Should I keep My Documents on C and Videos, Music etc on D ?

[adri123]

For me only My Documents had to stay on C. All others can move in my experience without any problem.

Now this I do not understand by your logic. You worry about a couple of folders on the desktop but the usually largest user folder (documents) you want to leave on C. There you lost me.

Ok i see. Maybe i said it in the first posts or not: I keep My Documents on C because it's in this folder that most applications will save weired settings an so on. So it must stay with the apps, on C. I have no choice. BUT i DO create another Documents folder on D which will be "the usually largest user folder" as you say.

It's simple: everything on D except my documents which stays on C only as a container for software settings.
In doing that simple thing, whenever i backup my "Data" partition, well, ALL data is in it, including files on my desktop that-it's-bad-to-put-there.

That simple. And it allows me not to have "duplicate" user folders which is confusing, for me. Having an empty music folder, an empty pictures, an empty videos. Tsss. and having to use libraries "to hide that"..

AND i do see the advantages of your view and mine. no perfection down here

The thing with having "duplicate" folders for all user folders, is that some files WILL end up in the original user folder, on C... just by mistake, confusion, tiredness or not well designed software. While if there is only one folder, well you can't mistake it. So the file will be stored in that one. And will be on D for sure.

Hearing though about the default save location of libraries, that i didn't know about, must greatly reduce the possibility of mistakes. So yeah, it's details we're talking about i agree. But i also do see that it's not perfect in either case.. i'll have to digest that

 

[whs]

I keep My Documents on C because it's in this folder that most applications will save weired settings an so on. So it must stay with the apps, on C

Of course you keep the original documents folder on C - and all the other original folders too. And you keep those as default folders. But that does not mean that you cannot move your user folders to the HDD - which you have apparently done. Just keep the system and program generated folders in the C folders.

Btw - it is not only in Documents where programs place their repository folders. So if you have no default pictures, videos and music folders on C, you have the same problem as with documents.

 

[DavidE]

If an application does store data in "My Documents" on the drive I could lose that data if/when I restored an image. I know/expect/understand I will lose any Program/System Configuration changes etc., whenever I restore the [C] partition. Usually I am restoring an image because I tested a new program or system change, it didn't work, and I want to back it out completely. Or, maybe the last Windows Patch Tuesday updates had issues, i restore an image so it's like I never installed those updates ...

 

[adri123]

I keep My Documents on C because it's in this folder that most applications will save weired settings an so on. So it must stay with the apps, on C

Of course you keep the original documents folder on C - and all the other original folders too. And you keep those as default folders. But that does not mean that you cannot move your user folders to the HDD - which you have apparently done. Just keep the system and program generated folders in the C folders.

Btw - it is not only in Documents where programs place their repository folders. So if you have no default pictures, videos and music folders on C, you have the same problem as with documents.

OK, so i'll soon close this as it's late here and i got many good advices. I just wanna make sure i undertsood your above quote.
- move your user folders on HDD: you mean create new ones, right ? (since the original ones shouldn't move and should stay on C.)
- Just keep the system and program generated folders in the C folders.: you mean Music, Pictures, My Documents, and so on ?

Did i get it right ?

 

[whs]

move your user folders on HDD: you mean create new ones, right ?

Right.

Just keep the system and program generated folders in the C folders.: you mean Music, Pictures, My Documents, and so on ?

No. I am talking about all these guys - e.g. in Documents.

 

[doctore]

You can't be serious about backup and at the same time keep your data on the same drive (even if different partition). It does nothing to help in case of hdd failure or a virus.

I personally keep a bunch of data off the system drive, but that's just because of size constraints. Can't keep Gigs of videos, games and pix on an SSD
But I keep all my work data on the C: drive, just faster, more convenient and safer. I clone the C: to both an internal spinner and an external one, this way if I have an issue - all I have to do is load the clone and it's like nothing happened

 

[whs]

Do you really clone or do you make images.

 

[adri123]

OK thank you everybody. i'll see what i'll do. so many options here, each with its pros and cons. thanks again!
i'll mark the thread as resolved as its point was to collect opinions and that has been achieved.

cheers!

Adri

 

[doctore]

Do you really clone or do you make images.

Technically I make an image, but not a system image, rather the entire drive.

 

[whs]

Depemds what's on the drive. Why e.g. image the recovery partition or the Tools partition. The system partition and C is usuallu sufficient - unless you also carry data partitions on that drive.

 

[mjf]

I actually keep My Documents on C: . I have lots of Word and Excel documents and they don't take up a lot of space. BUT I run a file/folder backup to make sure that a reimage doesn't cause me to lose documents made since the lat image. When I don't want to do a full file/folder backup I'll do a drag & drop to another drive.

I store music and videos on a separate drive because these are large and is fairly static data that I don't want to clog up a system image. Also, I just have them in simple folders on another drive and my applications access them from there - I haven't moved libraries. Of course a separate drive can fail and this data needs to be backed up. This is when some form of differential backup makes sense.

 

[adri123]

Of course you keep the original documents folder on C - and all the other original folders too. And you keep those as default folders. But that does not mean that you cannot create user folders to the HDD - which you have apparently done. Just keep the system and program generated folders in the C folders.

Btw - it is not only in Documents where programs place their repository folders. So if you have no default pictures, videos and music folders on C, you have the same problem as with documents.

Hi guys, I reopened the thread because I realized that one of my yesterday's questions remained unanswered. And so i saw i couldn't go forth today applying your advices, since i have a doubt with something.

Remember, you advised using libraries. For example the music library would contain both the original user folder (My Music) (on C) and the one i created myself: Music-A (on D), where the actual data is.

So that when i backup C (programs and OS), the program settings that are saved in the default user folders are backed up too.

I liked that you said that in order for my files to be saved in the right folder (on D), I should set the default save location of the library to that folder.

Question 5: Is there a possibility that because of changing the default save location to the folder on D, well some programs will alson follow that and save their settings there ? Which was what we were trying to avoid in the first place.

Question 6: When programs store their settings, do they save them in the default user folder or in the default save location of the concerned library ?

 

[whs]

I liked that you said that in order for my files to be saved in the right folder (on D), I should set the default save location of the library to that folder.

Nah never, the folders on C should remain default folders. The D partition you inmage or backup separately when needed. And that should only contain your own stuff.

Q5 - that's exactly what would happen and that's not what we want

Q6 - in the default folder.

 

[adri123]

I liked that you said that in order for my files to be saved in the right folder (on D), I should set the default save location of the library to that folder.

Nah never, the folders on C should remain default folders. The D partition you inmage or backup separately when needed. And that should only contain your own stuff.

Q5 - that's exactly what would happen and that's not what we want

Q6 - in the default folder.

Q6b : as default folder you mean the default save location ?

 

[whs]

Right, the folder where the system or programs would put their stuff - as opposed to your stuff which would be on D.

 

[adri123]

whs, i understand since the beginning that on C should be the program stuff and settings and that on D should be my own stuff. I get that. I know that.

My question is specific and i don't know if you got it:

If i make the folder on D the default save location of a library, does that also make it the default folder for programs ?
In other words, does the default save location affect only the user when he clicks on "Save as.." (that location would be proposed as first choice) or does it ALSO affect the location where the programs store their settings ?

In other words again: what are the programs looking for to store their settings? the default save location ? or the default folder ? are they the same ?

 

[whs]

I thought I said that, sorry. The programs and the system look for the default folders. That's why we keep the folders on C as default folders, then the program stuff does not get mixed up with your own stuff. And if you make an image of C, the programs have their folders when you ever need to restore.

The user folders on D are a completely different world which only the user manages - updates, backups, etc.

Btw - I am not sure why that was not clear from my previous posting:

Your question:

Q6b : as default folder you mean the default save location ?

My answer:

the folder where the system or programs would put their stuff

 

[adri123]

I thought I said that, sorry. The programs and the system look for the default folders. That's why we keep the folders on C as default folders, then the program stuff does not get mixed up with your own stuff. And if you make an image of C, the programs have their folders when you ever need to restore.

The user folders on D are a completely different world which only the user manages - updates, backups, etc.

I knoooow, indeed you have said that many times. I'm asking wether default folder and default save location is the same thing ?

 

[Slartybart]

I'll take a stab at answering this"

Setting the default save location set in Libraries should make the folder selected the globally accepted default save location for that file type (General, Music,Pictures, Videos).
There are however applications that don't always play by the rules and they might default to a different location - that's either bad programming or old programs.

There's also a setting to save to the last location in some applications. With a few exceptions like the ones above, the Libraries save location works across the board.

Program settings are not part of the default save location. Again, some applications have location defined or it can be changed in the options for that program.

The installer controls where programs go - usually predefined to be a sub-folder in Program files or Program Files (x86)
This location is not changed by the Libraries default save location. It is always defined in the Installer application.

I haven't read the thread, only the post above.

Here's one way to think about doing it. The directory tree might look like this:
D:\UserFiles
D:\UserFiles\adri123
D:\UserFiles\adri123\Documents
D:\UserFiles\adri123\Music
D:\UserFiles\adri123\Pictures
D:\UserFiles\adri123\Videos

The four folders you recognize would be included in the library of the same type.
Those folders would also be set in the library as the default save location for that type

You can create additional libraries that point to different folders in the D:\UserFiles\adri123 tree
Downloads comes to mind.

If you look at the properties of regular folder -> customize tab you will see that folders are associated with a type, so are libraries.
Your Documents folder is of the type General - a catch all.

It's a little tricky but you asked good questions. I hope I answered them well enough.

 

[adri123]

Slartybart thank you very much that's the kind of answer i was expecting. It's clear now:

Program settings are not part of the default save location.

Question 7: But they could right ?
If a program is programmed so that it stores its settings to the default save location, instead of the default folder.

Question 8: The whole thread is about how can I back up C (os+progs) without omitting the program settings AND by avoiding libraries if possible. Do you think that's possible ?