Instructions

Before you begin migrating folders, you must close all applications that may be using files from the folders you are migrating. Also make sure that there is enough space on drive D to save information.

If you need to transfer a regular folder, you can do it like this. Right-click on the desired folder. A context menu will appear. From this menu, select "Cut".

After that, open drive D. Select the folder on this drive to which you will move. Right-click on it, and then select “Paste” from the context menu. The file transfer process will begin. Its duration depends on the folder capacity and the type of your hard drive. Upon completion of the operation, the folder will be moved to drive D.

Moving a folder with documents needs to be done a little differently. This method is suitable for owners of the Windows XP operating system. Right-click on the "My Documents" folder. Select Properties. Next, go to the “Destination Folder” tab.

Then, in the “Folder” field, enter the new location of the “My Documents” folder. Click Apply. Next, in the dialog box, select “Move”. After this, the documents folder with all its contents will be moved to the hard drive partition you selected.

In the Windows 7 operating system, you can transfer a folder with documents in this way. Open drive C, then “Users”. Then open the folder that matches your account name. Next, right-click on “My Documents”. From the context menu, select Properties.

After that, go to the “Location” tab. Then in the line that appears, write a new location for the folder on drive D and click “Apply”. Next, in the dialog box, select “Move Information.”

Sources:

• how to move windows folders

In modern operating systems, the hard drive is usually divided into several volumes (usually into two - C and D). This division is convenient for storing only system and program files (usually in C) on one volume, and user files on the other. However, the user himself can distribute his files between volumes (or disks).

You will need

• Basic computer skills.

Instructions

First, open the directory on the source drive C containing the folder that you want to transfer to drive D.

In the menu that appears, select the "Cut" line. After this, the selected folder will conditionally disappear from the source directory and will be transferred to the clipboard, that is, it will be ready to be transferred to another location.

In the main menu of the window, select the "Edit" item, and in the list that appears, select the "Insert" line. After this, the folder from the clipboard will move to this open directory, and it will disappear from its original location on the C drive.

When working on a computer, you often have to copy files from one folder to another. In most cases, this operation is not difficult even for novice users. However, if you are not careful about this process, even an experienced “user” can lose important information.

You will need

• computer

Instructions

To copy files from one folder to another, place the folders next to each other. Then move your mouse pointer to the file in the source folder. Press and hold the left mouse button and the Ctrl button on the computer. Drag the file to be copied to the destination folder, release the mouse and keyboard buttons. Check whether the copied file has appeared in - for this you may have to execute the “Update” command, called from the context menu (by right-clicking the mouse).

If it is problematic to place both folders on the desktop at the same time or the method described above, then use an alternative method. To do this, point the mouse cursor at the file to be copied, right-click and select the “Copy” context (drop-down) menu item. Then open the target folder, place the mouse cursor anywhere in the empty space of that folder and execute the contextual Paste command. Check if the file to be copied is in the destination folder. When copying files using this method, make sure that the mouse cursor points exactly to an empty space in the target folder. Otherwise, the copied file may end up in a subdirectory of the target folder or try to “add” to someone else’s archive.

Please note that selecting the Copy command does not physically copy the contents of the file. In reality, information begins to be copied only when the “Paste” command is executed. Therefore, do not delete or disconnect removable storage media (flash drives, CDs, DVDs, etc.) until the desired file is in the target folder.

If the information being copied is very important, then duplicate the copying process on several different media. If this is not possible, then create an additional (nested) folder on the flash drive (disk, floppy disk) and copy the file there again. If possible, check whether the copied file opens and quickly view its contents. It is advisable to check the quality of the file recording not on the device on which the recording was made, but on a similar one. This is especially true for floppy disks, since an FDD drive usually reads floppy disks written on it well, but refuses to read “foreign” ones.

When copying files, copy the files, and not their shortcuts (which often differ in appearance from files only by the presence of an arrow in the lower left corner). Avoid the common mistake of users who, having collected all the shortcuts from the desktop on a flash drive, believe that they have copied all the information.

Tip 4: Transferring the Program files folder to another drive: how not to make a mistake

There are two main methods for transferring files from the system partition to another hard drive. In the first case, the method of conventional data movement is used, and in the second, copying the entire partition using additional utilities is used.

You will need

• - Unreal Commander;
• - Partition Manager.

Instructions

First, try using Windows tools to copy files. Remember that simply moving files from the Program files folder will cause most programs to simply stop running.

To prevent this error, you need to copy the folder to a partition of another hard drive on which a similar version of the operating system is installed. Connect the second hard drive to the computer and turn on the PC.

Copy the Program files folder to the selected hard drive partition. Use standard Windows Explorer or an additional utility such as Unreal Commander for this.

If you plan to run this hard drive on this computer in the future, copy the entire system partition. To do this, install Partition Manager or its equivalent Acronis Disk Director.

Launch the PM utility and select Expert mode. Right-click on the graphical image of the local disk on which the operating system files are located. Select Copy Partition from the Advanced Features menu.

In the new window, specify the location to store the local disk copy. To do this, you need to use the unallocated area of ​​any hard drive. Remove one or more partitions from another hard drive to free up the required amount of free space.

Specify the size of the new partition. Click the "Done" button to save the settings and close the settings menu. Now click the “Apply Changes” button located on the program toolbar.

Confirm to restart your computer by clicking the appropriate button. The Partition Manager utility will work in DOS mode. Do not turn off the computer or take any action while the program is running. This may result in data loss.

Users often need to free up space on the system partition of their hard drive. disk. In such cases, you can use several options for transferring information to other local drives.

You will need

• Partition Manager 10.

Instructions

To transfer files that are not related to the operating system, use standard utilities. Open the Explorer menu and find the files you need. Select them one by one with the left mouse button while holding down the Ctrl key.

Now right-click on one of the selected files and select “Cut”. Open a folder on your local drive D and press the Ctrl + V key combination. All selected files will be moved to the specified directory.

If you need to transfer operating system files, install Partition Manager 10. Open the main menu of the utility by launching the shortcut on the desktop.

Select “Mode for advanced users” in the program’s start window. Expand the Wizards tab. Find the “Copy section” field and left-click on it.

Be sure to specify the size of the new partition. Make it 1-2 GB larger than drive C currently occupies. This will avoid problems associated with lack of free space. Click the “Finish” button after entering the required parameters.

Transferring installed applications and games to another disk, disk partition, or memory card will help you save free disk space on the drive of a device running Windows 10. How to use it will be discussed further.

It’s worth immediately making a reservation that the transfer is only supported for games and applications installed from the Windows Store. Classic programs (Win32) cannot be moved this way. If you are satisfied with this condition, all you have to do is follow a few simple steps:

1. Go to panel Settings → System → Apps & features, select the desired application from the list and click on the button Move. Sorting by size will help you find the most “bulky” application or game.

2. Select from among the disks detected by the system the one to which you want to move the application and use the button again Move.

2.1. If applications from another device are found on the selected drive, you will be prompted to delete them. If you don’t want to delete them, you need to refuse this offer and select another drive.

3. To avoid manually transferring applications every time there is a shortage of free space on the system drive, you can select a different drive for all new applications. To do this you will have to go to the section Settings → System → Storage → Save locations, select the desired drive from the list New applications will be protected here: and click on the button Apply.

If you still have any questions or have anything to add to this advice, feel free to contact us in the comments.

When partitioning a hard drive, those who carry out this software operation often forget that the days of low-demanding Windows XP, minimalistic programs and casual games are long gone. Windows 7, 8/8.1, professional software packages and resource-intensive large-scale games from famous developers require much more space on the system disk than some 3-5 GB, which a few years ago was quite enough for full-fledged work with a PC.

This problem can be thoroughly solved by re-partitioning the hard drive - you need to snatch a certain number of gigabytes from non-system disk partitions and transfer them to the system one. But this is a serious operation that requires certain skills, and it is unlikely that all users will be able to do it on their own. Moreover, if the disk is repartitioned inappropriately, the installed operating system may crash and you will need to install it again. So it is better to entrust this procedure to experienced users.

But if the computer’s system drive is already full, you can solve this problem yourself by simply installing games and programs on another drive - a non-system drive, where there is plenty of space. Since all programs and games are installed by default on drive C, usually in the “Program Files” folder, you can change it to a folder located on a non-system drive by selecting another appropriate path during the installation process - for example, “D:\Installed programs\Installation folder for a specific program." And so that every time you install another program or game you do not have to manually register your installation path, you can change the automatic installation directory - for example, from drive C to drive D.

To change the automatic installation path of programs and games, you will need to make some changes to the Windows registry.

To get to the Windows 7 system registry editor, you need to enter “regedit” in the search bar and go to the registry editor. In Windows XP, you need to select the “Run” command from the “Start” menu and enter “regedit” in its field.

Windows 8 users can use the search feature that appears when you hover your mouse over the corners of the right side of the screen and type “regedit” into the search form.

A system editor window will open, and here, in the mass of directories, you need to find the one you need in order to make the planned settings. We go this way:

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" - "SOFTWARE" - "Microsoft" - "Windows" - "CurrentVersion"

The desired directory has been found, then you need to double-click on the right side of the registry editor to open the “ProgramFilesDir” or “ProgramFilesDir (x86)” parameter - this is the entry for automatically installing programs and games on a particular computer drive. And in most cases, the default value here is the classic version of the value - “C:\Program Files”.

Before setting a new value for automatic installation of programs and games on a non-system drive, you need to create a separate folder on this drive, which will be a kind of analogue of “Program Files”. It doesn’t have to be called “Program Files 2”, it can be any name, as long as no stranger who has access to the computer thinks that unnecessary files are stored there and deletes this folder.

So, if the folder for installing programs and games on a non-system drive has already been created, all that remains is to change the value of the “ProgramFilesDir” parameter. You need to remove the existing option - “C:\Program Files” - and enter a new one, for example, “D:\Installed programs”. The changes made, of course, need to be saved - click “OK”.

That’s it – you can close the system registry editor and test the software installation. By default, programs and games will be written to the newly designated folder.

Anton Maksimov, 08/12/2016 (10/17/2018)

As you probably know, Windows 10 has its own directory of programs called “Store” (despite the name, free programs are also available in large quantities). These apps install in just a couple of clicks and you can use them right away. But where they are installed and how the location can be changed is not immediately clear, because during installation the system does not ask for a storage disk. It turns out that everything is quite simple. It's very easy to move existing programs from the Store or specify a disk for installing new ones.

Let's start by moving already installed programs. To do this, open Windows settings and in the “System” section, select “Device Memory” and the disk from which we want to transfer applications. Then select “Applications and Games”. A list of installed programs appears, which includes both desktop applications and applications from the Windows Store.

Select an application from the Store in the list and click on it. Two buttons “Move” and “Delete” appear.

We select “Move”, after which a new window appears in front of us in which we need to select the drive to which you want to move the application. To complete the process, click on the “Move” button.

Now let's look at how we can specify the drive on which to install all new programs. To do this, switch in the settings in the “System” section and select the “Device Memory” item. At the bottom, click on the item “Change where new content is saved.”

In the window that appears, find the item “New applications will be saved here” and change the drive to the one where you need to save newly installed programs.

After this, all new programs will be automatically installed on it.

It is worth additionally recalling that only those programs that were installed through the Windows Store can be transferred in this way. Classic applications are installed the “old fashioned way” - each time during the installation of a new program, a storage location is selected. You can't just move a classic application to another drive. To do this, it is better to remove it and then install it again, selecting a new drive at the beginning of the installation.

We all know that a newly installed operating system works much faster than an old system with many different applications installed. However, the joy of the speed and stability of the new OS quickly disappears when it turns out that all your favorite games and frequently used programs were removed along with the old OS. Today we will share our knowledge on how to avoid losing programs and games when reinstalling the system and how to correctly transfer programs to another computer.

The modern world and modern technologies have forced us to look at the concept of moving differently. If previously we associated only a change of residence with this concept, now we also associate a change of operating system. In one case or another, a lot of problems are associated with moving (moving things/programs, setting up a new meta/updating, setting up configurations, installing programs, applications and games).

The most difficult task when migrating to a new OS is to transfer to it the software necessary for operation, all kinds of applications, files with personal data, of course games, multimedia libraries, email client messages and settings of installed programs.

A classic move to a new PC or a new OS looks something like this: the user deletes the old operating system, formats the hard drive partition and installs a new OS on it, say Windows 8. After this, the most tedious, lengthy and dreary work begins: installing the programs needed for the job (of which there can be a great number), favorite games, transferring personal files to a new OS. Everything would be fine, but this approach takes a lot of time, and most importantly nerves, and no one is immune from losing any files or important correspondence in this routine once and for all... The question arises: how to speed up and simplify process of moving to another computer or new OS? Is it even possible to do this? Nothing is impossible, there is one solution or another for everything.

Today we will tell you about what programs exist for transferring applications and user data to a new OS. In addition, we will analyze the difficult moments when moving, and also decide what data needs to be transferred and what not.

Difficulties when transferring programs to a new OS

The most difficult thing when migrating, no matter to a new OS or to another computer, is transferring programs and their settings. Normally copying a folder with program files installed in it is unlikely to be useful in this situation; it will only work with portable programs. Regular copying will inevitably lead to loss of application functionality for a number of reasons:

• At the time of installation of programs into the system, various program files are written to the entire hard drive, in different folders (Windows, Programs Files, Document and setting, Common Files, etc.). Of course, you can collect all these files manually if you try, but then you will have to put them all in their own folders in the new OS.
• Having transferred the application to another computer in this way, when it starts, it will certainly begin to access the Windows registry in search of the keys necessary for operation, which are written in it when installing the program. Of course, when accessing the registry, the program will not be able to find the necessary entries in it, as a result of which it will work with errors, if it can start at all. For this reason, in addition to program files, it is also necessary to transfer system registry entries.
• After installing those programs that are “tied” to the hardware, some of their files and registry keys contain information about the current system configuration. By transferring such a program to another computer, the configuration of which is different from the old PC, you can not expect normal operation from it, or, for example, activation.
• Archives of mail messages.
• “Saves” of games.

What data needs to be transferred to the new OS from the old one?

• First of all, these are, of course, installed programs, such as office suites, programs for editing images and video files, translators, email programs, browsers, archivers, in general, all those that we use every day.
• User files, including work documents, photo and video archives, file archives, music libraries, e-books, etc. When transferring this type of data, an ordinary flash drive or USB drive can help. For them, simple and sequential copying (PC-Flash drive-PC) is sufficient. But there is another way, for example, using the Windows Easy Transformer program (we will give it a separate review).
• Archives of mail messages.
• Bookmarks and “Favorites” of browsers.
• “Saves” of games.

What data cannot be transferred?

Unfortunately, not all information can be transferred to another PC, even when using specialized tools. Of course, you can try to be more precise, but the result will not be guaranteed. Most often, some applications fall into the category of such data, for example:

• Device drivers - cannot be transferred to another system. After installing the OS, they will have to be installed again, since the system configuration will be changed. It is customary to prepare drivers in advance, before starting to install a new OS.
• Complex software packages, such as 3ds Max Design. Of course, you can try to transfer this application package, but in most cases the attempts will be unsuccessful. In addition, when transferring such application packages, you may need to re-activate them by entering a license key. If a program is tied to a hardware, then it is unlikely to be reactivated on another hardware.
• Antivirus and other software to protect the system from viruses. Popular antiviruses such as Kaspersky Internet Security, Norton Internet Security or Avast Internet Security take into account all the features of the operating system when installing, working at the kernel level. For this reason, antiviruses, in principle, cannot be transferred to another system.
• Some data simply may be incompatible with the operating system to which it is being transferred. For example, the commercial program PCmover immediately warns the user about incompatibility with music that is protected by digital rights.

In order not to bore you with reading, we decided not to include reviews of data transfer programs in this article. There are enough programs for this, and for some of them reviews are already being written with examples of how they work. Therefore, soon, we will continue to develop the topic of transferring programs to another computer or operating system.