Windows 7 Forums


Reply
Thread Tools

Documents vs My Documents

 
 
sethm1 sethm1 is offline
Established Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 216
Thanked: 0
 
      01-07-2012
Win 7 Home Prem 64 Bit.

So curious- should My Documents in the Library Folder mirror the My Documents from User/me/My Documents?
 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
brkkab123 brkkab123 is offline
Established Member
brkkab123's Avatar
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,273
Thanked: 112
 
      01-07-2012
Yes. All the libraries for Documents, etc. do is point to the actual folder.
 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
 
davehc davehc is offline
Established Member
davehc's Avatar
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1,939
Thanked: 414
 
      01-07-2012
If you can see My documents, then I guess, in the view options, you have revealed the "protected operating system" files?
The "My Documents" folder is no longer a "user" folder. It is known as a "junction" folder. There are several such, in Windows 7. The designations and paths of user folders were chnaged around, in order to handle older programs more comfprtably. The only use of the junction folders is, as implied, for backward compatibility.
If, for example, you install a program which was originally designed for XP, and has not been updated in any form, then the programs built in installation will be looking for the old paths. Once found, it should normally plant its associated files in thos junctions. Windows 7 OS will then copy them over to the new folders, where it will use them and, from that time on, ignore the files in the junctions.
Any attempt to take ownership of those (junction) folders will lead to a cycle of duplicate files and eventually crash your OS.
 
Reply With Quote
 
sethm1 sethm1 is offline
Established Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 216
Thanked: 0
 
      01-07-2012
davehc -
What I did last night was on my storage drive (drive "E" and an internal drive) created a "PC - Libraries" folder.
Then for each in the Library folder on the C drive, directed that folder (eg: Pictures) to a Pictures folder in that E drive.

The idea was/is to have an automatic back up.
But then I noticed a document I created and stored in My Documents did not show in the Documents folder within the Library folder on the E drive.

So, are you saying I should not?

Should I go back to way Windows is configured?

Is there a sync program that will automatically put a copy in back up Pictures Folder?
I have used Sync Toy in the past- but I think its a manual process- yes?

Thx
 
Reply With Quote
 
brkkab123 brkkab123 is offline
Established Member
brkkab123's Avatar
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,273
Thanked: 112
 
      01-07-2012
You did it wrong. Step 1. Create the folders on your E: drive. Step 2: Click Start>Your Username folder on top right side of Start Menu> right-click on each folder>select Properties>Location>Move and point each folder to the same named folder on your E: drive. You should move the following: Contacts, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music, Pictures, Saved Games, Searches and Videos. AppData and Desktop leave where they are on C:. If you ever have to reinstall Windows, you'll only have to install your software, configure any customizations/tweaks in Windows, install your drivers and repoint your User folder to the same folders on the E: drive. Your files on the E: drive will remain intact.

Last edited by brkkab123; 01-07-2012 at 10:40 PM..
 
Reply With Quote
 
sethm1 sethm1 is offline
Established Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 216
Thanked: 0
 
      01-08-2012
brkkab123 - thanks will go that route.

What about a sync program that will copy automatically ? Are there any?
Guess there is Sync Toy- but then guess I have to use the Windows schedular to say perform a copy daily, weekly ...
 
Reply With Quote
 
TrainableMan TrainableMan is offline
^ The World's First ^
TrainableMan's Avatar
Join Date: May 2010
Location: PA, USA
Posts: 6,561
Thanked: 1244
 
      01-08-2012
Windows Back-up can perform a daily back-up task and you can specify what folders if you wish ... though the results are stored in a compressed format rather than a one to one copy, so to get them back you must use the recovery side of windows back-up.
 
Reply With Quote
 
sethm1 sethm1 is offline
Established Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 216
Thanked: 0
 
      01-08-2012
Trainableman -
Would prefer a "regular" non compressed method. But thanks for the suggestion.
 
Reply With Quote
 
davehc davehc is offline
Established Member
davehc's Avatar
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Denmark
Posts: 1,939
Thanked: 414
 
      01-08-2012
Quote:
Originally Posted by sethm1 View Post
davehc -
What I did last night was on my storage drive (drive "E" and an internal drive) created a "PC - Libraries" folder.
Then for each in the Library folder on the C drive, directed that folder (eg: Pictures) to a Pictures folder in that E drive.

The idea was/is to have an automatic back up.
But then I noticed a document I created and stored in My Documents did not show in the Documents folder within the Library folder on the E drive.

So, are you saying I should not?

Should I go back to way Windows is configured?
I think my original answer was possibly sidetracking your first post. I do not use libraries, for personal reasons, so cannot give a direct response. But, to reiterate. If you can see a file in "My Documents", you have obviously taken ownership, otherwise it is not possible. But perhaps you created the library folder yourself?
fwiw. All the folders in "My Documents" are from the originals under your username.

But regarding your backup problem. Perhaps an image program that is capable of performing the task for you on a scheduled basis, would satisfy your needs?. I use Acronis, but there are one or two free ones which can do this. I believe Macrium, for example is one such.
 
Reply With Quote
 
brkkab123 brkkab123 is offline
Established Member
brkkab123's Avatar
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Florida
Posts: 1,273
Thanked: 112
 
      01-08-2012
I'm not sure about Sync Toy, I only have one pc that I use, one waiting to be put together after hd prices go back down and a old retired Athlon 64 pc. I've never used any syncing programs, other than Xmarks for my browser bookmarks, so I can't give you an answer on that. P.S. I have used the Windows System Image to restore my ssd after the 2.15 firmware update. My external hd is hooked up using esata. It only took about 10 minutes to restore everything back onto the ssd. I only had to reinstall 2 program version updates as they both came out on a Monday and I have Windows Backup scheduled for weekly Sunday afternoon run's. Also, if you use Firefox, there's an about:config tweak for ssd's. Just do a search for Firefox ssd tweaks. I don't believe there are any for Opera, Chrome or Safari and running WEI takes care of IE.
 
Reply With Quote
 
 
 
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Documents vs. My Documents (and the disappearing folders) jcreek34 Windows 7 Support 1 04-12-2012 12:11 AM
Change location of My Documents Folder - Discussion Ian Article Discussion 20 06-08-2011 06:21 PM
[SOLVED] Change the displayed name of 'My Documents' to just 'Documents' node General Discussion 16 05-09-2011 11:27 PM
missing moving my documents: location tab in user folders gone. ex: my documents chrisgray1497 Windows 7 Support 2 02-12-2010 09:42 PM
How to change location of users documents? Skiman General Discussion 2 02-19-2009 12:14 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:51 PM.
W7Forums is an independent website and is not affiliated with Microsoft Corporation.