One of the best tips i have learned since the beginning of my career in IT is to never keep my personal files and folders (such as My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, etc) in their default locations. In Windows Vista, all the personal folders are stored on the drive where the operating system is installed. For example, if your user is called "George" and you installed Windows Vista on the "C:" drive, your personal files and folders will be stored by default in "C:\Users\George\". By leaving them in their default location, each time you have problems with the operating system there is a risk that you might lose them. If something happens and you need to format the "C:" drive that means all your documents, music, pictures, etc will be lost.

To avoid such problems you can always move them and store everything on a separate partition. This way, you can format the "C:" drive and reinstall the operating system how many times you need without risking your data. As a general advice, it is always better to keep on your "C:" drive only the operating system and the applications you use. All of your data, including documents or saved games should be kept on a separate partition.

In this tutorial we will show you how to move your personal files and folders to other partitions.

The user folders that can be moved are the following: Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Music, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches and Videos. To find them go to your user folder. You will find it on the partition where you installed Windows Vista, in the Users folder. Its name will be the same as your user.
You can move as many folders as you need. Just select them one by one and follow our instructions.

Right click on the folder you want to move and select Properties.

Go to the Location tab. Here you will see the current location of the selected folder. To change it, click on Move.

Now browse your computer and select the new location.

Click on Apply.

Now you will be asked if you want to move all the files from the current location to the new one. In case you don't have any files in the old location, you can click on No.

Otherwise click on Yes and wait until all the files are transfered to the new location. Depending on how many files you had, the moving procedure can take from a few seconds up to a few minutes.

NOTE: it is recommended to move your user folders shortly after you have installed Windows Vista. If you do it after you have installed many applications and long periods of usage, you might have some problems because some references will remain to the old locations of your user folders. These references might cause some applications not to work properly and you might need to reinstall them.

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