the other hand provides the means to consolidate files that are located in subfolders in one root folder. There are several applications for a tool like Suction. [...]

14. 
    Billy M, on June 19th, 2009 at 1:49 pm Said:

    Excellent little tool. Thanks!

    I’d like to use this in some batch files.

    A few friendly suggestions:

    - Document the command line switches/inputs
    (I did figure out that adding the desired paths to the command line works just fine)

    - Maybe use a local Ini/XML file instead of the registry (completely portable and no footprint left behind)

    - Add a command line switches for (Override stored settings)
    * Checking for and deleting dupe files
    * Optionally Deleting empty sub dirs
    * Run silent (no GUI) or minimized
    * Auto terminate when done (very handy for batch jobs)
    * Output a log of the file operations and errors if any

    Again, thanks for sharing this tool. :-)

15. Suction Consolidates Files And Folders Into One | Lifehacker Australia, on June 19th, 2009 at 4:17 pm Said:

    [...] Suction [via Freeware Genuis] Tagged:file managementfilesfolderswindows [...]

16. 
    Nick T, on June 20th, 2009 at 9:12 pm Said:

    Just a quick point for ya – Running it under Windows 7 will do what its supposed to – however when its complete the program crashes. Windows pops up with “Suction.exe has encountered an error”.

    I’m not running it in compatability mode, nor as an administrator. Just straight downloaded, and let it loose on My Pictures.

    Like I said, it works great, just at the end windows seems to freak out at it.

    =)

    Thanks for the amazing tool!

    Nick

17. Move Files From Multiple Folders To A Single Parent Directory In Windows, on June 21st, 2009 at 2:21 am Said:

    [...] Download Suction [...]

18. Download 40 Freeware berkapasitas dibawah 1 MB, on June 21st, 2009 at 11:03 am Said:

    [...] you need to dig a little deeper. Space Sniffer helps you locate unwanted space hogs graphically. Suction (180Kb) – One great way to keep mess to a minimum on your system is to consolidate similar [...]

19. Suction Consolidates Files and Folders into One [Downloads] | GetAnswers.ws, on June 21st, 2009 at 10:19 pm Said:

    [...] Finder to tidy up before you consolidate with Suction. Suction is portable freeware, Windows only. Suction [via Freeware [...]

20. Suction Consolidates Files and Folders into One [Downloads] · News, on June 21st, 2009 at 11:12 pm Said:

    [...] Finder to tidy up before you consolidate with Suction. Suction is portable freeware, Windows only. Suction [via Freeware [...]

21. 
    DrNathan, on June 22nd, 2009 at 3:59 am Said:

    Nick,

    Glad it (somewhat) works for you. I use Suction on Win XP, Vista x64, and Win 7 x86 without any issues – can you give me a little more information about your setup?

    What version of .Net do you have installed? Can you provide any details from the Windows Event Log if any?

    I have not tried running Suction in restricted mode (ie non-administrator), so that might be part of the problem. I will double-check the code to see if there is any chance of an unhandled exception and I will work from there.

    Thanks for the feedback!

22. Consolidate and Organize Your Files with Suction | Business Hacks | BNET, on June 25th, 2009 at 6:05 am Said:

    [...] I’ve been saying it for years to anyone that will listen: Folders are an archaic concept. Sure, most of us (and by us, I mean you), still organize files in an array of subfolders, but that artificial segregation often makes it harder to find stuff, not easier. In Windows Vista, desktop search and file tagging is good enough that you can simply store all your files in one main folder — like Documents — and rely on searches and filtering to locate files fast. If you buy into this 21st Century file storage concept, then you might want to use a tool like Suction to move all your files out of subfolders into central location. [...]

23. 
    DrNathan, on June 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am Said:

    Billy,

    Those are all great suggestions. The program was really meant to be run as a GUI application, but a command line version would be nice too.

    The fact that submitting a path to the application via the command line works is a side-effect of having worked in the ability to launch the application from the context-menu. The registry data is required for this function alone.

    I think running this a command line only app is a cool idea since people want to use it as a supplement to existing scripts. I will work on it and update the page when I have finished coding it.

24. 
    Gendal, on July 3rd, 2009 at 6:48 am Said:

    Just got bit by this little bug: “File could not be moved – Cannot create a file when that file already exists.”

    What ever you do, don’t run suction on a directory that has a file with the same name, including extension. You end up losing the file and getting a nice error log with the above.

    So for instance “Folder\file.txt\file.txt” will end up with an empty “Folder”, instead of the expected behavior of having “file.txt” in side it.

25. 
    DrNathan, on July 6th, 2009 at 1:49 pm Said:

    Grendal,

    The bug you ran into is an interesting one. The problem really rests in the fact that Windows does not allow two files with the same name in the same directory. This along with the fact that Suction only checks files for name collisions rather than checking directories as well, which is an oversight on my part.

    With your file structure, the following occurs:

    1) Suction locates Folder\file.txt\file.txt
    2) Suction tries moving file.txt – it sees that there are no files with the same name (ignoring the folder) and while moving the file, generates a Windows file error stating that the file cannot be written since a folder and a file with the same name cannot exist in the same directory.
    3) Following normal procedures, Suction removes all subfolders from the root folder, deleting the unmoved file.txt as well.

    I can see your frustration in this situation. I had not previously considered parent folders with identical names down to the file extension. I had also not previously considered the amount of asshatery involved in placing files within folders having the same exact name, including the file extension.

    Seriously, who does that.

    Regardless, I will update Suction to take that into consideration and post and updated build as soon as I can.

    Thanks for the feedback.

26. 
    morehpperliter, on July 7th, 2009 at 8:43 am Said:

    Great program! Works exactly as advertised. I feel bad for people that have bizarre folder types. Whats the point in putting a file in a folder with it’s specific name? Seems like you’re asking for trouble.

27. 
    Jeroen, on July 7th, 2009 at 2:38 pm Said:

    Check this.

    I drag on these folders on the applet, it has found 0 files. WEIRD.

28. 
    DrNathan, on July 8th, 2009 at 1:23 pm Said:

    That doesn’t give me a whole heck of a lot of information Jeroen…

29. 
    JeremyS, on July 12th, 2009 at 6:38 pm Said:

    DrNathan,

    First great app. I used it a few times on some NAS folder structures with image files.

    I now have the same issue as Jeroen – drag folder on either NAS or local drive to GUI and it ends with 0 files and logs it as an error log.

    I have tried running as Administrator, but it actually doesn’t work at all. I’m running Windows 7 64bit. My best guess it is related to another error – which previously didn’t affect performance; after configuring options and clicking OK, I get the following error “Could not remove Suction from registry: Requested registry access is not allowed.” Note this was after configuration – not trying to remove anything.

    Happy to help more over email if needed.

    Cheers

30. 
    JeremyS, on July 12th, 2009 at 6:41 pm Said:

    One more thing which might help – running in Administrator mode in Win7 x64 does not allow folder dragged. When trying to drop folders on GUI it shows not allowed circle. Trying to config in Administrator mode shows the following: “Could not remove Suction from registry: Cannot delete a subkey tree because the subtree does not exist.”

31. 
    DrNathan, on July 14th, 2009 at 12:22 pm Said:

    Jeremy,

    Have you run the application as Administrator with UAC turned off? If you can give it a shot and let me know what happens, that would be great. I’m trying to get to the bottom of the issue, as I have none under Win7.

32. 
    Jeremy, on July 15th, 2009 at 3:36 pm Said:

    Works correctly with UAC off/lowest setting. Appears to run correctly either as Administrator or typical double click. Also no registry errors with changes to config.

    Note this is working in Win7 Build 7100. Pervious issues were on the earlier build so I need to check that yet.

    Thanks!

33. 
    Jeremy, on July 16th, 2009 at 1:08 pm Said:

    Update. Turning off UAC and running as Administrator worked in Win7 Build 7000 also.

    Thanks for the help! Love this app.

    I did have an error message but related to folder structure I believe. I had gathered a lot of random picture folders to consolidate and probably had dup structures.

34. 
    DrNathan, on July 16th, 2009 at 2:15 pm Said:

    Jeremy,

    Glad turning off UAC helped you out. The fact that you need to do so is a bit of a problem, but it could just be the nature of the beast since you are changing file structures as well as touching the registry. I will look into the issue and see if I can tweak things to work better with UAC permissions.

    Any chances of posting that error message?

35. 
    Riyaad, on July 21st, 2009 at 10:29 am Said:

    Is there an undo?

    Please say that there is an undo

36. 
    DrNathan, on July 21st, 2009 at 10:54 am Said:

    Sorry, there is no “undo” feature.

    The program gives you control over deleting suctioned directories, so you can leave your file structure intact while moving files, but that is it.

    What incredibly important directory did you just wipe out?

37. 
    Riyaad, on July 21st, 2009 at 11:17 am Said:

    Ran it on my user profile under documents and settings. I can do it manually or whip up a bat file hopefully.

38. 
    Gary M. Mugford, on August 5th, 2009 at 11:55 pm Said:

    Kudos on a job well-done. I am running 32bit XP on an admin account and started with v1.04. It worked perfectly. I used it from the right-click menu. It balked when you were currently in one of the folders due to be suctioned out of existence and right clicked on one of its parents.

    And, that version left the results dialog on-screen afterwords. So, I was fairly happy when I found out about version 1.1.1 and the fact that it would autoexit. Seemed the solution to the only issue I had.

    ‘Upgrading’ was accomplished by deleting the original Suction.exe and then copying the newer one from the download archival folder to the utility apps folder. I have had intermittent results since.

    It initially disappeared from the context menu. Running it interactively a few times and checking and unchecking and checking the top item seemed to return it to the context menu, but the change doesn’t stick. And I have no idea why. Also, it ignores the autoexit box and the two log settings, which I have unchecked. So, what happens … when the suction choice appears on the context menu, which is about three-quarters of the time, I get suction operating successfully, but the dialog remains on screen and I have a log file in the parent folder where all the files are now located. This is a bother, but clicking away the dialog and then click-deleting the log file hardly qualifies as arduous. A little price to pay for a valuable service.

    I think my problem is directly related to ‘how’ I upgraded. On the other hand, I can’t imagine how else I would have done it.

    Continued thanks for your work. Hope it improves that last little bit. GM

39. Got Loads Of Unruly Folders? Use A Little Suction. - Geek Court, on August 25th, 2009 at 8:27 pm Said:

    [...] Suction is a free Windows app that will get rid of your unwanted folder trees and leave you with your files all in the root folder. Just drag the directory with all subfolders into the program and it will get rid of the folder tree while bringing your files to the root directory. Think of your images folder or videos folder. [...]

40. 
    Linux_x, on September 10th, 2009 at 9:52 am Said:

    Just an Idea / setting to move photos to a folder, music to a music folder and video to a video folder. 2.5tb not shure I want to Suction some folders lol with out some file system I dont need a Single TB Folder lol.

    Note: Just like the app it’s self this could spread out an app so it could not work but the suction could just pool it all back to gether again.. i guess..

41. 
    Morg, on September 14th, 2009 at 4:01 am Said:

    I would like to inform you your tool doesnt install at Windows XP 64 bit..it crashes right away after executing the .exe

    Suction has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

    Could you please fix this?

42. 
    DrNathan, on September 14th, 2009 at 9:09 am Said:

    Linux_x,

    Sounds like an interesting option, though I’m not sure how it feeds into the idea of unifying all of your files in one directory. Regardless, I do like the idea and will take a look into it sometime soon.

    Morg,

    Thanks for pointing out that there was a bug, I found it and fixed it. Next time, leave a bit more info though – it’s hard to troubleshoot when told simply, “it’s broken”.

43. 
    scott, on September 16th, 2009 at 9:41 am Said:

    +1 for an undo function. I haven’t install this yet, but on more than one occasion, I’ve gotten into big trouble with unify. If not an undo feature, then maybe a depth setting (0 for everything, 1 through whatever to specify how deep in the directory structure one wants to combine). Or maybe both features :)

44. 
    DrNathan, on September 16th, 2009 at 2:30 pm Said:

    Scott,

    I have considered an undo feature, though it may be pretty complicated to implement. I will take a look at it again, but at the end of the day, there is only so much you can do with the recycle bin. Once a user overruns its capacity, the recycle bin starts purging data so no solution will be perfect, but it can be workable.

45. 
    Mark, on October 3rd, 2009 at 4:58 pm Said:

    Hello,
    firstly, thank you for a superb programme.
    I have, however, noticed one tiny ‘bug’: If I untick the ‘check for updates’ box, the next time the application starts up then the box is ticked.

    Windows XP(with all updates)
    Suction 1.3.1
    Other Ticked Boxes: add to context menu
    remove empty directories

46. 
    Mark, on October 3rd, 2009 at 5:08 pm Said:

    ..other ticked boxes continued…:Delete using recycle bin.

    Also, does the program only check for updates when it is used (either through the context menu or when the program itself is executed)?

    Thanks again for a fantastic program.

    (Apologies for posting in two halves – I accidentally hit the submit button.)

47. 
    DrNathan, on October 3rd, 2009 at 10:51 pm Said:

    Mark,

    I am glad that you find Suction to be a useful application – it’s always nice to hear from someone that finds it helpful.

    As for the bug, I recall that I had some issue with that tick box at one point before but I thought I had quashed the issue. I will take a closer look at it and see if I can replicate the issue you are having.

    I do have one question for you that might point me in the right direction. Did you by chance move the application itself to a different folder between runs? If so, the way in which Windows keeps track of application data causes the OS to create a brand new configuration file if the program is relocated. If that is the case, the auto-update tick box will be ticked by default when the program is run again. If you didn’t move it, no worries – I will look into the issue regardless.

    As for the auto-update feature itself, the program will check for updates whenever it is run, provided that it has not checked for updates in the last 24 hours. So at most, it will check for updates once daily. The check consists of downloading a file approximately 400 bytes in size to check for a version number change, so the overhead is extremely low.

48. 
    Mark, on October 4th, 2009 at 5:15 pm Said:

    Thank you for the speedy reply.

    You’re quite correct, Mr Holmes, it was moved to a different folder between runs. It was on my desktop initially, but was then relocated to a folder on the desktop.

    Only after I had executed the program a few times did I then decide to add it to the context menu.

    All the best,
    Mark

49. 
    DrNathan, on October 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm Said:

    Mark,

    I’m happy to hear that the issue was just related to moving the executable. I haven’t really looked into attempting to make the settings file static even if the executable is moved, but I think I will soon.

    Thanks again for the feedback!

50. 
    Josh, on October 20th, 2009 at 1:22 am Said:

    After reading all these comments along with DrNathan’s responses I am psyched to start using this utility! Thanks for all your hard work.

    -Josh

51. 
    DrNathan, on October 20th, 2009 at 1:53 pm Said:

    Thanks, and good luck!

52. 
    the_observer, on December 1st, 2009 at 7:00 pm Said:

    Although i find suction very very useful ,i cannot make it run under windows 7 x64 version.

    But it doesnt write somewhere around that it supports x64.
    If it does i could use some help in order to run it.

    I tried to run it as admin and in win XP compatibility mode.It failed too :(

53. 
    DrNathan, on December 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 am Said:

    Have you tried it with UAC turned off? Do you have the latest version of .NET installed?

    I can run it at home on Windows 7 x64 without issue, but then again, I have UAC disabled.

    If that does indeed solve your problem, I will take another look at the code to make Suction UAC-friendly. It is something I have been meaning to do anyways.

54. 
    Stephan, on December 4th, 2009 at 3:01 pm Said:

    I just switched to Windows 7 64bit and I was a bit worried when read DirUtils doesn’t support 64bit. But this program does exactly what I need (didn’t use the other DirUtils function at all anyway).

    Awesome tool! Keep up the good work!

55. 
    DrNathan, on December 4th, 2009 at 3:45 pm Said:

    Glad to hear it worked out for you. It definitely comes in handy!

56. Riorganizzazione files - Il Forum ufficiale di Multiplayer.it, con discussioni, sondaggi e le ultime informazioni, on December 9th, 2009 at 11:52 am Said:

    [...] [...]

57. 
    Pablo Calderón Recalde, on December 20th, 2009 at 6:55 pm Said:

    Hi DrNathan I’m very interested on your work, your app seems to be really cool except by the fact that it doesn’t work for me, let me explain you the steps I had followed.
    First of all my OS is: Windows 7 x64 bit ver6.1.7100. I had downloaded the software and the first time i ran it when I was dragging the folders over the app, the cursor turned into a Prohibition icon, then I tried activating the compatibility mode for your app and later I tried starting the app as an administrator, but it neither worked this time . So I have read these last comments and after disable my UAC and reboot my system I tried to use the soft again, and it have started normally, without my OS asking for my consent for over9000 times… and this time the program have let me to drag the folder to the top of the app but when it was processing my files, it suddenly crashed and reported that :

    Description:
    Stopped working
    Problem’s sign:
    Name of the event’s problem: CLR20r3
    Problem’s sign 01: suction.exe
    Problem’s sign 02: 1.3.2.0
    Problem’s sign 03: 4b1e37a0
    Problem’s sign 04: mscorlib
    Problem’s sign 05: 2.0.0.0
    Problem’s sign 06: 4a27471d
    Problem’s sign 07: 182d
    Problem’s sign 08: 76
    Problem’s sign 09: System.ArgumentException
    OS Version: 6.1.7100.2.0.0.256.1
    regional configuration’s ID: 3082

58. 
    DrNathan, on December 21st, 2009 at 9:13 am Said:

    Pablo,

    Sorry to hear that you are experiencing problems with the application.

    At first glance, I can see that part of your issue is that you are using .NET 2.0 – the line in the error report stating “CLR20r3″ signifies that you are using .NET 2.0.

    Suction requires you to be using .NET 3.5 to ensure proper functionality, so I recommend upgrading your version from Microsoft’s site and giving the program another try. If that does not fix your issues, let me know.

59. 40+ awesome free Windows apps you can download in 2 seconds « Gadget Gizmoo, on December 30th, 2009 at 12:01 am Said:

    [...] Suction (180Kb) – One great way to keep mess to a minimum on your system is to consolidate similar directories – that’s exactly what Suction does. It’s portable, too! [...]

60. 
    Matt, on December 30th, 2009 at 3:52 pm Said:

    Am I going to run into problems with my tens-of-thousands of photos all in one directory? Is there a practical limit to how flat my file system >should< be?

    These are family photos, so I don't want to risk them! Of course I will back up my 'tree' before I flatten it out, my concern is mainly for system/drive performance or reliability issues after applying suction.

    I'm running 32 bit Windows 7 on a getting-old (3+ years) pc.

    Thanks for the app- it's exactly what I was looking for.

61. 
    DrNathan, on January 2nd, 2010 at 10:30 am Said:

    Matt,

    Offhand, I do not know of a hard limit for the number of files in one single directory in Windows. If I had to guess, I would think it is the magic “65535″ limit that has affected most 32-bit MS applications in the past.

    That said, I would think you could flatten out your image directories by year, under your main photos folder without much issues. You would be hard pressed to take over 65k pictures in a year.

    Suction, using its default settings, will never delete any files it attempts to move – it will simply rename files that have name collisions, so you should be safe. Using some of the advanced options, Suction can check for duplicate files and delete copies based on a hash of the file contents. This comparison only occurs when file names collide, so it will not be a likely situation unless you have many files named the same way.

    If you are still worried that your files might get damaged, back up the images like you mentioned, and enable the “Undo” feature of Suction. This way, Suction will remember it’s last action and you will be able to roll back your directory consolidation.

    With Windows 7’s indexing features, I think you will be fine putting all your images in one, or several directories, if you happen to sort them by year.

    Good luck, and thanks for using Suction!

62. 
    Ben, on January 14th, 2010 at 9:01 pm Said:

    Hi,

    Thanks for the great app.

    I found a problem in the app after I turn on the sorting feature while the suction target already contains folder named ‘Music’, ‘Movies’, etc.

    To reproduce:
    1. Create folder named ‘Movies’
    2. create another folder named ‘new folder’
    3. drop a avi file into ‘new folder’
    4. suction these folders parent
    5. Movies folder and the avi gone to recycle bin.

    Thanks!

63. 
    DrNathan, on January 15th, 2010 at 10:08 am Said:

    Ben,

    Thanks for the feedback – I am going to do some testing to see if I can reproduce the issue, and then I will release a fix as soon as I can.

64. 
    Anthony, on January 26th, 2010 at 9:55 am Said:

    Hi Mike,

    Suction kicks butt.

    Just wanted to let you know that an update alert notified me to download Suction 1.3.3, but the download you have up now is still 1.3.2.

    Thanks!

    Best,

    Anthony

65. 
    DrNathan, on January 26th, 2010 at 10:43 am Said:

    Anthony,

    Thanks for the praise and the heads up! I completely forgot to update the version info when I compiled and uploaded Suction, but it should be all set now.

    -DrNathan

66. 
    Anthony, on January 26th, 2010 at 4:29 pm Said:

    Perfect! All is good.

    Thanks, DrNathan.

67. 
    Andy, on January 27th, 2010 at 2:17 pm Said:

    Suction is great. But I have a problem since 1.3.3 version. If the ‘Remove empty directories’ option is enable Suction crash without removing the directories. Is there a place to download the previous version? Thanks

68. 
    DrNathan, on January 27th, 2010 at 3:48 pm Said:

    Andy,

    Thanks for the catch! There was a small null reference bug that popped up in the last version that I have corrected. Feel free to try 1.3.4, which should resolve your issues.

69. 
    Andy, on January 27th, 2010 at 4:13 pm Said:

    Thanks!!!

70. 
    Robin, on February 3rd, 2010 at 3:29 am Said:

    Hi, great tool. I have a feature request, can you preserve the non empty folders, while removing the empty ones.

    e.g

    folder1
    emptyfolder
    emptyfolder
    folderWithContent
    folderWithContent

    to become

    folder1
    folderWithContent
    folderWithContent

71. 
    DrNathan, on February 3rd, 2010 at 9:05 am Said:

    The functionality you seem to be describing is simply removing empty folders from a tree, rather than Suctioning or consolidating all sub-folders into a root folder.

    If that is what you are looking to do, I would suggest looking into Vanity Remover – it simply removes all empty folders under the folder you specify. You can read more about it here: http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/01/25/vanity-remover-quickly-find-and-remove-delete-empty-folders/

72. 
    Robin, on February 3rd, 2010 at 9:21 pm Said:

    Hi, I tested Vanity Remover, it wasn’t able to remove the folder. My earlier post had a folder structure but the blog removed the spaces. The empty folder containts only 1 folder like this

    folder1
    +emptyfolder
    ++emptyfolder
    +++folderWithContent
    ++++folderWithContent

    So it becomes

    folder1
    +folderWithContent
    ++folderWithContent

    The emptyFolder menas it only contains 1 folder, so to suction it upwards.

73. 
    DrNathan, on February 8th, 2010 at 12:21 pm Said:

    That’s really beyond the functionality of Suction. With your folder structure, Suction does the following:

    folder1
    +emptyfolder
    ++emptyfolder
    +++folderwithcontent1
    ++++folderwithcontent2

    Becomes:

    folder1
    +files from folderwithcontent1
    +files from folderwithcontent2

    Yes, Suction removes empty directories, but only after pulling ALL files from ALL sub-directories to the top. It does not selectively save folders that contain files – that would be counter intuitive to what Suction is made to do.

74. 
    Robin, on February 8th, 2010 at 9:04 pm Said:

    Yes I know. Currently Suction destroys the folder hierarchy. Which is why I hope to ask for this feature, to preserve the hierarchy but removing the empty folders within

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