RomVault's DATRoot is where you keep your DATs and it outlines how you want your ROMs organized. The ROMRoot is the location where your ROMs will be stored on your filesystem. If you have a basic setup with a single DAT in each directory, your ROMRoot will mirror your DATRoot.

If you have different locations for certain ROM sets you can use Directory Rules to re-map certain directories in your DATRoot to an alternate location on your filesystem. It is very common for large collections to be stored across multiple drives or network locations. Any directories that are not re-mapped will fall under your ROMRoot directory.

Depending on your preferred directory structure and naming conventions, there are a few approaches you can take to manage your DATs and adderess directory naming:

• Manual naming by placing a single DAT in each directory
• Automatic naming using the DAT's Name tag
• Automatic naming using the DAT's Description tag

These options are controlled by Directory Settings and you can mix different approaches for different parts of your DATRoot.

If you place a single dat in a directory then RomVault will use that directory name for where to place your ROMs. This option is best if you want complete control over your directory structure and naming conventions. For example, if you want to rename systems or categorize by system type.

RomVault will create folders for your ROMs automatically that match the Name tag in the header of each DAT. This is the most common option for most people, especially if you like to organize your ROMs by datting group like No-Intro, TOSEC, and Redump.

RomVault will create folders for your ROMs automatically that match the Description tag in the header of each DAT. This option is not used very frequently because many DATs often have Description tags that contain set counts or dates that would cause your ROM directory name to change between DAT updates.