Moving Files to Data F: Drive.

I was wondering, how safe is it to move the entire "Documents" folder to Data F: Drive? I want my downloads to go directly to my other partition rather than to C: Drive. Everytime I want to install anything to my partition drive, the downloads still create a file that goes right to my documents folder on C: Drive. I don't want this. I want the download to just go to one place. Can anyone tell me if this can be done safely? I did notice that when I right click on "Documents" in the start panel it says "properties" and it has a "locations" tab and the option to move the whole file, but I am nervous of trying it out. Is it safe to do? And can I put the folder back to C Drive if I need to? And will sending "Documents" to F : drive direct my downloads to go to F: Drive?

I take it the F Drive is you recovery drive?

No it is not a recovery drive. It is a extra drive on my computer. It has no files on it at all. It has 291gb of empty unused space. I have put my pictures and other things on it already without a problem. I want to use that second drive to my advantage an keep my C: drive free of my extra downloaded content, and use F: drive for that. Has anyone tried to do what I asked in my above post? I just want to know if it can be done safely without messing up C: drive.

The only thing I would see causing a problem is any software that has installed files to your documents fold. I have a few that have installed folders to that directory. This could be fix by accessing the software preferences and redirecting it to the new location, or reinstalling the software once you have moved the folder. It's no different then moving a picture from your internal harddrive to a external hardrive.

So if I sent the "documents" folder to F: Drive, it wouldn't work properly? I am on a new computer so there isn't a ton of files in my documents, I only have 2 programs that I installed that are in the documents folder. The rest of the contents (pictures etc.) are on my F: Drive already. If I relocate the file,(documents) will downloads go to F:? Does that make any sense? LOL

Yeah kind of. If all you want to do is make your downloads, download to drive F, then there isn't even a need to move the documents folder. Just creat a Downloads folder on your F drive, and then redirect what ever app you are using to download, to that folder.

Say you are using IE8 to down load something from a link, when the download window opens and you click save, it ask you where you want to save the file too. Just navigate to you F drive and select whatever folder you would like it to download too. The reason why you are still saving file on you other drive is because of this. You have no specified a new save location. Sure you moved the documents folder, but IE8 is still set to save files to main drive. Get it?

Yes that makes sense MattW, I was trying to get some music from "limewire", I downloaded the software to F: drive, but the software created a folder in my documents called "limewire/savedmusic should I just drop and drag that folder to the F: drive? and will "Limewire" send the saved music to F: Drive instead of C: after the move? Or will the folder return to C: after I do any downloads? I am not that computer savvy, but I am learning

Yeah, I kind of figured it was some kind of torrent app or P2P software lol. Um, in LimeWire, there is a tools menu, from thier should be a downloads option. Once you have opened up the downloads options somewhere in thier should be the download location or files location prefferences. Thats what you want. Just moving the folder from drive X to drive Y will not ever solve the issue. Although, I have never tried it, what it might do if you move the Limewire download directory is pormt an error message the next time you run the app. Which could be a good thing, it might have the option to locate the folder right from the error message. This is something I have experience with another program.


So basicly, moving the folder will more then likely not do anything. If you really want to have it download to your F drive, that is something that you configure for Limewires interface it's self.

What I would recomend....

Restart you computer and do not start limewire to assure none of the files in the download folder are in use and cause any problems when moving the folder. Move the Limewire downloads folder to you desired location on you F drive. Then uninstall Limewire. Reinstall but don't race through it. Look for the section or the install were it ask you to specify a download location. Navigate to your F drive, and select the Limewire download folder. Once highlighted hit next on the install window and you should be good to go.

If you want to move Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and/or Favorites to another drive, do the following: Create an empty folder on your F: drive. Then right click on the Documents, etc. folders (you can also do that in the right pane of Start), go to Properties, then "Location" tab and "Move". Here you specify the empty folder as target.
If you do it that way, all the settings will be adjusted and the new location will be used.

whs said:

If you want to move Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and/or Favorites to another drive, do the following: Create an empty folder on your F: drive. Then right click on the Documents, etc. folders (you can also do that in the right pane of Start), go to Properties, then "Location" tab and "Move". Here you specify the empty folder as target.
If you do it that way, all the settings will be adjusted and the new location will be used.

Click to expand...

Even in the Limewire settings so it knows to send downloads to the location?

It's really that simple?? LOL Is it just as easy to restore back it to C: too if I needed to? I just tried to do what MattW sugested for the movement of limewire and it was a success. I tried to do a download from there after the move and it was perfect Now I just have to find out if I can do the same thing for my sims games Wonder if there is a tools button in there... If not I will have to try moving the whole documents folder. Is it easy to put the documents folder back to c: if needed?

Yeah, just do what you did in reverse.

Edit: As for the sim games, no idea, don't know anything about them sorry.

Will there be a "documents" folder still in C: at all after the move? A copy of it? Sorry I am so dumb about all this... I just don't want to sqrew up my computer.

I believe so. The new location will be the default download location.

PS: This will only work with "Saved Games". Other folders do not have the "location" tab.

Awsome!! You guys are a big help