Solved Moving 'My Documents' folder; strange results

[gregrocker]

What's important is comparing the Files and Folders and Size at the destination to be sure you have everything. If files appear to be left in the source folder make sure they got copied before the reboot, which does sometimes sort things out more.

Why does the screenshot of the C drive prior to move show My Documents as the name while the screenshot afterwards only shows Documents? These should remain named the same as they were not changed, correct?

 

[colt]

What's important is comparing the Files and Folders and Size at the destination to be sure you have everything. If files appear to be left in the source folder make sure they got copied before the reboot, which does sometimes sort things out more.

Considering I have 2500+ files in 500+ folders, there is no way for me to do a detailed check. Plus, I'd have to 'audit' the files at the source prior to the move, and then again at the destination after the move. So whatever tool I used would have to keep track or output a file showing all files prior to move to compare them against after the move.

Any recommended apps that can do something like this?

Why does the screenshot of the C drive prior to move show My Documents as the name while the screenshot afterwards only shows Documents? These should remain named the same as they were not changed, correct?

Windows does that all by itself. Prior to the move, in c:\users\myName, the folder is called 'My Documents'. The destination folder I created on d:\ was named 'Documents' per your suggestion. After the move, Windows leaves behind a folder named 'Documents' in c:\users\myName.

It did the same thing with 'My Pictures', 'My Videos', and 'My Music', all of which were renamed/ghosted by Windows in c:\users\myName\ as 'Pictures', 'Videos', and 'Music', respectively. The difference is that these folders were all empty before the move (so they were of course empty after the move), so after restarting the computer, I could delete them.

Any idea why Windows leaves all these files in c:\users\myName\Documents after the move function is utilized?

 

[colt]

So in dealing with this minor cluster****, I discovered a very cool little app called WinMerge. At least now I know that all the files in c:\users\myName\My Documents have indeed been copied by the move function to the data drive (i.e., WinMerge is telling me that every file in that folder is matched by a file in the Documents folder on the data drive).

Still a mystery why some files weren't properly moved (as in copy AND delete, as opposed to just copied) while others were. And in looking through the WinMerge results, there doesn't seem to be any obvious rhyme or reason that would explain it. E.g., some jpg files in the My Documents\Dropbox\pictures subfolder got moved (i.e., copy and delete) while others were merely copied.

I suppose I could delete the c:\users\myName\Documents folder and move on, but given that this behavior seems aberrant - in all the guides I found on this procedure, the process looks to be very easy, with no mention or explanation of the fact that you could end up with many files duplicated at the source location - I simply don't trust this setup. And without an explanation as to why Windows is doing this, how could I possibly trust that this will not cause issues in the future?

Plus, as mentioned earlier, my screenshots, which should land in my My Documents\Dropbox\screenshots folder are not landing there (or anywhere else that I can determine, other than the clipboard) after the move.

I think I'll restore default and use the libraries method . . . and keep my fingers crossed that Windows doesn't screw that up too.

The Downloads folder move worked as intended - no folder or files left behind in c:\users\myName\. And subsequently downloaded files are landing in the Downloads folder on the data drive. I suspect the difference has to do with the fact that My Documents / Documents is also a library, while Downloads is not.

 

[gregrocker]

Have you done a lot of tweaking on the System beyond this, e.g. performance tweaks which Win7 doesn't need at all with a perfect install as compiled on Clean Reinstall Windows 7 on adequate hardware?

I'd check over System files to make sure none are damaged or awry using SFC /SCANNOW Command
after running a full scan with Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware.

If you have the files backed up then I dont' think you need to worry about moving User folders.

 

[colt]

Have you done a lot of tweaking on the System beyond this, e.g. performance tweaks which Win7 doesn't need at all with a perfect install as compiled on Clean Reinstall Windows 7 on adequate hardware?

This system is a fresh install that was completed on Sunday (2 days ago), on a Dell computer that came from the factory with Windows 7. No, no performance tweaking.

I'd check over System files to make sure none are damaged or awry using SFC /SCANNOW Command
after running a full scan with Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware.

Thanks for the sfc scan suggestion. Ran it, no integrity violations.

If you have the files backed up then I dont' think you need to worry about moving User folders.

Maybe, maybe not. Again, if the behavior isn't documented/explained, who can say for sure there won't be unintended consequences?

 

[colt]

So I used 'restore default' to move My Documents back. Even that was a little wonky. There were 663 files left behind on c:\users\myName\Documents (all of which were duplicated in d:\Documents as confirmed by WinMerge), so I expected 663 copy/replace actions from the 'restore default' function. I only got 656.

Bizarre.

 

[Slartybart]

Hi Colt,

I get files left behind in regular moves on occasion - it is disconcerting and I HAVE to check that all the files were in fact "moved". This usually occurs when I'm backing up the files (brute force move) after I'm done a project, there are naturally duplicates that Windows has to deal with and depending on the characteristics of the file, Windows seems to punt ... copy the file but don't delete it from the origin. After I investigate, I often find one file way down the folder tree (each folder has 2 folders . and .. [dot and dotdot] so depending on how deep the orphaned file is, there could be tens of folders listed. I've learned to shrug and check the move.

You said this was a new machine or fresh install, right? Where did the thousands of files in Documents come from?

I think you would have better success and feel more confident if you moved the location of My Documents to D: before loading any files into My documents (er ... your documents )

I'll go one better and suggest that you move the entire profile to D: - not just the user folders.
Why? AS I understand the reasoning (and I use the same logic) it's to reduce the use of the SSD for data. Your AppData folder is very active (Temp, WLM, other programs stashing data in there...)

It's better to do the move location before you populate the folder with data or install non-Windows programs so that any configuration files are referencing the profile on D: (you can always change the pgm config, but it usually surprises people when something creates data on the C: drive under your profile name. Why - because the configuration file says "Write to C:\Users\xyzzy\appdata\somepgm\datafile". If you move the user profile before you install non-Windows programs, the install takes care of correctly configuring the datafile on D:\Users\xyzzy..."

I've never experienced the Windows imaging issue Greg mentioned (the images do NOT contain my D:\Usr\Slartybart files-maybe that's what he meant). Regardless, Greg works with a lot of machines and I take him at his word - I'm probably the exception to the rule.

I started this post to try and explain My Documents vs. Documents.

My Documents is a reparse point to the real folder Documents. You might understand the relationship better if you open a Command Prompt and Navigate to your user profile, C:\Users\Colt. Enter the following command and then exit. The dir command lists the folder contents, the /aL parameter constrains the listing to reparse points only (the /p pararameter is simply pause after a screenfull)

C:\
cd C:\Users\Colt
dir /aL /p
exit

Look at the listing - a light might go on and you'll say "Aha!"

I've never used this tutorial, but plan to do just that on my next install/reinstall. It's a bit more technical, but from what I know it seems that it addresses a whole bunch of things Beforehand.
Take a read on: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...reate-move-during-windows-7-installation.html
and see if you want to go through a reinstall using Kari's method.

Good luck,

That's all I have to offer.

Bill
,

 

[colt]

Hi Colt,

I get files left behind in regular moves on occasion - it is disconcerting and I HAVE to check that all the files were in fact "moved". This usually occurs when I'm backing up the files (brute force move) after I'm done a project, there are naturally duplicates that Windows has to deal with and depending on the characteristics of the file, Windows seems to punt ... copy the file but don't delete it from the origin. After I investigate, I often find one file way down the folder tree (each folder has 2 folders . and .. [dot and dotdot] so depending on how deep the orphaned file is, there could be tens of folders listed. I've learned to shrug and check the move.

Disconcerting is a good word to describe it! I have experienced what you are describing in the past, but with maybe 1 or 2 files, not with 25% of the files involved in the move. :shock:

You said this was a new machine or fresh install, right? Where did the thousands of files in Documents come from?

Yes, fresh install. The files come from Dropbox (which I keep in My Documents), as well as a number of apps where I used export/import to bring data files over from my old system.

I think you would have better success and feel more confident if you moved the location of My Documents to D: before loading any files into My documents (er ... your documents )

You're probably right. The empty folders Pictures, Music and Videos moved without any drama. But the whole point of this exercise for me was to reduce data usage on the boot drive, not to spend time screwing around with Windows. In other words, if using the Libraries feature can quickly accomplish that goal without problems, I'm just going to do that rather than sink more time into redoing this and starting from scratch. Maybe for a future fresh install (or on this machine, a restore of an image that contains only the OS and drivers), I'll revisit and do as you suggested and make the move before installing apps and populating the user folders.

I'll go one better and suggest that you move the entire profile to D: - not just the user folders.
Why? AS I understand the reasoning (and I use the same logic) it's to reduce the use of the SSD for data. Your AppData folder is very active (Temp, WLM, other programs stashing data in there...)

It's better to do the move location before you populate the folder with data or install non-Windows programs so that any configuration files are referencing the profile on D: (you can always change the pgm config, but it usually surprises people when something creates data on the C: drive under your profile name. Why - because the configuration file says "Write to C:\Users\xyzzy\appdata\somepgm\datafile". If you move the user profile before you install non-Windows programs, the install takes care of correctly configuring the datafile on D:\Users\xyzzy..."

I've never experienced the Windows imaging issue Greg mentioned (the images do NOT contain my D:\Usr\Slartybart files-maybe that's what he meant). Regardless, Greg works with a lot of machines and I take him at his word - I'm probably the exception to the rule.

I appreciate the suggestion, but after seeing how poorly Windows executed a built-in feature (the whole point of the 'Move' function on the Location tab on the user folders is to allow users to move their user data elsewhere), I have zero confidence that a considerably more complicated and unsupported feature for the average user (i.e., no built-in tool in the OS like the 'Move' function) is not going to create issues down the road.

I started this post to try and explain My Documents vs. Documents.

My Documents is a reparse point to the real folder Documents. You might understand the relationship better if you open a Command Prompt and Navigate to your user profile, C:\Users\Colt. Enter the following command and then exit. The dir command lists the folder contents, the /aL parameter constrains the listing to reparse points only (the /p pararameter is simply pause after a screenfull)

C:\
cd C:\Users\Colt
dir /aL /p
exit

Look at the listing - a light might go on and you'll say "Aha!"

I've never used this tutorial, but plan to do just that on my next install/reinstall. It's a bit more technical, but from what I know it seems that it addresses a whole bunch of things Beforehand.
Take a read on: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...reate-move-during-windows-7-installation.html
and see if you want to go through a reinstall using Kari's method.

Good luck,

That's all I have to offer.

Bill
,

Yes, I understand that My Documents is more of a pointer than an actual folder, and that the actual folder there is named Documents.

 

[colt]

So I used the Libraries method to move user data. Easy enough procedure, and no bizarre Windows behavior, but with already installed apps, it's not easy to have all of My Documents move over. Some apps insist on being at c:\users\Colt\stubbornApp\ and require a reinstall to allow their data folders to be moved elsewhere.

So now I've got subfolders in 'Documents' folders in both c:\users\Colt\ and d:\

Not the 'cleanest' setup, but I've got to get actual work done and need to move on with my day. Maybe if I get a chance this weekend, I'll restore a boot drive image that contains only the OS + drivers + Windows updates, and then perform the user folders move via the 'Move' function in the Location tabs of these folders. And then install apps. That should be clean and uneventful, correct?

 

[Slartybart]

Glad you got it sorted ... Libraries work too

Use OPTION TWO in http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html
as a reference

Yes, that procedure should provide you with a dreadfully uneventful weekend

Carpe Diem!

Bill
.

 

[colt]

Maybe if I get a chance this weekend, I'll restore a boot drive image that contains only the OS + drivers + Windows updates, and then perform the user folders move via the 'Move' function in the Location tabs of these folders. And then install apps. That should be clean and uneventful, correct?

Ha. This was driving me nuts so I decided to try to get it done this morning.

On a clean install, before installing any applications, the user folders move function worked as expected. One slightly odd thing I'm noticing is as follows:
The music pictures and videos libraries all show two locations: c:\users\public and the new d:\ respective folders.

The documents library is different in that it only shows one location, c:\users\public

I tried manually adding d:\documents but it would not take. After clicking the Add button and navigating to d:\documents and selecting it, the documents library locations dialog box shows this added folder as the default save location. But when I click OK , the folder is not added , and the documents library shows only the public documents folder.

I tried adding the Documents folder via an alternative method, right clicking on the folder and selecting "include in library" and choosing documents. This results in a popup window which states, " My Documents is already included in the library."

Is this going to cause any issues or can I proceed ?

 

[gregrocker]

I would not move the full User profile as we've seen enough problems with this here that its tutorial's author no longer recommends it.

 

[colt]

I would not move the full User profile as we've seen enough problems with this here that its tutorial's author no longer recommends it.

I'm not moving the full user profile. As described in post #31, I restored an image of the boot drive containing only the operating system, drivers, and Windows updates. I then moved 5 user profile subfolders: downloads, pictures, music, videos, and documents.

My only concern is that the Documents folder cannot be added to the documents library as described in post #31.

Not sure if this is an issue or not.

 

[colt]

After a restart, all 4 libraries behave the same in that each of the music, pictures, videos, and documents libraries show only 1 location: the public folder. None of these four libraries will allow me to add the respective moved folders on the data drive. When I try, they all give me the same error, "My Documents / My Pictures / My Videos / My Music is already included in the library."


Edit: Another restart, and now the Videos library includes the data drive videos folder in addition to the users\public videos folder. The other 3 libraries only show their respective users\public folders. No idea why the behavior is different, as all 4 folders on the data drive are empty.

Further edit: When I was using open file dialog box, the 4 libraries all show 2 locations, with each showing their respective folders on the data drive as the default save location. So I guess the link is there; and this is why I was getting the message "[data drive user folder] is already included in the library". But for some reason it doesn't show if I look at the libraries in the explorer window.

 

[colt]

After a number of restarts, Windows finally got the hint, and the libraries are properly showing the folders they contain, with the default save folders properly assigned, so all is well.





Thanks for the help guys!

On a somewhat related note, has anyone noticed a significant performance decrease associated with moving these user folders (i.e., just the ones that have a Move function in their Location tab) off the OS partition/drive? Since restoring a fresh install image and moving the user folders, Windows has switched off Aero and reverted to the basic color scheme several times. I don't think it has to do with the user folders because I wasn't even accessing the data drive in some of those instances, and I wasn't doing anything remotely demanding (I am familiar with stressing the limits of a system's resources and triggering a reversion to the basic scheme, and this wasn't even close to approaching that). There were a couple of other things I did differently, so one of those could be the culprit, but just wanted to rule out this moving of user folders as a possible suspect.

 

[gregrocker]

Glad to hear it. You can mark thread Solved at top if all is well.

 

[Slartybart]

Libraries are a special case - again!

Libraries are defined by files in Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

The Documents Library file is shown in the code box below. Note the <simpleLocation> section, how the real folders are referenced.
In the case of User special folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos (also special files), Libraries use the knownfolder definition. When you tried to add the 'same' knownfolder (albeit in a different location) Libraries told you "I already have that location in my file definition"

Libraries and Search are closely tied together (as a matter of fact, folders you add to a Library are automatically entered into the Search Index for content searches). I'm not certain of the exact relationship, but it takes a while for Windows to crawl your system and update references.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<libraryDescription xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/windows/2009/library">
  <name>@shell32.dll,-34575</name>

  <version>6</version>
  <isLibraryPinned>true</isLibraryPinned>
  <iconReference>imageres.dll,-1002</iconReference>
  <templateInfo>
    <folderType>{7d49d726-3c21-4f05-99aa-fdc2c9474656}</folderType>
  </templateInfo>
  <searchConnectorDescriptionList>
    <searchConnectorDescription publisher="Microsoft" product="Windows">
      <description>@shell32.dll,-34577</description>
      <isDefaultSaveLocation>true</isDefaultSaveLocation>


      <simpleLocation>
        <url>knownfolder:{FDD39AD0-238F-46AF-ADB4-6C85480369C7}</url>
        <serialized>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</serialized>
      </simpleLocation>


    </searchConnectorDescription>
  </searchConnectorDescriptionList>
</libraryDescription>

Moving the Users files would not cause what you describe. Other than being special to each user, they are really just normal data holding folders. Your configuration is in Appdata in your user profile on C:\ - or in the registry. Must be one of the other things you did. I have not experienced any performance hit by moving the user files (either a full user profile move or moving individual location changes).

If you want to try and pinpoint the Aero / Color issue, you might be better served by opening a new thread and reference this thread as a basis.

Glad things are falling into place.

Bill
.

 

[colt]

Libraries are a special case - again!

Libraries are defined by files in Users\Name\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows

The Documents Library file is shown in the code box below. Note the <simpleLocation> section, how the real folders are referenced.
In the case of User special folders (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos (also special files), Libraries use the knownfolder definition. When you tried to add the 'same' knownfolder (albeit in a different location) Libraries told you "I already have that location in my file definition"

Makes sense.

Libraries and Search are closely tied together (as a matter of fact, folders you add to a Library are automatically entered into the Search Index for content searches). I'm not certain of the exact relationship, but it takes a while for Windows to crawl your system and update references.

While that seems plausible, wouldn't most people experience this when moving user folders? I've never seen it mentioned in any of the guides that it might take several restarts for the moved user folder to properly show up in the library. I guess it's possible people just didn't check immediately after moving the folders. And they did function fine immediately after moving them, so could be that no one bothered to look.

Moving the Users files would not cause what you describe. Other than being special to each user, they are really just normal data holding folders. Your configuration is in Appdata in your user profile on C:\ - or in the registry. Must be one of the other things you did. I have not experienced any performance hit by moving the user files (either a full user profile move or moving individual location changes).

Thanks for confirming this. Yes, I suspect it was one of the other changes I made.

If you want to try and pinpoint the Aero / Color issue, you might be better served by opening a new thread and reference this thread as a basis.

Will do.

 

[fibbermcghee]

Please let me jump in here, (or else freeze me out) because I have such a similar problem. I moved 488GB of files from an old drive (defragged) to a new one, and they only came out to 388GB. Spot checking suggests that they're all there. I was relieved to find this thread, particularly the part about WinMerge. Kick this one off if you want, it's alright, I'll just sit here in my dark computer room and watch the lights, really, it'll be OK...

 

[gregrocker]

If your source drive has 488gb when you click on the Properties, but the drive you copied to has only 388gb of those files after copying them there, then you are missing 100gb of files.

Spot-checking is....err....spotty.

Try copying them again.