I have this svn structure:
project1 \ tags
\ trunk \ ... \ libraries \ lib1
\ lib2
\ branch
project2 \ tags
\ trunk \ .. \ external_folder = trunk(project1) \ .. \ libraries \ lib1
\ lib2
\ branch
Someday I have used in project1 some libraries like STM32 or FAT Filesystem. Instead of creating an own project called "external libs" and using SVN:externals, I let them stay and used them in an external folder via SVN:externals in project2. Now some time has passed and I want to "clean up" my repository.
Is there a way to migrate-copy this external folder into an "external libs" project while keeping the history?
The desired structure is shown below:
external_libs \ lib1 \ tags
\ trunk
\ branch
\ lib2 \ tags
\ trunk
\ branch
project1 \ tags
\ trunk \ ... \ libraries (extern) \ lib1
\ lib2
\ branch
Incidentally, I use Windows 7 as operating system and TortoiseSVN and VisualSVN server.
Unrelated
For external_libs repo I'll suggest to use inverted hierarchy
/(trunk|branches|tags)/(lib1|lib2|...|libN)
Short answer
Yes, keeping history of changes in lib* in new repository is possible
Longer answer
You can move data and all related revisions of \ libraries\lib* into new repository, but it will require to use tools outside of TortoiseSVN. Namely: you must to create dump of repository-part (svnadmin dump ...| svndumpfilter ... or just svnrdump dump URL) and loading this dump (svnadmin load --ignore-uuid --parent-dir ...) into new repository. After load you have to change all externals definition in project1