"Move will not work across volumes" - Why? And how to overcome?

Question

Why is it that File.Move(sourceFileName, destFileName) works fine when the source file and destination files are in different partitions, but Directory.Move(sourceDirName, destDirName) don't? It throws

System.IO.IOException: "Source and destination path must have identical roots. Move will not work across volumes."

I even tried to create a DirectoryInfo instance and use the MoveTo(destDirName) method but without success.

Am I missing something? Do I really have to implement a "move" functionality myself? (the directory I want to move is very large btw).

Answer 1

You should Use Copy Function followed by a remove. As Move only works in the same drive. Directory.Move has a condition that states that :

IO Exception will be thrown if an attempt was made to move a directory to a different volume.

Answer 2

Another option is, to add a reference to the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace and use the MoveDirectory method, which can move across volumes.

Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem.MoveDirectory(sourceDirName, destDirName);