Reinstall Windows 7 and Point To User Data On Separate Drive

[BobCochran]

Hi,

My old SSD with just Windows 7 Ultimate on it crashed and died. All the user data is safe because it is on a separate hard drive. My question is how do I reinstall Windows 7 and tell it "you will find all the user data on drive G:\, look for G:\Users there. "

Do I need to use mklink to do this and set junction points? Or is there a better way?

Thanks

Bob

 

[gregrocker]

Your options are fully explained in User Folders - Change Default Location.

 

[BobCochran]

Thank you very much. I just want to clarify that the user profiles and about 200 Gb of user data already exists on a separate hard drive. A few years ago, when I originally installed Windows 7, I installed in audit mode and used sysprep to specify that the user data be on a separate hard drive. All was well until a day or so ago -- when my system drive (drive C) crashed. So what I would like to do is to reinstall Windows 7 to a brand new hard drive and during installation, tell it "the Users folder is on this other hard drive."

I'm sorry if this is repetitive, I just want to clarify the use case. It is not a matter of "install Windows 7 and move the user data to this other drive." It is a case of "install Windows 7 and reconnect to all the existing user data which is on this other drive."

Thanks again!

Bob

 

[gregrocker]

Thank you very much. I just want to clarify that the user profiles and about 200 Gb of user data already exists on a separate hard drive. A few years ago, when I originally installed Windows 7, I installed in audit mode and used sysprep to specify that the user data be on a separate hard drive. All was well until a day or so ago -- when my system drive (drive C) crashed. So what I would like to do is to reinstall Windows 7 to a brand new hard drive and during installation, tell it "the Users folder is on this other hard drive."

I'm sorry if this is repetitive, I just want to clarify the use case. It is not a matter of "install Windows 7 and move the user data to this other drive." It is a case of "install Windows 7 and reconnect to all the existing user data which is on this other drive."

Thanks again!

Bob

I understand. I just did the same for 3 home PCs.

You would still move the new install's User folders to the corresponding data folder on the other hard drive. Takes minutes.

 

[BobCochran]

Thank you very much, gregrocker. I'll try the method you suggest.

Bob

 

[Maltesespace]

Yeah, the method above will transfer the Users folder of the new install to where the old one already is, then when you OOBE, you will have to create a new user, for the purpose of OOBE, but then you will be greeted with the login screen where you can select your user from before, then delete the new one you created in OOBE.