Please help me understand the file system on my new PC

I am in the process of migrating to a new Windows 7 computer (Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. I had the data transfer done by a local computer shop, and they did a brilliant job. On my old Windows 7 computer (Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit), my user data was on the C drive, but on the new computer, C is an SSD system drive and the data is on the D drive. For example, on the old machine my photos were in C:\Users\Owner\Pictures but on the new machine they are in D:\Users\John\Pictures. I vaguely understand that there is way of using symbolic links in Windows that will handle the change in location of the user profile, and all but one of my programs are able to handle the fact that my data had moved from C:\ to D:\. One program is giving me problems: Adobe Lightroom. Lightroom is a database program. I believe it stores hard-coded disk addresses in its tables. The database still points to files in C:\Users\Owner\Pictures, so when I open Lightroom it tells me my photos are missing.

I don't expect anyone on this forum to be able to advise me about Lightroom, but I'm hoping you can enlighten me as to how to interpret what I see in Windows Explorer on my new computer (see attachment).

As you can see, there are two folder icons labeled "John." The top "John" does not have "Properties" in its context menu, so I'm not sure what its function is. Is it a symbolic link? On my old machine, I don't remember seeing the user listed under Desktop.

The "John" under Storage (D:) is a regular folder, but (for some reason known only to the technician who transferred my data) it has a lock on it. Double click either one of these Johns and you see folders on the D: drive, like D:\Users\John\Pictures. The lock has me scratching my head. I am the only user on my computer, so perhaps it means that it is locked to other users. I can certainly write and edit files there.

Can someone tell me what I'm looking at? Does it make a difference which John I choose in Windows Explorer, say during a file dialog? Or are they absolutely interchangeable?

Thanks, AddRAM. I definitely intend to avoid using C for data.

I verified that I have full control over the "locked" folder (Properties -> Security -> Advanced). On Windows 7 Home Premium your user folder isn't listed under Desktop. Is this a feature of Windows 7 Professional?

UsernameIssues said:

I would suggest that you not follow the info presented below until another forum member has a chance to offer alternative(s) or at least offer a sanity check on the steps.

You could test the steps below using one small folder of pictures.


If you have enough room* on the SSD, you could...

...copy the folders/files of interest
from
D:\Users\John\Pictures
to
C:\Users\Owner\Pictures

Thanks for your reply, but the goal was definitely to split programs and data onto separate drives. My OS and programs are on C and my data is on D, and I want it to stay that way.

By the way, I was able to solve the problem with Lightroom, so now everything is working just fine.

The copy to C was only temporary.

The end results of those steps should have all of your data back on D.

You might want to detail how you resolved your problem with Lightroom so that others finding this thread in the future might benefit from your solution.

Did you correctly move the User Folders - Change Default Location?

If not you can still do so in order for them to be viewed as Shell User folders even if on a different drive, which will cause most programs to see them as on C even though they are now on D.