How to change the location of the My Documents folder

How to change the location of the My Documents folder in Windows.

In my computer I have three hard drives. Having more than one hard drive is becoming more and more popular these days.

By default, the My Documents folder located in Windows XP and Windows Vista is located on the same drive or partition as the Windows operating system. This is fine for anyone who has only a single drive or a single partition on their computer, such as the C drive, but if you have more than one physical or logical drive on your computer, it’s probably a good idea to move your My Documents folder off the system drive.

* Reasons to move the My Documents folder

* Free up hard drive space on the system partition.

With all of the monthly updates for Office and Windows, your C drive might be getting close to full. Also, other system files like the paging file, system restore files, and hibernation files are all stored on the system partition. Once you move the My Documents folder data off, you will gave Windows more space to live and breathe.

* Easy backup and recovery of data in case of Windows crash

Another reason to move the My Documents folder is to better help protect your data. For example, if Windows crashes on you one day and you have to perform a reinstall, all of your data on the primary drive will be lost. However, if your data is on the D drive, let’s say, and your Windows on the C drive craps out, you can reinstall a fresh copy of Windows on the C drive and the rest of your data remains intact. Of course, this will not save your data if the entire hard drive fails physically and your My Documents folder is on the same drive, just in a different partition. But there have been many occasions that I've seen when Windows has become unusable due to a virus, spyware or other problem.

* How to move My Documents folder to a new location

* Moving your My Documents folder is actually a simple process and can be done by anyone.

1. Right-click on the My Documents folder and choose Properties

2. Click Move and choose the desired location for your My Documents folder. Remember, it would be best to move it to a different PHYSICAL drive if possible. If not, move it to a different partition at least.

3. Click Ok and then click Apply. You’ll be asked whether you want to move all of the current documents to the new location or not. Choose Yes.

That’s all there is to it. Your documents will be moved to the new location. When you click the My Documents icon on your desktop, it’ll open just as before but your documents will be stored in the new location that you chose.