8.12.3.3 Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Windows

On Windows, symbolic links can be used for database directories. This enables you to put a database directory at a different location (for example, on a different disk) by setting up a symbolic link to it. Use of database symlinks on Windows is similar to their use on Unix, although the procedure for setting up the link differs.

Suppose that you want to place the database directory for a database named mydb at D:\data\mydb. To do this, create a symbolic link in the MySQL data directory that points to D:\data\mydb. However, before creating the symbolic link, make sure that the D:\data\mydb directory exists by creating it if necessary. If you already have a database directory named mydb in the data directory, move it to D:\data. Otherwise, the symbolic link will be ineffective. To avoid problems, make sure that the server is not running when you move the database directory.

On Windows, you can create a symlink using the mklink command. This command requires administrative privileges.

  1. Change location into the data directory:

    C:\> cd \path\to\datadir
  2. In the data directory, create a symlink named mydb that points to the location of the database directory:

    C:\> mklink /d mydb D:\data\mydb

After this, all tables created in the database mydb are created in D:\data\mydb.