» How To Change The Location Of My Documents Folder In Windows XP

I have recently added a second hard drive to my Computer because my first drive was running out of disk space. I usually save everything to "My Documents" and now want to move the folder to the new hard drive. How can I move the folder and it's contents?

This is usually one of the first tasks I do when I build a new Computer with Windows installed. Moving the My Documents folder to another hard drive or partition keeps the System partition from running out of disk space and isolates the folder if I need to reinstall Windows without losing any personal data stored in the folder.

The default location of My Documents folder is located at C:\Documents and Settings\X\My Documents, where "X" is the name of the user. Two methods can be used to move the folder:

First Method:

1) Open My Computer.
2) Right click on My Documents and from the sub-menu select properties.
3) Change the target folder path and Apply.

Second Method:

1) Open My Computer.
2) Right click on My Documents present and from the sub-menu select Cut
3) Navigate to the location where you want to save the folder, right click and select Paste.

If you only have one hard disk installed in your Computer and it is set up with one partition, you will not be able to move the folder to free up disk space. Tools do exist to create additional partitions after Windows has been installed, but if you are having disk space problems, adding a second hard drive will allow you to move the folder and free up disk space.