I have Win 7 Pro installed on a new SSD drive. I've been installing my programs back onto it and want to merge the my documents etc from the SSD Boot and the old boot HDD (which is temporarly removed) on another HDD in the system. What is the best way to copy all the my documents, my pictures etc from the old HDD? What do I do about \AppData\Roaming directory that some programs have user presets stored.
I would not reimport AppData as it is a corruption path into a fresh install which defeats its purpose.
To best achieve moving the User folders off C, sort your files into the User folders, then copy each one to the target data partiton on the HD, then move the User shell folders from C to that location following the steps in User Folders - Change Default Location.
Note that you will not be able to use Win7 backup imaging without including the data partition in the image since it deems it now a System partition. To save a backup image of only C use another imaging program like the one preferred most here, free Macrium - Image your system.
As to the best way to back up your folders, a modern way to Sync them to other devices while at the same time backing up to the cloud is Sync, Backup and Store your Files to the Cloud with Skydrive - Windows 7 Forums
Hook up the old drive, open up 2 windows and copy and paste. When you`re done, format the old drive and leave it hooked up to the system.
What do you do with the public folders like my public pictures?
How do you use the Public folders exactly?
1. I would not change the default locations of the user folders on the SSD (too messy). I would make new folders for Documents, Music, etc on the HDD and give them a slightly different name - mine are Whs Documents, Whs Music, etc. Then right click on those folsers and INCLUDE them into the appropriate library where they will show up. Then move your files to where they belong.
2. The public folders are in 'Users'. Just leave them alone. They are handy to share files across different user accounts on the same system.
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