Win 7 saves to wrong partition

[Dagg-z]

Hello, I recently bought a new laptop with win7. It was set up on two partitions: Os (74gb) and Data (remainder) I jst realized it has been saving everything on the os partition instead of on the data partition.

I tried simply extending the OS partition after shrinking the data partition but it will not let me. How can i get the system to start saving to the data partition or even remove the data partition and run on a single since the os partition is now full.

 

[pinaklonkar]

saving everything = saving exactly what?

 

[Dagg-z]

All files, programs literally everything. The OS partition is completely full and the data partition has nothing on it.

 

[Jonmor68]

Data files can be easily moved to another partition making more room on c:.
For default locations to save to, it depends on the programs. Video programs that make and eddit movies can usually be set from prefrences to another drive or partition, these tend to use up the most space. As a rule unless you specify otherwise they will put everything in the Documents folder.
The Documents, Pictures, Video and Music folders can be relocated to another partition.

Windows Help and Support:
Redirect a folder to a new location

You can change the location of the folders in your personal folder (such as My Documents and My Pictures) by redirecting them. For example, if you have a large number of files in your My Documents folder, you might want to store the files on a different hard drive or on a network to free up space on your primary hard drive.

When you redirect a folder to a new location, you change where the folder, as well as the files in the folder, are stored. However, you'll still be able to access the folder the same way you did before you redirected it.

Tip
Instead of redirecting a folder, you might want to consider including a folder in one of your libraries. For example, if you have a large number of pictures, you can store those pictures in a location other than your primary hard drive, then include that location in your Pictures library. For more information, see Include folders in a library.

 

[Psychoteddy]

Data files can be easily moved to another partition making more room on c:.
For default locations to save to, it depends on the programs. Video programs that make and eddit movies can usually be set from prefrences to another drive or partition, these tend to use up the most space. As a rule unless you specify otherwise they will put everything in the Documents folder.
The Documents, Pictures, Video and Music folders can be relocated to another partition.

Windows Help and Support:
Redirect a folder to a new location

You can change the location of the folders in your personal folder (such as My Documents and My Pictures) by redirecting them. For example, if you have a large number of files in your My Documents folder, you might want to store the files on a different hard drive or on a network to free up space on your primary hard drive.

When you redirect a folder to a new location, you change where the folder, as well as the files in the folder, are stored. However, you'll still be able to access the folder the same way you did before you redirected it.

Tip
Instead of redirecting a folder, you might want to consider including a folder in one of your libraries. For example, if you have a large number of pictures, you can store those pictures in a location other than your primary hard drive, then include that location in your Pictures library. For more information, see Include folders in a library.

This is very bad practice as many installed programs rely on registry entries with specific directories listed in order to access certain features. For example, MS Office WILL NOT WORK simply by copying files over to a new directory. You MUST install it to the new directory.

@OP: You should always have the option to change where you are installing programs in the installer, usually listed under "Custom Install" or the like

 

[pinaklonkar]

I think this is a non-issue. It is the default feature.

 

[sminlal]

OK, from the description I'm taking it that the original poster wants to store his data files in his data partition (probably the "D:" drive). In other words, he doesn't want to move MS Office itself, he just wants his office documents on his data drive.

The easiest way to do that is to move the entire user profile to the data drive, leaving the OS and all of the applications themselves on the OS drive. Here's a good description of how to do that:

http://www.starkeith.net/coredump/2009/05/18/how-to-move-your-windows-user-profile-to-another-drive/

Almost all programs will save data files to the user profile by default, so this should pretty much solve the OP's problem.

 

[Dagg-z]

I did try and just simply move the user file over to drive D, but clearly that didn't work everything still wanted to save to drive C. If I delete drive D, would I then simply be able to extend drive C and run on a single partition?