Question: I'm using TortoiseSVN.

I had previously been working with only one subfolder of a repository folder. So I was only updating/commiting on that subfolder and never downloaded the other ones.

I would now want to retrieve the whole main folder. So I did a checkout on the parent directory but obviously when I want to update on the parent directory it tells me that a 
 `versioned directory of the same name already exists`

How can I indicate to SVN that this directory is already downloaded?

Answer: 
The simplest answer, assuming everything is checked in, is to simply blow away the directory and let Subversion check it out again.
Simply remove the folder and check it out with the parent folder again.

If you made local changes that you want to keep, create a patch for it. There is a description of how to do that with plain svn [here](http://ariejan.net/2007/07/03/how-to-create-and-apply-a-patch-with-subversion/).  

With Tortoise, you only need to choose "Create Patch" and "Apply Patch".  

In either case, update your working copy before creating the patch!