I have been asked for input on the following problem.
Some 100+ people are accessing files in a deep directory structure. The clients are all Windows XP. I'm not sure about the server side, but it's probably Windows Server 2003.
This structure has rotted somewhat over time and is due for an overhaul. The plan is to create a directory "ZZ_Old" under the top directory, move all existing (top+1)-level directories to that, and then gradually move things out of there into a new structure under the top-level directory.
The problem is that the directory structure is deep enough that some file paths exceed 260 characters. Network drives are used to deal with this, but on an individual basis - nothing is centrally managed. In other words, different individuals have different drive letters mounting different directories in the overall structure.
Going through with the move to ZZ_Old would break all these network drives, but the users will need to be able to access the old structure during the transition phase, as they will be responsible for moving the old content into the new structure. Unfortunately, individual users cannot be expected to be able to recreate the necessary drive mappings manually.
So my question is: what is the best way to manage this?
Is it possible to write a script which checks all current network drives and identifies those whose mount points will be affected by the move to ZZ_Old?
Is it possible to create a script which reconstructs the drive mappings so that the next time the drive is reconnected, it'll use the updated path which includes ZZ_Old?
I've tried looking through the registry under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer, but that only seems to contain some, not all, current drive mappings.
Should I recommend the whole move-to-ZZ_Old-then-gradually-transfer-content idea be scrapped? If so, what would be a better strategy?
Any suggestions welcome, from "start over and think again" to "here's the script that does everything for you."