Question User file folders are glitching when moved into another HDD

[Olimar_Alpha]

I recently decided that I should move my user files from my 250 GB SSD to my 2 TB HDD in order to make more efficient use of my space. I had already done this with my Pictures folder a few years ago. I followed a guide on YouTube in order to perform the relocation.

After right-clicking on the Documents folder in my C: and relocating it into a folder named MyName in E:, the process crashed and would not progress. I paused it and then stopped it in order to restart it. I went back into C: and relocated my Videos folder, as it is much smaller and I assumed that it wouldn't crash. It seemed to go through just fine.

However, upon checking E:, I could see that the MyName folder no longer existed. In its place was the Videos folder, inside of which were my videos, my Pictures folder, and many of the files and folders which were within my Documents folder. However, the Documents folder is also still in C:. I sorted the folders to ensure that no files were duplicated or missing.

However, there is still an issue that I am having. If I have a folder named MyName in E:, it works fine. However, if I move my Videos folder back over to E:, it the MyName folder disappears and all files and folders that were within MyName are suddenly inside of Videos.

Furthermore, attempting to create a new folder in E: named MyName causes my computer to claim it shares its name with Videos and asks if I want to merge them. However, I can call a new folder "Videos" and it will exist without merging, and sorting the files and folders within E: by name causes both folders to be right next to each other.

Moving the Videos folder into C: causes it to act completely normally, but it does retain any files from MyName which were automatically moved inside.

What can I do this fix this issue so that I can properly move my user files?

 

[SkyNetRising]

What can I do this fix this issue so that I can properly move my user files?

Do not make folder named MyName (your user name). This is reserved.
For documents use folder use E:\Documents instead.

 

[Olimar_Alpha]

I also just tried to move the Music folder into E: by changing its location in Properties, which basically caused the Music folder to disappear and dump its contents straight into E:.

Picture link

A couple of notes:

• The folder with the Music icon is called "E:\" and it actually links straight to my E: drive.
• Clicking on the "Videos" folder in the Quick Access section causes an error saying that the "Location is not available". Right-clicking shows the option to remove it from Quick Access, but clicking the option does nothing.

I'm not going to mess around with this any further unless I get viable solutions.

 

[USAFRet]

First off, is there a known good backup, on some other drive, of the data involved here?

Second, how, exactly, did you relocate the Docs folder the first time.

Win Win 8.1 and 10, you MUST create a new folder on the target drive first, and then tell the Location function about that folder you created.
Previous version (Win 7 & 8) the relocation did that for you.

 

[Olimar_Alpha]

First off, is there a known good backup, on some other drive, of the data involved here?

Second, how, exactly, did you relocate the Docs folder the first time.

Win Win 8.1 and 10, you MUST create a new folder on the target drive first, and then tell the Location function about that folder you created.
Previous version (Win 7 & 8) the relocation did that for you.

I wasn't aware of that. The first time I moved Videos over to E:, I used Cut and Paste. Moving over Documents and Music was by Properties->Location.

I don't have any backups.

 

[USAFRet]

I wasn't aware of that. The first time I moved Videos over to E:, I used Cut and Paste. Moving over Documents and Music was by Properties->Location.

I don't have any backups.

You can't relocate the Libraries with a simple cut/paste.
And you should almost never use Cut/Paste annyway. Copy/Paste, yes. Once verified the copy is correct, then you delete from the source.
But you can't use either for these default Libraries.

The 'no backup' thing is a problem.

Does the data actually exist somewhere? No matter what folder or library may be involved?

 

[USAFRet]

Older tutorials:

Win 7 & 8: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1834397/ssd-redirecting-static-files.html
Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html

 

[Olimar_Alpha]

The files exist. I haven't lost anything, as far as I am aware. If I move my user folders as you suggested, will they only be accessible from my account?

Beyond that, the two things that need solving are:

1. My Music folder seems to have merged with my E: drive as I moved it through Properties->Location incorrectly. The E: drive now has the Music folder's icon and it has a "Location" tab in its properties.
2. The Videos folder which is apparently within E:\ continues to appear within my Quick Access, but it cannot be accessed nor deleted.

 

[USAFRet]

The files exist. I haven't lost anything, as far as I am aware. If I move my user folders as you suggested, will they only be accessible from my account?

Beyond that, the two things that need solving are:

1. My Music folder seems to have merged with my E: drive as I moved it through Properties->Location incorrectly. The E: drive now has the Music folder's icon and it has a "Location" tab in its properties.
2. The Videos folder which is apparently within E:\ continues to appear within my Quick Access, but it cannot be accessed nor deleted.

First off, before you do ANYTHING else...

Copy those files (NOT the folders) to some other storage device.
Create a couple of target folders. MyDocs, MyMusic, whatever.
Copy the files to those.

Then you can go about fixing these borked up libraries.



"My Music folder seems to have merged with my E: drive "
Yes, this was a result of doing it incorrectly. I do not know of an "Easy Button" fix.

 

[hotaru.hino]

This is a problem with moving where those folders in your user folders are. After specifying a location, Windows will move all of the files from the old location to the new one. If you made a mistake of specifying the root directory of a drive, then you're now stuck because there are system files in the drive. If you try to specify another directory, Windows will attempt to move those system files but realizes it can't because you don't have permission and aborts the process.

The only fix I'm aware of is to create a new user account and delete the old one (opting to not delete the user's files).

Also the user folders are more or less special OS folders, so anything you specify as the user folder will now become that special OS folder. This is just how the OS works.

 

[Olimar_Alpha]

First off, before you do ANYTHING else...

Copy those files (NOT the folders) to some other storage device.
Create a couple of target folders. MyDocs, MyMusic, whatever.
Copy the files to those.

Then you can go about fixing these borked up libraries.

Alright, I've got a spare hard drive, but I'll need to find out some cables to connect it to my PC. I'm a bit busy over the next couple of days, but when I get some free time, I'll hook it up and move my files from my Documents, Pictures, Music, etc. folders to it. I'll also move over the contents of the E:\ drive. Then I'll post an update to the thread.

 

[Olimar_Alpha]

Okay, I'm sorry that it's taken so long to update the thread, I was quite busy.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of weeks, my computer has started turning off within a couple of seconds of turning it on. It will then attempt to restart seconds later only to be stuck in an almost continuous loop. It will on very rare occasions get through to the BIOS. Once it reaches the BIOS, it will not cut out... But that's a whole different issue than with this thread.

I've created copies of the files from my Documents, Videos, Music, Pictures, Desktop, and my E: Drive onto this new HDD. Now how do I fix my old HDD and my user folders?