Help me recall what I did here?

[punkncat]

I have a Win 10 install on a 64GB SSD using two 250GB HDD as storage in a striped array.

When I installed Win 10 I half recall doing something like "storage sense" or some such built in Win program that allowed me to do some picking and choosing about what to keep, and where on the system. IIRC it popped up a notification something like it 'knew' I was on a small SSD and asked about moving certain files to the HDD. So, my user files, certain programs, pictures, music, etc show up like default in the file system, but when I am saving them they aren't doing c:, they are going to the bigger HDD array.

I would like to undo it temporarily while I change those drives for some newer ones. I cannot seem to find the dialog box that I recall that basically stepped me though the process with some clicks. I have done this in a similar way manually but it wasn't as streamlined as this has been. I don't recall using another app or program. I can see all the files on the other drives along with a folder called "optimization"

Does anyone know what the program that does this is within the Win 10 world, or am I recalling something that never happened?

 

[gardenman]

Hi, Storage Sense looks like something that just basically deletes temporary files, or older downloads, or other unnecessary files. https://www.guidingtech.com/windows-10-storage-sense-enable/

I don't know of anything that automatically moves such folders to another drive (but it may very well exist). You can move them manually by opening Explorer, right clicking on the folders (on the left), choose Properties and choose Location. Be forewarned, don't move any of the folders to the main root of a drive (for example, don't move your Documents folder to C:\, always move them to subfolders such as C:\MyDocuments or C:\Users\UserName\Documents). You will of course have to make sure you have enough space for the files in each of the folders. Also, you can simply move the folder location but not the files. It will ask you if you want to move the files or not. That will take care of the Documents, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, and Music folders (maybe a few more in there that you can move).

As far as programs, those will likely have to be re-installed if the drive letters and locations get changed around. Programs often add themselves to the registry with the location of where they are installed so if you change that information, they may not run or may cause other problems for you. I'd consider uninstalling them temporarily if they are installed on another drive, then re-installing them after you get your new drives set up.

Additional comments from others are welcome.

 

[punkncat]

Thanks, yeah have done this by just changing the target location....IE you can tell it to put all your "music" to a different location with a right click in the file 'tree' in Explorer (or include 'remote' files in the folder view as well). All of the simple data files will be easy to migrate back. I expect to have to re-install the programs as they are defaulted to D as well.

I could almost swear it was something built into Windows that allowed me to click some options as it was done.

 

[punkncat]

I found this in Settings/System/Storage. It's right under the check box for Storage Sense. It give you the option to move all your "user files" folders to different target locations without changing the appearance of the file tree.

I didn't think I was crazy.

 

[gardenman]

I assume you mean the "Change where new content is saved" option.

I'm glad you found what you were looking for.