How can I move my WHOLE User folder to another drive on Windows 10?

I have a bunch of game on my computer on secondary drive and a lot of mods for those games. The path that the games read the mods however can not be changed or else they will not work. This is in where the problems lies. That path is through the users folder which is on my significantly smaller C: drive, so how can I move my user folder to my other dive to solve this problem?

CPU: Intel i7-6700 3.4GHz

256 GB SSD (C: Drive)

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You cannot, but you can redirect the personal folders within your User folder to the larger 1 TB D:\ drive.

Press Windows key + X
Click Disk Management
Could you take a screenshot then post it in a reply here?

If the D: drive is larger than C:, I would try partitioning the drive.

Name one Partition ‘Files’ and the other ‘Apps’.

Open the Files partition, create a folder and name it: BradG813

Press Windows key + R
Type: %userprofile%
Hit Enter

Right click your Documents folder
Click Properties
Select the Location tab
Click Move
Browse to the Files partition we created earlier then select BradG813 folder.

Repeat the same steps for other folders such as Pictures, Videos etc.

Open Start > Settings > System > Storage
Under More storage settings, click ‘Change where new content is saved’

In New apps will save to list box, choose the ‘Apps’ partition we created earlier.

Open Start > Settings > Apps > Apps & Features
Select any large app you have downloaded from the Windows Store
Click Move, choose the ‘Apps’ partition

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

Moving the User folder in its entirety from C to D

Is it possible to move User folder (in its entirety) from C to D ?

I know I can move Documents, Music etc, but I want to move the entire folder.

**Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.**

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I would recommend not doing that. It’s not a simple thing to start with, and it can have some really adverse consequences.

Especially when it comes time for a major update\upgrade.

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Too many unintended and disastrous consequences to move the User Account folder to another drive. Instead just move your active User folders from your User account to the other drive. User Folders — Change Default Location

This keeps C smaller for imaging purposes, but built-in imaging will want to include the data partition since it now has System files. Solution is to use a more flexible imaging app like free and fully automated Macrium Reflect is a Free and Easy To Use Backup Utility which can also restore anywhere instead of the exact same position on disk as per Windows imaging.

Over 100,000 helped in forums for 11 years. I don’t quit for those who are polite and cooperative.

Windows MVP 2010-21

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Appreciate the post but still.

The registry identifies the path to several important folder using %SystemDrive%\Folder_Names.

If you introduce another global variable say, %SystemDataDrive% you could then use %SystemDataDrive%\Users and %SystemDataDrive%\ProgramData etc.

All that would be required to move these folders would be one simple edit to the registry. I fully appreciate that other installed programs might hard-code the user folder which would result in problems but these are easily addressed.

A shame really, I could greatly reduce the size of the SSD required to run Windows 10 if I could relocate a few more folders to my regular hard-drive.

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Fortunately SSD’s are coming down in cost.

I run Windows 10 x64 with a ton of installed programs on a 128GB SSD. it is currently about half full. But most of that us actually unused space taken up by the Hibefil.sys and PageFile.sys. 12.5gb and 16.5gb respectively. The pagefile can be resized if needed, and the hiberfil turned off. But I wouldn’t do that either.

I relocate Documents, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, and similar to a different drive kind of like what has been mentioned.

BTW. If you check at the specs for SSDs you will find that the larger 512gb and up drives have higher write speed than the smaller ones, and possibly faster read speeds as well.

You may be defeating the benefit of a SSD to a certain degree by trying to use as small of one as possible.

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While I enjoy the extra speed afforded by SSD’d, I didn’t buy it just for the speed increase, I bought it because it had the potential to outlast your average mechanical hard-drive, but as everyone one knows, SSD’s have one major weakness and that’s the number of write cycles before degradation set in.

It therefore follows, if I can reduce the number of write cycles (by moving files and folders that are constantly changing to a regular drive), I can have the best of both worlds.

While there is an argument that moving the data files/folders to a regular drive would have no appreciable difference in the overall life of an SSD’s (I am yet to be convinced), it certainly wouldn’t do any harm either. besides I favor the separation of data and executable in much the same was as I favor the separation of the operation system from all other programs.

I guess when SSD’d memory cells have a half-life of plutonium, I’ll be happy. well either that or my OS comes in ROM 😉

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I actually tried pretty much what you are proposing at one time.

It turned out to be WAY to big of a PITA.

It causes problems with upgrades, some program functions, and other stuff.

I finally just did the normal User folders like Documents and etc.

Mostly because it make my images smaller, not because of wear and tear.

In reality, one of the more frequent processes doing writes to your SSD is the SwapFile, PageFile, and HiberFil processes. I actually moved those as well, which was less of a problem than moving the Users folder.

My current Crucial SSD is 2 1/2 years old and has used 3\4’s of it’s 72TBs of writes, and no signs of issues. The life expectancy of the newer SSDs is equal or greater than a lot of the lower cost HDDs.

I have another machine with a Corsair SSD that is 5 1\2 years old, that has withstood countless reimaging overwrites without any sign of problems.

I actually paid $50 more for the 120GB Corsair 5 1\2 years ago than I paid for the 512GB Crucial 2 1\2 years ago, and the price has dropped more since.

To me, a SSD has become a throwaway item. It is not worth the trouble to try to Extend it’s life with all of the imaging, and reloading of images I do with Win 7, 8\8.1, and 10. all on the same machine.

It’s entirely up to you what you decide in the end, and I have no problem if you have a different perspective. It’s your machine.

Just thought I would provide my experience and thoughts on the subject.

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I agree with your «wear leveling» concerns with an SSD. I have my OS on one and moved a number of high volume write directories off the SSD to a «platter» hard drive.

I did this using the «MKLink /J» command to create directory junctions from the SSD to HD. There are a ton of articles available that detail the specifics of how to accomplish. I’ve relocated the Windows User, Temp, System32/winevt, and Software Distribution folders from the SSD on which Windows is installed to my platter HD. I’ve done this with Windows 7 and Windows 10. I’ve had zero issues. Naturally, the migration from 7 to 10 required redoing the mklinks.

I set things up by booting from Windows PE. The biggest issue was having to use a DiskPart prompt to change the Windows PE bogus drive letters to the ones I used. After fixing the drive letters, I run a batch script to move the directories and define the directory junctions.

Naturally, I would strongly recommend that you take an image of your OS partition prior to tweaking. I use Acronis.

Doing the above does require decent computer skills, but you don’t have to be a wizard to do so.

How to Move User Folder to Another Drive on Windows 10 [Clone Disk]

By Ariel | Follow | Last Updated March 11, 2020

Summary :

There are a great number of documents, downloads, and other data stored in the user folder. Many users want to move user folder to another drive in order to create more space. Today, MiniTool will tell you how Windows 10 move user folder to another drive.

Quick Navigation :

As you know, user folder saves lots of download files. Over time, the user folder grows significantly in size so that too much hard drive space is occupied. To free up more the drive space, many people are ready to move the user folder to another location.

If you have other drives on your Windows 10 PC like an external hard drive or other partitions, you can move user folder to them. Now, let’s see the guide of the Windows 10 move user folder to another drive.

How to Move Users Folder to Another Drive Windows 10

Windows 10 move users folder to another drive is relatively complex to operate, please follow the steps below carefully.

Step 1. Press Win + E keys to open the File Explorer.

Step 2. Click on This PC on the left pane and select the new drive location that you want to move user folders under the Devices and drives section.

Step 3. Go to the Home tab, and then click on the New Folder and rename the folder to Documents.

Step 4. Repeat step 3 to create several remaining folders such as Downloads, Pictures, Videos, and so on.

Step 5. Press the Win + R keys to open the Run dialog box, and then type %HOMEPATH% in the box and hit Enter to open the location of the user folder.

Step 6. Right-click the folder that you want to move and select the Properties from the context menu.

Step 7. Navigate to the Location tab and click on the Move button.

Step 8. In the pop-up window, select the equivalent folder and click on the Select Folder button.

Step 9. In the Properties window, click on the Apply button to execute the change.

Step 10. Click on Yes in the prompt window to confirm this operation. After that, you can repeat the Step No.6 through 9 to move the remaining folders.

Have you understood the Windows 10 move user folder to another drive? It’s your turn to have a try. What should you do if you want to undo this change? Any simpler way to move user folder to another location? You will get all these answers in the following part.

Tips & Tricks for Windows 10 Move User Folder to Another Drive

In this section, you will get extra useful tips and tricks to change the location of the user folder.

Alternative to Move User Folder

In addition to the above method, you can use simple and free software to move user folder. MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition can help you move user folder to another drive easily and safely.

It is a professional partition manager that boasts many practical features like convert MBR to GPT without data loss, disk benchmark, upgrade your hard drive, etc. Now, let’s see how to move users folder to another drive Windows 10 using this program.

Step 1. Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface.

Step 2. Select the partition that contains your user folders and click on the Copy Partition Wizard feature on the left pane.

Step 3. Click on the Next button to continue, and then select the drive that you want to move the user folders to and click on Next.

Step 4. Click Finish to confirm and click Apply to make changes performed.

For more detailed steps you can refer to this post.

How to Restore the Default Folder Location

Well, if you want to revert these changes for the folder location, you can follow the steps below.

Step 1. Open the File Explorer and navigate to the current user folders location.

Step 2. Right-click one of the folders that you want to revert its location and select the Properties option.

Step 3. Go to the Location tab and click on the Restore Default button.

Step 4. Click the Yes button to confirm this operation.

Step 5. Click the Yes button to move the files to the original default location.

After that, you can repeat the above steps to restore the remaining folders to its original location.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Position: Columnist

Ariel is an enthusiastic IT columnist focusing on partition management, data recovery, and Windows issues. She has helped users troubleshot various problems like PS4 corrupted disk, unexpected store exception error, the green screen of death error, etc. If you are searching for methods to optimize your storage device and restore lost data from different storage devices, then Ariel can provide reliable solutions for these issues.