Solved Problem - default storage location of files in C\Users\...

Hi everyone. My first visit here now I'm in the Win 8 club. I have read various other threads and tutorials that offer varying degrees of 'fix' to this, some highly technical/registry editing and all sorts I'm not comfortable with.
This is a brand new machine with Windows 8.1.

I have a SSD and 2 HD's. I attempted to change the storage location of the folders in C\Users\[my name]. It sort of worked but made a mess of things. I suspect part of the problem was that I changed location of, for example, C\Users\Username\Documents to the route of my HD (so just to "E:"). Should have created a new folder on E named Documents and changed it to "E\Documents" instead?






See above screenshots for error. I tried to change the storage location of Documents, Music, Videos, etc (basically everything in my C\Users\[My Name] folder). Changing from SSD to Hard drive. Done it by going to properties of folder and selecting new location path of 'E' for my 4TB HD.

It kind of worked. I'm not sure how to explain, but the folders in explorer (see screenshot) are now mostly just labelled E.

For some, before changing path, I actually made a destination folder of the same name on E before changing the path to that folder and it worked better.

So I'm left with a messy mix of folders and weird links.

Anyone got any suggestions? I wanted to undo everything and use the Restore Default Location but it gives me the error shown in screenshot. Some googling shows it being a common issue over many previous windows versions and all sorts of differing and highly technical answers.

I ran out of time last night and won't get a chance to look until tonight, but if anyone's got experience of this or any advice I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

MilesAhead said:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles-relocate-another-partition-disk.html

Click to expand...

I did have a look at that, and not to mention it seeming way to technical for my comfort zone, I didn't intend to completely move the user profiles to another disk.

My primary goal was to not fill up my small SSD with huge amounts of music and video so I thought it suitable to redirect my libraries from my SSD to my 4TB HD. Unfortunately, attempting this has led to the mess shown in the screenshots, with some folders clearly moved, multiple ones just listed as "E", and some disappeared.

Right now I'd probably like to just revert things back to default and I'll then most likely manually create Music and Video folders on my HD (and I'll abandon using the "Library" folders entirely if they cause problems).

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...efault-public-save-locations-windows-8-a.html

if that's no good, do you have a Restore Point before the changes you made? That's the only universal "undo" I know of other than restoring the system to out of the box or using image backup software that lets you copy it back over the system to make it exactly as it was when you made the image(recommended esp. if you own an external drive or 2. It can bail you out of many problems.)

If you are going to move very many very large files I suggest something like RichCopy

ScottishAxe said:

MilesAhead said:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles-relocate-another-partition-disk.html

Click to expand...

I did have a look at that, and not to mention it seeming way to technical for my comfort zone, I didn't intend to completely move the user profiles to another disk.

My primary goal was to not fill up my small SSD with huge amounts of music and video so I thought it suitable to redirect my libraries from my SSD to my 4TB HD. Unfortunately, attempting this has led to the mess shown in the screenshots, with some folders clearly moved, multiple ones just listed as "E", and some disappeared.

Right now I'd probably like to just revert things back to default and I'll then most likely manually create Music and Video folders on my HD (and I'll abandon using the "Library" folders entirely if they cause problems).

Click to expand...

To restore the default file locations click on the first link.
User Folders - Restore Default Location - Windows 7 Help Forums

You can also add a network location to any Library so you can extend the Library into the secondary hard drive which is what it seems like you are trying to do. You don't need to move the Users folder for this.
Libraries - Include a Network Folder - Windows 7 Help Forums

MilesAhead said:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...efault-public-save-locations-windows-8-a.html

if that's no good, do you have a Restore Point before the changes you made? That's the only universal "undo" I know of other than restoring the system to out of the box or using image backup software that lets you copy it back over the system to make it exactly as it was when you made the image(recommended esp. if you own an external drive or 2. It can bail you out of many problems.)

If you are going to move very many very large files I suggest something like RichCopy

Click to expand...

I read that earlier and it does give me some things to try, which I'll look into when I get home.
This is a brand new machine and does not have any restore point. I thought this was a simple task and never thought I'd have to consider a restore. There is currently no data on the machine at all. I was simply trying to set up the folder structure before I started creating files, or copying data to the machine.

RichCopy looks impressive but I believe standard Windows functionality for copying files is all I need. I will simply be copying around 300GB from an external HD to the computer.

chev65 said:

To restore the default file locations click on the first link.
User Folders - Restore Default Location - Windows 7 Help Forums

Click to expand...

I did try the simple Restore Default Location. For some folders it worked. For others it gave me the error:

chev65 said:

You can also add a network location to any Library so you can extend the Library into the secondary hard drive which is what it seems like you are trying to do. You don't need to move the Users folder for this.
Libraries - Include a Network Folder - Windows 7 Help Forums

Click to expand...

Correct, I was never intending to actually move the Users folder itself. I just wanted an efficient way of ensuring my 2nd and 3rd hard drives were being used for all file storage, and not my SSD.

Just to finish off this thread, my resolution was to simple make a brand new user account. This was the quickest and easiest way of restoring my default storage locations. This solution would probably not suit a more mature user profile with many files stored against it, but as this was a brand new PC with no data at all on it I had no problem removing any trace of the original User and simply creating a new one to get me back to square one. I then subsequently changed the save location of my User libraries to various files on a different hard drive to the operating system.