Windows 8 I messed up the folder structure [Win8.1]

[AlexKalopsia]

Hi everyone,

I recently moved the main folders (Documents, Pictures, Videos...) to my secondary (non SSD) harddrive but I did a huge mistake.

I set Documents to the Root D:/ folder (nowit's not called Documents anymore, but D:/), and inside of it i also put Pictures, Music, Videos and so on.

Now the problem is that I'd like to separate back the Documents folder, but I can't do that because it's now the parent of all the other folders.

Do you have any idea of what I could do? A solution would be to move everything back to the SSD drive, but that's quite impossible because I have only few Gb of storage available.

Thanks for the help!

 

[ussnorway]

step 1, restore the default folder but don't click the move button.

This will put your NEW documents in the c drive and reset all windows software to point to that folder... so downloads and games saves etc will end up in the c drive.

Step 2, point the data stored on our D drive to the library that matches it i.e. photos in the pictures and documents in the documents... you can also add as many new headings as needed like 'work' or 'kids movies' but remember things in the library stay in their same folder so a document on the d drive stays on the d drive even when the icon appears in the c drive documents list.

p.s. show library on right click is a folder option in 8.1.1

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'd like to point out that moving your default Doucment, Pictures, Music folder etc to another drive doesn't save you space on your C:\ drive, because the files aren't really in those folders.

The Libraries folders are links to the real files which are usually stored in your C:\Users folder someplace.

You can make new Library folders that are linked to other locations but the default folders are stored in Users.

If you want to move those files someplace else you need to go to where they are stored and move the actual files to new folders on another drive.

Here you can see my Libraries folder on the Left, and on the Right the actual location of the files in the Users folder.

Mike

 

[ussnorway]

It's just not a good idea to move the default location because a lot of game development companies don't test for non-standard save locations… eg. Bioware is notoriously bad for this lazy coding and their Mass effect 2 game will restart from the annoying demo beginning every time you shut the game down on computers with the documents folder on the d drive, simply because nobody sobered up long enough to play test this scenario. Even months later as fans filled the forums with complaints and work-arounds, Bioware still ignored the problem.

I agree the library system allows you to move a lot of storage files off your c drive and that’s generally a good idea (Microsoft introduced this system because customers wanted it) but at the end of the day it is up to the person to take control over their files… or don't and lose them next time the c drive needs formatting.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I just put all my important stuff on other drives in folders that I create and pretty much ignore the default Library folders except for basic stuff.

Uss is right about game saves it's better to leave them where they go by default.

When you first set up your computer or install a new version of Windows it a good idea to create Program Files and Program Files x(86) folders on another hard drive, (mine are on my D:\ drive.

Then direct everything you install to these folders just by changing the C: in the default install location to D:, this will keep your C:\ drive small and easy to back up and all your installed programs will be off your C:\ drive.

I have virtually nothing but Windows and a few minor programs installed on C:\.

My whole C:\ drive is only about 60 Gigabytes, and I have dozens of software programs installed.

My system image file are under 30 Gigabytes each.
This makes it really quick to backup and restore when there are problems.

Mike

 

[AlexKalopsia]

Hi

I'd like to point out that moving your default Doucment, Pictures, Music folder etc to another drive doesn't save you space on your C:\ drive, because the files aren't really in those folders.

The Libraries folders are links to the real files which are usually stored in your C:\Users folder someplace.

You can make new Library folders that are linked to other locations but the default folders are stored in Users.

If you want to move those files someplace else you need to go to where they are stored and move the actual files to new folders on another drive.

Here you can see my Libraries folder on the Left, and on the Right the actual location of the files in the Users folder.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I believe you might be wrong on this.

Right now my Libraries all correctly point to my D: drive where I moved Pictures/Videos/Documents and so on

 

[AlexKalopsia]

Just to be clearer,

I have a 128GB SSD drive (C:/) and a 500GB drive (D:/).
I want to keep C:/ for OS and for installing programs (that's the point of having a fast SSD drive).
I want to keep my documents and files on D:/ (because I have A LOT of files and I need space to store them.

I never really understood the idea behind the Libraries, so maybe that's why I am a bit confused, but I just want to have these folders on my D drive:

Documents
Videos
Music
Pictures
Downloads
Desktop (if that's possible and/or a good idea)

Right now all of them are on my D:/ drive but I made a bit of a mess because I made Documents as the parent folder of all the other ones

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

The Libraries are just a convenience so people can get to commonly used files like music, photos, documents etc. without having to navigate to the actual location.

I was just pointing out that the files aren't really in your Libraries folders, and by default are in your users directory.

You can direct them to point to other locations, but most people don't so moving the Libraries folders doesn't really move the files themselves to a new location.

I think it's a good idea to put your real content on you D:\ drive as you are doing.
It makes your system image smaller and if you lose you C:\ drive you don't lose your files.

Since I started using Windows 10 I've directed every thing to my D:\ drive all my installed software etc.
It has made my Windows install very small and easy to image.

As suggested by someone else here when installing software I just change the C:\Program files to D:\Program files etc.

Mike

 

[AlexKalopsia]

Thanks everyone

I now solved the problem and everything is in order again!