Creating Alternate Libraries on Drive D: versus Moving Libraries to drive D:

[iWind]

Hello there,
I've been trying desperately to get my computer to build my user library in Local Disk D instead of the default C. I want to keep my installations in C and have my personal files in D. The user library I'm talking about is that file that has all your libraries such as Documents, Pictures Music etc. I can't change its location nor create a library in D to save all my personal stuff there.
Please help me.

Thank you

 

[TrainableMan]

Could you type diskmgmt.msc into the start - search box and run it. Then paste a screenshot so we can see your hard drives size/formatting/etc.

You say you cannot create a library in D:, what do you mean? It's possible D: is set up as a recovery partition which is why I want to see the Disk Management screen.

Creating Alternate Libraries on Drive D:
Can you access D: in windows Explorer and create a folder on it? Try creating a folder, example d:\iWind, then create subfolders d:\iWind\Documents, d:\iWind\Music, d:\iWind\Pictures, and d:\iWind\Videos.

If you can create those then move all your data from the respective libraries into them.

Next, in Windows Explorer, select Documents (NOT My documents) in the left pane and right-click. You should get a window showing the current folder associated with documents. Click "Include a Folder" and add your D:\iWind\Documents folder. Now you can remove C:\Users\iWind\My Documents. Do the same for Music, Pictures, & Videos.

NOTE: This method does NOT replace the windows default libraries for your userid, it merely creates an additional location and removes the original from your "view" under libraries; the empty folders would still be there under C:\users\iWind

 

[iWind]

Thanks but...

thanks it really worked but the thing is, the User file has more than just Pictures, Videos, Music and Documents. It has Favorites, Contacts etc. Copying and pasting these types of folders wouldn't work because the computer would still save what I add to them to their original location. For example, the Favorites folder has my favorite websites and it's very troublesome to keep copying what I've added recently and paste it in D again.
I hope I'm making sense

 

[TrainableMan]

Well my idea above didn't really move the libraries, it just pointed the libraries to a different spot. Technically you can move contacts, favorites, My Documents, My Music, etc.

Moving Libraries to drive D:
If you go to c:\Users\iWind\Contacts you can right-click and under the location tab choose Move.

You likely won't have permission to get to c:\users\iWind though, so first you need file/folder permissions. The easiest way to do that is to install the "Take Ownership" script from our Freeware DB. Once installed, right-click on c:\users\iWind and choose Take Ownership. The script will run for a while and when it finishes you will have direct access to C:\Users\iWind.

If you are going to do all that then you should probably actually Move My Documents, My Music, etc. to D:\iWind\My Documents, D:\iWind\My Music, etc. Moving them is different than changing the pointer in Libraries like I had you do above. The biggest difference would be the protection from other users of that computer. If you use another logon, that user can probably access D:\iWind\Documents, etc from my idea above. If you Move the actual User folders then your permissions (or lack there of by other users) should carry over to the D: drive.

So if you are going to actually move stuff then also Move My Documents under D:\iWind. You will then need to drag the files/folders in D:\iWind\Documents, from my idea above, into D:\iWind\My Documents. Then you will need to change the libraries again, pointing documents to D:\iWind\My Documents and removing D:\iWind\Documents. Then you can delete the empty D:\iWind\Documents. Move My Music, My Pictures and My Videos as well and fix their library pointers too.

 

[iWind]

Oh! I'll stick with your fisrt suggestion then. Thank you very much for everything

 

[TrainableMan]

I was not trying to discourage you. It was a lot of writing but it's not that complicated. You could probably move all the important folders and restore your library pointers in less than 30 minutes.

-Install and run "Take Ownership" on C:\USERS\iWind
-Use properties ... Location Tab and Move Contacts, Downloads, Favorites, My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos to D:\iWind
-drag and drop the files from D:\iWind\Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos to the new D:\iWind\My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos
-add library pointers to D:\iWind\My Documents, My Music, My Pictures, My Videos
-remove library pointers to D:\iWind\Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos
-delete folders D:\iWind\Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos

 

[littled00]

Moving Libraries to another hard drive

a friend told me awhile ago that you could put files in the local disk d to clear space in the local disk c and seeing how my local disc c is only 177GB and the local disk d is 265 GB (that is total space not space left) but when i try to move a file into the local disk d it just copies it so if someone could help me with this that would be great i could really use the extra space and im not the smartest when it comes to computers so if so please try to explain as simple as possible


thx

 

[TrainableMan]

More on moving data to Alternate Libraries on Drive D:
By default, any dragging and dropping, when crossing a drive letter boundary is a COPY. This makes sense because the most common uses of extra drives is for making a back-up or for putting a file on a flash drive and in these cases you generally don't want to delete it from your C: drive.

Now before I offer the solution of how to move I would add this caveat, unless you are a rather experienced user, it would probably be safest if all you move is some of your data (documents, music, videos, and pictures), not windows files, because you could really mess things up.

Anyway, when you drag your data files over to the D drive, hold down the SHIFT key. You should see the text in the popup window change from COPY file to MOVE file. Of course, for files you already COPIED, you can simply delete the original that is still on the C: drive (as I said, just don't delete W7 system files and folders).

A couple more tips:
1)if you do start storing data on the D: drive I recommend you create a Folder on D: with your Userid and then folders under that for Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos and then move your files under these folders, that way you maintain the data structures W7 uses. (If you ever get a network and have to share/lock folders etc this can make things easier and even if you don't it can help with my next tip)

2)if you decide to have some data on C: and some on D: then, if you use libraries, you will probably want to add your D: drive data folders to your libraries.

Best way to explain what I mean is with a picture of mine ...

As you can see I have My Videos (which is the default folder on the C: drive) but I have also added several folders on my D: drive.

To do that you simply right-click on the library type (Documents, Music, Pictures, or Videos) and choose properties and there you add additional folder(s).