Windows 10: ? After I Moved Libraries ie. Documents, Pictures and Download Folders

If you decide to go back and start over, don't delete the folders, just go to the properties, location tab and click the restore default location button. Then start over.

 

Some software will recreate the "C:\Users\Documents" folder and then create a sub-folder to store its file in.

 

Right, but it won't be a 'system' folder and will have no location tab. Move those folders back if you want to start over. Deleting them is a whole set of new problems. But some programs will create a new folder in C:\Users. Sometimes you can change the location inside the software and some you can't.

 

OK. So I guess my initial mistake was "moving" the Downloads, Documents and Pictures folders by starting from "This PC" (is this also known as "Quick Access?) instead of going to C->Users>MYNAME and moving the folders from there. I corrected this mistake and did it over and now in fact the three folders no longer appear in C->Users>MYNAME but do in fact appear in the designated address that I gave to them on the D drive. However when I look at THIS PC I still see the folders (are these still called the 'Library' folders) Downloads, Documents and Pictures and they remain full just like before. if I right click on the folder's properties it points to the location on the D drive. if I click on the folders and open them they still open up on the C drive. In addition if I say for example I create an empty test folder called "test" in the Downloads folder from THIS PC it is created and also then duplicated in the D drive location as well. So I guess I am still confused. While the folders in question no longer exist in my USER - MY NAME location the folders and all of their content still seem to remain on the C drive. Also if I delete a file from the Docs folder on the C drive it is deleted on the D drive location too. There must be something I am not grasping here. The upshot is I no longer want anything written or saved to the Docs, Pics or Download folder on the C drive but have everything automatically sent or saved to the D drive location.Thanks so much.

The picture on the left still shows all my files in the docs folder while the pic on the right shows that indeed the files have been moved to the D drive. As mentioned the docs folder and the others are no longer in my C- USERS - MY NAME.

 

Those are your "Libraries" shortcuts on the Left Pane under This PC ....Quick Access is at the Top and may have the Libraries too if you have pinned them to Quick Access? , Libraries will appear Under This PC lower Down too unless you disable the "feature" display you see now, then they only appear lower down.

Hide or Show Libraries in Navigation Pane in Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

after applying the .reg file you may need to reopen Explorer to activate it and play with the View>Navigation Pane Settings like "Show Libraries" to get it like you want.

On the Right is the actual files on D:\ ...........Naming D:\ Drive "Windows" is going to make things confusing I'd think.... Label it Data for example , C:\ could be Labelled Windows perhaps ...but maybe that's just how I think?

 

Thanks for replying.

>Hide or Show Libraries in Navigation Pane in Windows 10 General Tips Tutorials

Will this accomplish what I want it to do? I do not necessarily just want to "hide" those library folders I want to make sure that nothing is written or saved to them on the C drive. I want all downloads, documents and pictures that I either download or save on the C drive that would normally go in those folders to now only be downloaded or saved to the corresponding folders in the newly created folders on the D drive. Did I explain that right?

>Naming D:\ Drive "Windows" is going to make things confusing I'd think.... Label it Data for example

I believe that the drive is named "Windows" because I dual boot the D drive and the C drive. Each drive the C and D has a copy of windows on it and at boot up I can choose from which drive I want to boot from, C (the SSD) or D (the HDD). Before dual booting I believe that it was just called "D' drive but after setting up the dual boot process I guess windows changed it to "Windows" just like the C drive. I kind of do not want to rename it.

So just to be clear I thought once I went into C->Users>MYNAME and moved those folders to the D drive there after all of my docs, downloads etc. would only be saved to the D drive and I could delete anything now in the C folders but that is not the case. If I delete something in the C folders the corresponding item in the D folders is also deleted.

Perhaps I should be asking has anyone moved there folders form C->Users>MYNAME to their D or data drive and if so do the contents of those folders are they still in the C drive folders or are your C Doc, Pic and Download folders empty and everything is being directed ONLY to the D or DATA drive which is what I am trying to do.

Thanks to all

 

If done right, any thing now downloaded or Saved will end up on D:\ in the new Folders , but don't fret too much about "wearing" out a SSD ...never going to happen....for a normal user....unless you are somehow writing Terabytes of data to your SSD Daily

You didn't say you were Dual booting ....what 2 windows OS's ? if you moved the Libraries on both OS's to D:\ you could be really confusing the issue....

If you moved The libraries to D:\ there should be nothing in the Folders at C:\Users\UserNAME\Docs ...... (Pics) (Downloads)

Perhaps you are confusing Folders and Libraries? Libraries are just a Shortcut to a Folder hence you see the same thing in both.... ie the Documents Library , shows you what is in D:\Documents now not C:\Users\UserNAME\Documents



Windows libraries

Applies to: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2 Libraries are virtual containers for users’ content.
A library can contain files and folders stored on the local computer or in a remote storage location. In Windows Explorer, users interact with libraries in ways similar to how they would interact with other folders. Libraries are built upon the legacy known folders (such as My Documents, My Pictures, and My Music) that users are familiar with, and these known folders are automatically included in the default libraries and set as the default save location.

Features for Users

Windows libraries are backed by full content search and rich metadata. Libraries offer the following advantages to users:

• Aggregate content from multiple storage locations into a single, unified presentation.
• Enable users to stack and group library contents based on metadata.
• Enable fast, full-text searches across multiple storage locations, from Windows Explorer or from the Start menu.
• Support customized filter search suggestions, based on the types of files contained in the library.
• Enable users to create new libraries and specify which folders they want to include.

 

>If done right, any thing now downloaded or Saved will end up on D:\ in the new Folders

Right. That is the case. The pronlem was that it was still writing and saving to the C folders and I could not delete the contents of the C folders without deleting the contents from the newly created D folders.

>but don't fret too much about "wearing" out a SSD ...never going to happen....for a normal use

Yeah, I read that as well. I guess it is just my own personal idiosyncrasy. This is the first time I have ever had an SSD (250GB) and I guess I just want to keep it as "clean" and uncluttered as possible.

>You didn't say you were Dual booting ....what 2 windows OS's ?

My bad. Truthfully I did not think that it mattered. All I did was image the windows 10 pro copy from the SSD using Acronis True Image and write it to the then empty 500GB "D" HDD. WIndows and Acronis took care of the rest. So far no problems.

>if you moved the Libraries on both OS's to D:\ you could be really confusing the issue....

Well I did not have to move the libraries on the D drive since they are part of the OS which is why I created that folder "C SSD" and duplicated the folders there. In other words the "D" drive has its own docs folder and it's location I did not mess with. I just created the C SSD folder and moved the C->Users>MYNAME folders there. So I believe I only moved the C folders and left the D folders right where they were.>Perhaps you are confusing Folders and Libraries? Libraries are just a Shortcut to a Folder hence you see the same thing in both.... ie the Documents Library , shows you what is in D:\Documents now not C:\Users\UserNAME\DocumentsConfusion is my middle name : ) I am going to read up some more on "folders and libraries." It may turn out that I'm just chasing my tail.

>If you moved The libraries to D:\ there should be nothing in the Folders at C:\Users\UserNAME\Docs ...... (Pics) (Downloads)

Right. Nothing in those folders because as you they are no longer there. I guess my hangup was that I also thought that the Library folders on C would now no longer be needed and would be empty and items would not longer be saved there. In essence what I seem to have achieved is nothing more then a backup of my C folders on to the D drive and while backups are essential that is what I believe external storage is for.

 

Then you are not truely Dual-booting are you? ie you have an option at Boot Time...... you have a full copy (clone) of the SSD on D:\ and can possibly boot from it if needed though?

Or did the computer have a 500GB HDD which you cloned to the SSD and now you boot off the SSD instead?

seems to me you are wasting space on D:\ doing that.... you don't need a Clone only an Image....takes less space... I would recommend an external Drive too and Use Acronis or Macrium Reflect to make Images too it as well (not clones) as backups ...personally I use Macrium to do this on a schedule every 3 days to D: every 5 Days to the External....


KB.

 

>Then you are not truely Dual-booting are you?

Why is not what I am doing called "truly"dual booting? How is this different then say partitioning the C drive in two two partitions and installing Linux on one and leaving the other with windows on it. That is dual booting as well. I I have two internal drives one of which is the SSD and the other is an HDD and I install an OS on the HDD (in this case my installation of the OS is an exact copy of the SSD). That way I can choose at boot up whether or not I want to boot from the SSD or the HDD. Over time the HDD will not mirror the SSD since no doubt I will make subtle changes to each of the drives depending upon which drive I boot from. Are you defining dual booting only if you have two OS installed on the same drive? Perhaps our definitions of dual booting is not the same. I certainly could be wrong but I have always referred to what I am doing as "dual booting." The reason I "dual boot" is for troubleshooting and on the oft chance the SSD or for that matter the HDD craps out I can always boot to the other drive until I can replace the crapped out drive that failed.

>seems to me you are wasting space on D:\

Not if as I intended with the beginning of this post was to move the C libraries there and all of its contents : ) In addition I have never had any trouble filling up space and I can certainly see the D drive in addition being able to boot from holding or storing files over time which I do not want to burden the SSD with.

>you don't need a Clone only an Image....takes less space... I would recommend an external Drive too and Use Acronis or Macrium Reflect to make Images too it as well (not clones) as backups ...personally I use Macrium to do this on a schedule every 3 days to D: every 5 Days to the External....

Yes, I have read quite a bit about MR being excellent software and the free edition the general consensus is that it does everything that is needed. On my previous win 7 home laptop over 7 years old I have been using Acronis to make images and storing them on external drives in case the OS goes sideways. However that edition of True Image dates back to 2012 and I did not think that it was capable of making a good image of today's SSD drives. Fortunately this summer I was able to obtain a free ($45 dollar mail in rebate) of Acronis TI 2017 Retail and that was what I used to image the SSD and write it to the HDD which allowed me to boot up either drive. Bottom line is I am used to working with TI.

>to do this on a schedule every 3 days to D: every 5 Days to the External....

your backup schedule is better then mine : ) I only used to do it once every couple of months though that is going to change with the new computer.

 

>Then you are not truely Dual-booting are you?

Why is not what I am doing called "truly"dual booting? How is this different then say partitioning the C drive in two two partitions and installing Linux on one and leaving the other with windows on it. That is dual booting as well. I I have two internal drives one of which is the SSD and the other is an HDD and I install an OS on the HDD (in this case my installation of the OS is an exact copy of the SSD). That way I can choose at boot up whether or not I want to boot from the SSD or the HDD. Over time the HDD will not mirror the SSD since no doubt I will make subtle changes to each of the drives depending upon which drive I boot from. Are you defining dual booting only if you have two OS installed on the same drive? Perhaps our definitions of dual booting is not the same. I certainly could be wrong but I have always referred to what I am doing as "dual booting." The reason I "dual boot" is for troubleshooting and on the oft chance the SSD or for that matter the HDD craps out I can always boot to the other drive until I can replace the crapped out drive that failed.

You are using a Bios Boot Option to Boot the Second Drive rather than letting the Windows ( or Linux ) Boot Manager handle the Dual boot , it just isn't the "traditional" Dual Boot way , ....it may help in an emergency but you now have two copies of all your Libraries on D:\ at least I think you do? ....one in the new D:\C_SSD\Documents folder and another in the D:\Users\Username\Documents folder ( along with all the other folders you "moved").... unless you deleted the D:\ User folders?

>seems to me you are wasting space on D:\

Not if as I intended with the beginning of this post was to move the C libraries there and all of its contents : ) In addition I have never had any trouble filling up space and I can certainly see the D drive in addition being able to boot from holding or storing files over time which I do not want to burden the SSD with.

See above

>you don't need a Clone only an Image....takes less space... I would recommend an external Drive too and Use Acronis or Macrium Reflect to make Images too it as well (not clones) as backups ...personally I use Macrium to do this on a schedule every 3 days to D: every 5 Days to the External....

Yes, I have read quite a bit about MR being excellent software and the free edition the general consensus is that it does everything that is needed. On my previous win 7 home laptop over 7 years old I have been using Acronis to make images and storing them on external drives in case the OS goes sideways. However that edition of True Image dates back to 2012 and I did not think that it was capable of making a good image of today's SSD drives. Fortunately this summer I was able to obtain a free ($45 dollar mail in rebate) of Acronis TI 2017 Retail and that was what I used to image the SSD and write it to the HDD which allowed me to boot up either drive. Bottom line is I am used to working with TI.

I used TI 2012 in the past but had issues with it in Win10 so started using MR Free ( no TI Voucher) and it has not let me down....

>to do this on a schedule every 3 days to D: every 5 Days to the External....

your backup schedule is better then mine : ) I only used to do it once every couple of months though that is going to change with the new computer.

Once setup to run on a schedule to my External etc there is nothing to think about (except plug it in) and it has saved me a few times from bad Win10 Updates, thankfully no Ransomware here, which is the reason for an external and NOT leaving it turned on or plugged in , so the Ransomeware , can't infect it. What ever way you go it is IMPERATIVE to make and test the Bootable Rescue Disk...MR or TI.

KB

 

For many years with W7 and latterly with W10 I have moved my libraries to my D: drive, and with the exception of when I made errors with the move it has worked well. However since 1709 I have noticed some "issues":

• Sometimes a progrmme will recreate a duplicate library back in C:\Users\{MyName}.
• In my D: drive I do not use the same name as in the C:\User library, (never had an issue previously), but some programmes though accepting the drive move have created a D:\{MyName\/Documents folder to place their folder in.

Odd, a little frustrating, as I like things neat and tidy (old age OCD), but manageable.

 

Noticed the same as you basically , been moving my Libraries since the early days of SSD's when they were really small ...and expensive.


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>You are using a Bios Boot Option to Boot the Second Drive rather than letting the Windows ( or Linux ) Boot Manager handle the Dual boot , it just isn't the "traditional" Dual Boot way

OK. I was under the impression dual booting from one HDD or dual booting was one and the same

>.it may help in an emergency

That is exactly why I wanted to do it in case the SSD craps out or something else went amiss.

> but you now have two copies of all your Libraries on D:\

That's right but keep in mind that there will be hardly any activity at least for the foreseeable future on the HDD. For example the corresponding Doc, Downloads etc. folders on the D HDD are currently empty.

>I used TI 2012 in the past but had issues with it in Win10 so started using MR Free

Right. Which is why I believe I mentioned that I never even tried to dick around with TI 2012 with the new computer and the SSD. If I had not obtained the 2017 version of TI this summer I would more then likely be using MR free as well.

>Once setup to run on a schedule to my External etc there is nothing to think

Like I said your "habits" are better then mine : ) I do however use Acronis to backup folders maybe once a week but I do it manually with Acronis (not scheduled) whereas I do the image as I said monthly or thereabouts.

>What ever way you go it is IMPERATIVE to make and test the Bootable Rescue Disk...MR or TI.

Well I know my current image of the SSD is good since I used that to write it to the D drive which enabled me to dual boot.

Thanks for your help.

 

I am confused then ??? ...cos nothing should be empty on D:\

You cloned the SSD Drive (C) to the HDD (D) so everything should be in D:\Users\phaedruspress\Docs (or Pics or Music etc)

AND since you also moved the Libraries off the SSD (C: Drive) to D:\C_SSD\Docs (etc) they should also ALL be in there too.....

ie taking up twice as much space. The Folders in D:\Users\phaedruspress....... will never be updated , I guess you could of moved the Libraries to the D:\Users\phaedruspress Folders in this particular case and saved space on the HDD

But maybe I am missing something *Smile


KB.