Is it possible to change the drive your 'my documents' folder sits on?

EdwardTeach · 6 Jun 2010 at 23:38

I have an 80gb ssd as my boot drive and a 1tb samsung spinpoint for storage - so i am obviously aiming to keep as much as possible off the SSD.

I was wondering if it is possible to change the disk the 'my documents' folder sits on?

This came up because I was about to let windows import some photos from my camera for me, then I realised they would be imported to the 'my documents' folder on the ssd, so i created a new folder on my D drive and copied and pasted them there instead. It would be convenient if i didnt have to worry about doing that in the future.

SiriusB · 6 Jun 2010 at 23:53

Go into your profile folder, right-click on Documents and click the Location tab. Click Move.. and find your new location

EdwardTeach · 7 Jun 2010 at 00:01

thanks i knew it would be something simple!

rctneil · 7 Jun 2010 at 11:59

Just a thought here. Please do NOT flame me as I know it will not be to lots of peoples liking but it something I read a while ago and just had not thought about it from this angle before, so here goes...

I understand the Documents, Music, Videoss etc folders are designed for your personal data but the fact is, that they get full of junk created by other applications all the time and it's hard to keep the filesystem nice and tidy.

What about making your own custom filesystem and storage folders on a separate drive and storing your data in those and leaving the standard Users folder with Documents, Videos, Msuic and Pictures to do whatever they want and get filled up with junk. I ahve recently started doing this myself and it works perfectly. It also allows for very quick formatting and Windows reinstalls!

Just a thought but as I said at the top it will not be to everybodys liking.

SiriusB · 7 Jun 2010 at 12:17

If you are on Windows 7 Libraries let you do this with ease.

All the default Libraries point to the usual Docs/Music/etc and it is the Libraries that Start Menu links point to. All you have to do is add your own personal folder to the libraries and hey presto!

At home I have all my music, pictures and video on my server. I have added the network shares to the relavent libraries on each of my Windows 7 machines. Couldn't be simpler. And as you say, makes backups easier. Or in my case - much smaller!

I am not sure what junk you are refering to though in the standard Windows locations. I know there is "default" stuff from when you install the system, but a quick delete sorts that out.

Never noticed anything from other applications unless I told it to save something there. My Documents can get some stuff in there, since well, its what its for. Better than using the program files folders which is bad practice.