Windows 7 Can I Move Program Files to an External Hard Drive?

[mrb]

My hard drive is getting full so i bought a external hard drive to pick up the slack. my question is, if i move my program files to the external drive will they be found when i open a program

 

[patcooke]

Definitely no - you cannot just "move" programs. You will need to uninstall and reinstall. You are best off moving your user data files and leaving your sotware as is.

 

[mrb]

are user files all that can be moved? what about windows files?

 

[patcooke]

NO! That's potentially even more disastrous I'm afraid! You can only move user data files basically - music, movies, downloads etc. You should not need more than about 40GB for your entire op sys and installed apps so it should not really be a problem.

 

[mrb]

My hard drive only holds 40gb

 

[cybercore]

You can't simply move Program Files to a different drive, your installed software won't work. At some point in future, you may want to start installing software to your external drive instead of C:\Program Files.



~~~~~~~~

Moving user folders:

How to Move your Windows User Profile to another Drive


Moving Program Files, this is just to give an idea of what needs to be changed before moving folders:

(for advanced users, involves registry editing)

Link Removed

 

[cybercore]

My hard drive only holds 40gb

Adding another hard drive, or installing windows to your external drive looks more attractive to me. : )

 

[patcooke]

You can mange easily with using the whole of your 40GB for your op sys and programs - just store all your data files on the external drive. If you're getting or already have another drive a second option would be to replace the internal drive with a bigger one and use the 40gb drive for an external.

 

[cybercore]

second option would be to replace the internal drive with a bigger one

I would go this route. : )

 

[patcooke]

What drives have you currently got? (Size type and internal or external?)

 

[cybercore]

What drives have you currently got? (Size type and internal or external?)

Are you talking to me, Pat ?

 

[patcooke]

Are you talking to me, Pat ?

Sorry - I'm losing it - read ur post as from OP! Going on three weeks holiday on Wednesday - looking like I need it!

 

[mrb]

My internal drive is 40 gb. my external drive is 160 gb

 

[patcooke]

If they are the same interface I think I'd exchange the two of them, using the larger drive for internal storage, partitioned to 40GB system drive and 120GB for data and installing the smaller one to the external case for backup.

 

[Digerati]

It is important to note that the reason why you cannot simply move application and Windows files is because moving them does not update the Registry with new locations.

That said, moving most applications can be done without a complete reinstall (I don't recommend moving OS files).

If you have Microsoft Office, for example, you can move (cut and paste) the folder. Then run install and tell the routine to install in the new location. The install program will see Office is there, and prompt to "fix" it. Say yes, and it will update the Registry for the new locations, without losing all your customizations.

Again, don't try this with the OS files - just the programs you installed.

 

[mrb]

If i reinstall the os will it give me the option to install it to a different drive?

 

[patcooke]

It will if you have a full licensed copy of the operating system on a bootable optical disk complete with the serial number.