I'm trying to move all my PortableApps/${AppNamePortable}/Data directories under PortableApps/Data/${AppNamePortable} but am finding that more apps do NOT support the SettingsDirectory option that those that do.
Here is a summary of my installed apps. (All updated to latest stable version.)
YES | 7-Zip NO | AntRename YES | Dia (creates PortableApps/DiaPortable/Data but uses SettingsDirectory) YES | DiaShapes NO | Evince YES | Firefox NO | FoxitReader NO | Geany NO | GIMP NO | Git NO | GnuCash YES | GoogleChrome NO | gVim NO | KeePass NO | LibreOffice NO | Notepad++ NO | PortableApps.com No | PuTTY YES | SeaMonkey YES | Thunderbird YES | VLC NO | WinSCP
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The ability to set a SettingsDirectory using the AppNamePortable.ini was never supposed to be universal. Just for specific apps. It wasn't intended to be used to set paths outside of the app directory. It's also being removed as apps are switched to the PortableApps.com Launcher. Plus, it breaks upgrades that attempt to update your settings via the PA.c Installer when an app's settings are changed.
There's no need to keep all your app settings in a single directory. As they all use the same layout, you can easily using the PA.c Platform backup utility to backup the data from all your apps without needing to backup the apps themselves to save time and space. Or you can configure your backup utility to backup X:\PortrableApps\*\Data\* or a similar expression just as the PA.c Backup utility does with 7-Zip.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Thanks for the prompt, and informative, response.
And I agree that a common Data directory is is not necessary for backups.
However, splitting out the Data dir is a great feature to have as it enables having the Data and App dirs in different encrypted containers (when limited by the 4GB FAT32 limit), or when using a common network App dir be with user specific Data dirs, or when the App dirs are on various local computers (work, home) and using a USB stick for Data.