Is there any way to move the My Documents folder to a secondary hard drive?

Question

There is not enough room on my primary HDD for everything i want to keep in the My Documents folder but i have a huge 320 gig secondary HDD. Any files stored on that drive can be seen by anyone. But, if i have my My Documents folder there those files and folders in My Documents will only be seen by me. i have heard of this being done before but i have no clue on how to do it. THANKS FOR THE HELP!!!! p.s. I am the computer admin.

Answer 1

yes .. u hit "copy" on the mydocs folder ... then "paste" it on the other drive ... then empty out the original one ... simple .. u could make the folder hidden and encrypt it .. theres freeware apps ...
http://www.snapfiles.com/Freeware/security/fwencrypt.html

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Answer 2

Yes there is 2 way you can do this.

1. You can change the target location of the My Documents folder to another drive, to do this.

Step 1. Click on Start
Step 2. Right Click on My Documents and select properties.
Step 3. On the Target Tab, type the patch to the folder location that you want then click OK.

Note: Doing the above step will still require you to move all the files into the My Documents into the new folder as it will only take effect from the date you change the path.

I will recommend doing the second option below.

2. Move your My Documents folder into another location.

Step 1. Click on Start
Step 2. Right Click on My Documents and select properties.
Step 3. In the Target Tab, click on Move Button.
Step 4. You can make a new folder to the new location that you want or just simply select the new drive and it will move the "My Documents" folder into the drive you selected.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Wow I didn't know you could do this in My Documents Properties. ... Thanks, guy below! I assume you wish to tell Windows that whenever it saves to My Documents, it puts it onto a different drive. The easiest way to do this is with Microsoft's Tweak UI. I will give you the link below. Download and run the program. Then run the program by clicking start, All Programs, Powertoys for WIndows XP, Tweak UI.

Once Tweak UI is running, click the plus sign next to My Computer (on the left). When it expands, click Special Folders. On the right side of the screen, click the down arrow next to Folder: and select My Documents. Click the Change Location button and find the drive and folder you wish to make the 'new' My Documents. I think you can even create a new folder and new it My Documents (for example, D:\My Documents).

Answer 4

To change the default location of the My Documents folder, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then point to My Documents.

Right-click My Documents, and then click Properties. Click the Target tab. In the Target box, do one of the following:

Type the path to the folder location that you want, and then click OK . For example, D:\My Stuff . If the folder does not exist, the Create Message dialog box is displayed. Click Yes to create the folder, and then click OK.

-or-

Click Move , click the folder in which to store your documents, and then click OK twice. If you need to create a new folder, click Make New Folder. Type a name for the folder, and then click OK twice. In the Move Documents box, click Yes to move your documents to the new location, or click No to leave your documents in the original location.

Source :
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_mydocs.htm

regards,
Philip T

Answer 5

To change the default location of the My Documents folder, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then point to My Documents.

Right-click My Documents, and then click Properties. Click the Target tab. In the Target box, do one of the following:

Type the path to the folder location that you want, and then click OK . For example, D:\My Stuff . If the folder does not exist, the Create Message dialog box is displayed. Click Yes to create the folder, and then click OK.

-or-

Click Move , click the folder in which to store your documents, and then click OK twice. If you need to create a new folder, click Make New Folder. Type a name for the folder, and then click OK twice. In the Move Documents box, click Yes to move your documents to the new location, or click No to leave your documents in the original location.

Answer 6

Definitely - click and drag it (copy/paste) or cut and paste it. Click and dragging will place a copy to the secondary drive and might be the best option since you will have the ability to check the copied folder to make sure that you did not miss anything. You can always go back and delete the original folder (or at least the contents) of the original folder after you are satisfied with the copied one.

Good luck.

Answer 7

The first answer is good but also you might want to watch when you save a file to the "my documents " folder, be sure to change the save location to the larger drive.Once you do that one time it will save to the larger drive till you change drive letters again.

Answer 8

Use a flash drive - connect thru the USB port...