Can I move Documents folder on a mixed SSD/HDD system?

briesmith

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I have a laptop with an SSD and a "normal" rotating hard drive. The SSD is small (32Gb) so I want to reserve it for things that best belong on it, using the bigger (650Gb) HDD for the bulk of my storage needs.

I assumed it would be easy to move the Users folder but no, it can't, so after much faffing around I managed to move the folders individually using the Properties/Location tab, all of them that is except the Documents folder which for some reason doesn't offer the Location tab on its Properties.

This concerns me because the Documents folder is likely to grow the fastest (most of my work is text) so I really do want to get it off the SSD onto the HDD. Anyone have any ideas how I can do this?

As a subsidiary question - if that's allowed? - if I create another user can I tell Windows to put its folders on the HDD right from the start? As there's nothing in the Users folder yet that might be a way round this problem?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
Hello Briesmith, and welcome to Eight Forums.

If you like, you could do what's in the yellow tip box in the tutorial below to basically use a new folder on the HDD, add it to your Documents library, and set this folder as the default save location for your Documents library. This way anything you save in you Documents library gets save to this new folder on the HDD instead, and you don't have to mess with moving your user folders and risk messing them up if something should go wrong.

User Folders - Change Default Location - Windows 7 Help Forums

Hope this helps, :)
Shawn
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    64-bit Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self built
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K OC'd to 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
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    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
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I have done with Shawn recommends and it works very well...
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 10 Pro 64bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home built Intel i7-3770k-based system
    CPU
    Intel i7-3770k, Overclocked to 4.6GHz (46x100) with Corsair H110i GT cooler
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 OC Formula 2.30 BIOS
    Memory
    32GB DDR3 2133 Corsair Vengeance Pro
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce GTX 980ti SC ACS 6GB DDR5 by EVGA
    Sound Card
    Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD, Corsair SP2500 speakers and subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG 27EA33 [Monitor] (27.2"vis) HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
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    Samsung SSD 850 EVO 250GB (system drive)
    WD 6TB Red NAS hard drives x 2 in Storage Spaces (redundancy)
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    Corsair 750ax fully modular power supply with sleeved cables
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    Corsair Air 540 with 7 x 140mm fans on front, rear and top panels
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    Corsair H110i GT liquid cooled CPU with 4 x 140" Corsair SP "push-pull" and 3 x 140mm fans
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    Thermaltake Poseidon Z illuminated keyboard
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    Corsair M65 wired
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    85MBps DSL
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    Chrome and Edge
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    Windows Defender, MalwareBytes Pro and CCleaner Pro
    Other Info
    Client of Windows Server 2012 R2 10 PC's, laptops and smartphones on the WLAN.

    1GBps Ethernet ports
My laptop has the same kind of setup (spinning main HD and SSD cache drive) and my Documents folder does have the Location tab and I was able to move it to another drive without issues. Verify that you are checking your documents folder and not the documents library, which will not have the location tab.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 consumer 64 bit
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire M5 481PT-6644
    CPU
    Intel Core I5
    Memory
    6 GB
    Hard Drives
    Spinning/SSD hybrid 500GB/20GB
    Mouse
    ELAN Trackpad
    Internet Speed
    18mbs/5mbs
    Browser
    Chrome
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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