Move your user files and folders to another partition
Thu, 11/29/2007 - 21:17 — Ciprian
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.
Related articles:
Folder Options
The 9 commandments for an enjoyable computing experience
Recommended articles:
Change User Profile Folder Location in Vista
Fix for Special Folders Reverting to Default Folder Icon in Windows Vista
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Comments
I tried this method on my
I tried this method on my new laptop and unfortunately, you will lose all folder privacy after you do this. Meaning, other profiles will be able to view files in your folder. I am running Vista Business.
Please prove me wrong and give me a reason not to migrate back to XP Pro.
moving data folders
you must be warned this method totally destroys windows mail if you are to try this be careful and make sure you know what you are doing.this has left me having to seak a real pro's help or and it will cost you in the outcome if you don't know what you are doing.
What about seperate partition for applications?
"with C: used solely for OS and Program installation"
Why not keep all program installations on a separate partition too? At least if the OS fails, then you may have the files etc. At least keep the application zip downloads separate.
For years I have kept all games on a seperate hard disk - although some games insist on still saving files to te C drive user directory.
ive done this countless of
ive done this countless of times manually which ABSOLUTELY SUCKS! Unlike XP where all you needed to do was create a folder on a new partition, name it My Documents or whatever then simply go to properties on the C: My Documents and move target to the new location which would also move ALL folders & files and refer them in the registry.
The idiots that designed Vista (which should all be tortured to death if you ask me) made it so you can't simply just move the c:\users\\ folder to the new location which would include all the "logical" folders placed within it (hierarchy format).
Does anyone know of a simple executable program to do this. It is such a tedious repetitive task!
Also to note: When I have moved those folders manually for some stupid reason there are still folders named the same thing on the c: drive which only adds to the confusion.
XP on the other hand would refer everything to the new location to be saved.
BTW WHY ISNT THE POS BILL GATES RESPONSIBLE FOR EVERY PC USERS LIFETIME INSTANT ACCESS BONDED & INSURED REMOTE TECHNICAL SUPPORT?
Move your user files and folders to another partition
I tried your recommendation and it worked for the "download" folder. Tried this first as if all went wrong then no problems for me. Then decided to go for the "documents" folder, but it doesn't have a location tab! So what can be done?
I am logged on as user eric which is the only user and has administrator rights
locations tab?
I trird your method above,but there is no locations tab on the propereties dropdown?? I have vista home.. premium thanks
Thanks
Thanks for the tutorial, it was exactly what i was looking for.
Take It Slow
Dear Angry Anonymous-Countless of Times,
I tried to follow all your complaints but you weren't very specific. You mentioned that you'd like to move the entire Users folder and mentioned that you did move the contents manually. Did you follow the same way as you mentioned for XP? Right click on each folder, click properties then navigate to the Location tab?
It is unfortunate that it's required for each folder (Documents, Downloads, Music, etc) but it still moves it. As for the 'stupid reason' folders still exist in those locations after the move, that's the fault of other software developers. Adobe has a history of hard coding links to folders as does Apple. Microsoft has fantastic best practices documentation on how to integrate with user folders so they will continue to function regardless of what the user does.
And if any of the redundant links to My Documents or Documents and Settings, etc also bother you; they are used to ensure compatibility with the poor design efforts of developers following the previously mentioned techniques.
Let me be clear, Microsoft is no angle and they also have software that doesn't follow their own best practices. I do find it more acceptable for them as they are writing software for the OS and the OS itself. At the same time managing all of these projects together with employees that could very well have originated at such vendors. Throw in the fact that much of their software has been purchased from other vendors and slowly attempting to re-write to include consistency. With all that it's hard for me to place so much blame on them when the evidence points to the third party developers whose only primary goal is to write a few applications for Windows.
Perhaps you should go to Linux or OSX and have your life simplified. Or at least tell others it is.
Two things,
1. Take into consideration that the majority of Windows users are far less experienced than yourself. Between the poor practices of third party developers and the less than average skilled users, features as simple as this (which I would love as well) would end up creating more hell than anything.
2. Everything you are interested in is available in Windows Server 2008 and up. What sense does it make for Microsoft to develop a middle Super Power User OS Edition? Odds are that the primary users would continue to complain and demand additional support. Suggestion: Go read a book about Windows Server and avoid needlessly raising your blood pressure. You might end up enjoying your computing experience a bit more. You could also take the time to look deeper into why certain decisions are made when at the surface they don't seem to make sense.
Good luck,
Zac
Move the User Profile Folder Location in Vista
Here is the real solution:
http://channel9.msdn.com/forums/Coffeehouse/188047-Moving-my-user-folder...
or
http://joshmouch.wordpress.com/2007/...a/#comment-816
I wrote the Main article In How To Change User Profile Folder Location in Vista
MRGCAV@Gmail.com
Jay
Joshua Mouch is a thief and a plagerist.
It is well known on other sites that you take credit for work that is not yours.
This is the method for
This is the method for amatuers. It is safe and nondestructive. But really does not solve the problem.
While I have not tried this method, I think is is only half a solution.
You end up with files in two locations and a link between them that can break.
Moving the entire users folder using this method will probally fail as it will not copy temp files because of permission restrictions.
A better method to move the files and update the registry to the new locations. THAT is a REAL solution.
MRGCAV@Gmail.com
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