Windows Vista Forums

Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partition

  1. #1


    Rat_uk Guest

    Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partition

    just installed vista home premium.

    on my old xp machine i had 5 partitions, one for docs, one for pics, one for
    OS, one for temp files and one for music

    i seem to be making a mess of moving the docs, pics, music folders default
    locations from c:\users\rat

    when i move the docs folder, the music and pictures one goes with it. i get
    an option to move all other folders at the same time. i'm not sure what the
    best solution is.

    this is what i want:

    f: documents\steve's docs
    f: documents\jo's docs

    g: pictures\steve's pictures
    g: pictures\jo's pictures



    h: music

    what is the best way to achieve this?

    i don't want odd folders left behind on c: and therefore making it an untidy
    and confusing job of navigating to the folders, effectively i want to the
    docs, pics and music folders to disappear from the c: drive and appear and
    default to the drives that i have listed above.

    any tips would be welcomed.

    steve.




      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  2. #2


    Justin Guest

    RE: Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partiti

    If you are moving the folders by right clicking on them and selecting
    properties, then are you aren't actually moving anything. You are only
    redirecting the dynamic link for "pictures" under each profile to a given
    location. So if I understand correctly, to get this,

    f: documents\steve's docs
    f: documents\jo's docs

    log in as Steve, go to your user\steve directory and right click on
    "documents" select properties and change location to the "f:
    documents\steve's docs" folder. This will simply put anything that is in the
    C\user\steve's\documents folder in the f partition folder. If there is
    nothing in your C:\user\steve's\documents folder, than nothing will get
    moved. Then, from that point on, every time you click on your document
    (under steve's profile), it will automatically take you to that folder on the
    F partition.

    You can do the same for each profile/user and each of the documents,
    pictures, music, and video files (probably others too). It is actually quite
    convienent.

    I hope I understood that correctly, and just didn't tell you what you
    already knew.

    I think the big difference is that on XP, the music and pictures directory
    was inside the documents directory. In vista, they are all on the same
    level, underneath your profile name. The actual "my docs" folders are just
    links so legacy programs that need them can still run. If you just try to
    move each folder one at a time, i think you will be okay and accomlish what
    you want to do.

    Think of the C drive references as shortcuts, you cannot delete them. You
    can only point them to where you want them to go. So when navigating you can
    get to the same point by either clicking on "documents" in any explorer
    window, or actually browsing to that specific partition and digging through
    the folders.


    "Rat_uk" wrote:

    > just installed vista home premium.
    >
    > on my old xp machine i had 5 partitions, one for docs, one for pics, one for
    > OS, one for temp files and one for music
    >
    > i seem to be making a mess of moving the docs, pics, music folders default
    > locations from c:\users\rat
    >
    > when i move the docs folder, the music and pictures one goes with it. i get
    > an option to move all other folders at the same time. i'm not sure what the
    > best solution is.
    >
    > this is what i want:
    >
    > f: documents\steve's docs
    > f: documents\jo's docs
    >
    > g: pictures\steve's pictures
    > g: pictures\jo's pictures
    >
    > h: music
    >
    > what is the best way to achieve this?
    >
    > i don't want odd folders left behind on c: and therefore making it an untidy
    > and confusing job of navigating to the folders, effectively i want to the
    > docs, pics and music folders to disappear from the c: drive and appear and
    > default to the drives that i have listed above.
    >
    > any tips would be welcomed.
    >
    > steve.
    >
    >
    >


      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  3. #3


    ~Vaughn Guest

    Re: Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partiti

    Justin,

    I have followed your instructions so I could redirect the Documents
    shortcut in c:\user\vaughn\ to point to D:\Documents.

    When I do this I get the following error message when I open a Word
    document:

    "Word cannot complete the save due to a file permission error." I am
    then left with a ~WRL0003.tmp file and my original file is gone.

    I just did a reformat and clean install of Vista Home Premium because
    this issue was driving me nuts. I then slowly installed and tested by
    opening and attempting to modify and save the same Word file.

    Here is what I installed:

    Vista, Defender and driver updates from Windows update -- test after
    OK
    Office 2003 - test after OK
    Cisco VPN Client - test after OK
    Avast Pro AV - test after OK

    THEN changed the location as I said above by right clicking on the
    Documents folder on the start panel and "moving" the location.

    BOOM - Test after FAILED.

    Tried to reset to default by right clicking on Documents link on start
    panel and selecting reset to default and that won't fix it. Now I
    cannot open then save Word documents. I even tried System Restore
    prior to the redirect and it will not work.

    Any idea? I noticed there is a similar thread under OneCare
    installation, but I am positive it is the redirection that caused the
    problem. No OncCare installed on my system.

    Thanks,

    Vaughn


    On Feb 7, 2:22 pm, Justin <Jus...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
    > If you are moving the folders by right clicking on them and selecting
    > properties, then are you aren't actually moving anything. You are only
    > redirecting the dynamic link for "pictures" under each profile to a givenlocation. So if I understand correctly, to get this,
    >
    > f:documents\steve's docs
    > f:documents\jo's docs
    >
    > log in as Steve, go to your user\steve directory and right click on
    > "documents" select properties andchangelocationto the "f:documents\steve's docs"folder. This will simply put anything that is in the
    > C\user\steve's\documentsfolderin the f partitionfolder. If there is
    > nothing in your C:\user\steve's\documentsfolder, than nothing will get
    > moved. Then, from that point on, every time you click on your document
    > (under steve's profile), it will automatically take you to thatfolderon the
    > F partition.
    >
    > You can do the same for each profile/user and each of thedocuments,
    > pictures, music, and video files (probably others too). It is actually quite
    > convienent.
    >
    > I hope I understood that correctly, and just didn't tell you what you
    > already knew.
    >
    > I think the big difference is that on XP, the music and pictures directory
    > was inside thedocumentsdirectory. Invista, they are all on the same
    > level, underneath your profile name. The actual "my docs" folders are just
    > links so legacy programs that need them can still run. If you just try to
    > move eachfolderone at a time, i think you will be okay and accomlish what
    > you want to do.



      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  4. #4


    ~Vaughn Guest

    Re: Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partiti

    Justin,

    Update: I seem to have fixed the problem by converting the D: drive
    from Fat32 to NTFS.

    Go figure.

    Vaughn


      My System SpecsSystem Spec

  5. #5


    Rat_uk Guest

    Re: Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partiti

    ok vaughan,

    can you tell me what you did because it seems to be confusing. i want all
    docs to point to another partition and music/video to another.

    when i right click and redirect the folder it leaves bits behind and becomes
    an untidy mess.

    how have you done it?


    "~Vaughn" <vaughn.c@gmail.com> wrote in message
    news:1171057745.818828.106180@m58g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
    > Justin,
    >
    > Update: I seem to have fixed the problem by converting the D: drive
    > from Fat32 to NTFS.
    >
    > Go figure.
    >
    > Vaughn
    >



      My System SpecsSystem Spec

Moving the Docs, Pictures and Music Folders to a specified partition

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
folders of music and pictures deleted jfortias General Discussion 2 24 Mar 2009
Moving default data folders to another partition ellarjee Vista installation & setup 7 03 Nov 2008
Vista special folders--Documents, Music, Pictures, etc. weezer1717 Vista General 2 13 Jul 2008
Problem with moving Documents, Pictures, and Music folders to different hard drive Invader DJ Vista General 4 31 Dec 2007
In Start Menu, my Pictures and Music folders are gone!!! LEO MODE Vista file management 6 24 Sep 2007