Options for directories in build 6xx

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I'm affraid I already know the answer to this one, but I thought I asked just in case. Is there any way to influence where files for history, experts, etc. are placed? In the past they were located on my D disk which is a RAID 1 set up. Now they end up in a user directory on my C disk which is a single SSD and also my boot disk. It's annoying as hell!
 
burgie: I'm affraid I already know the answer to this one, but I thought I asked just in case. Is there any way to influence where files for history, experts, etc. are placed? In the past they were located on my D disk which is a RAID 1 set up. Now they end up in a user directory on my C disk which is a single SSD and also my boot disk. It's annoying as hell!
It goes to the same drive as the operating system.
 
or where the terminal is installed when using the /portable Data Structure in MetaTrader 4 Build 600 and Higher - MQL4 Articles
 
WHRoeder:
or where the terminal is installed when using the /portable Data Structure in MetaTrader 4 Build 600 and Higher - MQL4 Articles


Yes, except that I use Windows 8.1 and portable mode is not recommended. But to be honest, this sounds a bit like nonsense to me. There are so many programs that let me save data anywhere (Office, Steam, Origin, etc., etc.) so why is it impossible for MT all of a sudden? This is the first time ever that I hear this.
 
burgie:


Yes, except that I use Windows 8.1 and portable mode is not recommended. But to be honest, this sounds a bit like nonsense to me. There are so many programs that let me save data anywhere (Office, Steam, Origin, etc., etc.) so why is it impossible for MT all of a sudden? This is the first time ever that I hear this.
What did the Service Desk reply when you reported that you cannot install and run MT4 correctly to any drive other than the C drive ?
 
burgie:


Yes, except that I use Windows 8.1 and portable mode is not recommended. But to be honest, this sounds a bit like nonsense to me. There are so many programs that let me save data anywhere (Office, Steam, Origin, etc., etc.) so why is it impossible for MT all of a sudden? This is the first time ever that I hear this.

You can installMT4 here you want, provided you have needed access rights. If you install outside standard folders, you have to use /portable switch.

MT4 is a trading/programming environment working with your money, believe me it's better to have things under control (and so not allow to write file anywhere).

 

Ok, I guess I wasn't clear enough. No, I can install MT4 in any folder just fine. The thing I don't like is that it all the "personal" data is automatically saved on my boot drive, like history files and all my code. I know it's because of security issues. But if I look at other software, like the SAS 9 platform (Business Intelligence) for instance, then they handle it a lot better. The core programs are stored on a disk of your choosing. Some personal data goes in the user folders on the boot drive. And then all the important development stuff goes into a repository which you can install on any drive you want to (often a SAN storage).

 
burgie:

Ok, I guess I wasn't clear enough. No, I can install MT4 in any folder just fine. The thing I don't like is that it all the "personal" data is automatically saved on my boot drive, like history files and all my code. I know it's because of security issues. But if I look at other software, like the SAS 9 platform (Business Intelligence) for instance, then they handle it a lot better. The core programs are stored on a disk of your choosing. Some personal data goes in the user folders on the boot drive. And then all the important development stuff goes into a repository which you can install on any drive you want to (often a SAN storage).


I know that. But we have to deal with the software as it is, and not as we would like it. You can also make this suggestion to Metaquotes by writing to ServiceDesk (on mql5.com).
 
burgie:

Ok, I guess I wasn't clear enough. No, I can install MT4 in any folder just fine. The thing I don't like is that it all the "personal" data is automatically saved on my boot drive, like history files and all my code. I know it's because of security issues. But if I look at other software, like the SAS 9 platform (Business Intelligence) for instance, then they handle it a lot better. The core programs are stored on a disk of your choosing. Some personal data goes in the user folders on the boot drive. And then all the important development stuff goes into a repository which you can install on any drive you want to (often a SAN storage).


What stops you from keeping your code in some kind of repository and compiling it from there, then copying it to the MT4 structure for testing/running ?
 

I thought the code had to be in the designated folder to be able to compile it. At least the include files have to be in the right place.

I'm actually going to do it the other way around. I will work in the designated folders, and when I'm done for the day I will run a bat file that will copy all the files to a safer location.

The only other thing that I'm not too happy about is that the folders on the boot drive have some kind of hash as a name. Since MT4 doesn't support multiple cores, I run several terminals at the same time when testing. In the past I could simply see which folder belonged to which terminal by its name. That is not possible anymore so I'll have to work more with shortcuts and such.


On the other hand, I've had little trouble with recompiling my EA. Just a few minor tweaks and it works fine. The strategy tester returns practically the same results. There was only a 0.1% difference in profit. So I can't complain too much :-)

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