AC writes a mirror of the file structure that is on the hard drive to the Archive Set on the CDs. Here is an example of a bunch of files in the archive from 2 different drives (U: and W:). And we will assume that the drive letter of the CD (when we are reading it) is F:.
Hard drive:
U:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\LA\_files_to_archive
U:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\NY\_files_to_archive
U:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\Chicago\_files_to_archive
U:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\SF\Day\_files_to_archive
U:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\SF\Night\_files_to_archive
U:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\_files_to_archive
W:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Ceremony\_files_to_archive
W:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Reception\_files_to_archive
W:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Party\_files_to_archive
W:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Honeymoon\_files_to_archive
CD Archive: F:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Ceremony\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Reception\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Party\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Clients\Wedding\Honeymoon\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\LA\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\NY\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\Chicago\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\SF\Day\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\SF\Night\_files_to_archive
F:\Photos\Personal\Vacations\_files_to_archive
There is logic to handle multiple files/folders with the same name at the root of multiply selected drives. For example, if there is a file called image1.jpg in W: and U:, they both cannot appear in the root of the cd with the same name, so some name mangling goes on automatically and the user is presented with a proposed name for the second file found with the same name (like image1_V.jpg) and can modify it as needed. The same holds true for folders.
Lowest Common Folder Preference
With the "Use Lowest Common Folder" Preference set, the file structure eliminates folders that are common to all files from each source drive and in many case reduces the folder depth. With this Preference turned on the folder structure on the CD will look like this.
In essence this option allows a new root folder to be selected automatically based on the lowest level folder that assures a unique file structure. There is also a manual override to this option.
Click here to see the above in a real life example.