Solved New Computer...So Confused

I just bought a new HP All In One with both a SSD and a HD. I'm absolutely lost trying to figure out how to set this machine up to use the D drive as the main drive.

I have a tiny (almost full) SSD drive. I want to use the D drive as my main drive. How do I set that up? How do I transfer my files from my Windows 8.1 (I know about flash drives but where do I put my old files on the new computer?)

I've fooled with this until my head hurts. I could really use some simple instructions on how to set this up (I'm old).

Thank you in advance.

Janice

And then look at the bottom of the tutorial in the related tutorial lists - you can do the same thing with the rest of your "library" folders.

And it is the same process for Windows 11 as it is for Windows 10

Janice,

I agree with NavyLCdr.

My computer is like your - a relatively small SSD to use for the OS & installed applications and a much larger & cheaper HDD to use for my own files.
I think NavyLCdr's computer is similar.

NavyLCdr is suggesting that you leave the SSD as your OS drive but move your own files onto the D:\ drive. He is right.
That will substantially reduce the amount that is left on your OS drive, probably less than 50GB.

You can put your files on the D:\ drive wherever you want.
- I created these folders on mine: Desktop, Documents, Music, ...
- I set up this D:\Desktop folder to be recognised as 'the' Desktop folder - see Move or Restore Default Location of Desktop Folder- ElevenForumTutorials
- I also worked through moving Documents, Downloads, ... using the relevant tutorials but they weren't essential strictly-speaking. I could have just started telling my applications where to save files [D:\ drive] as I used them and they would have remembered my decisions in almost all cases.

Using the D:\ drive for your own files will also ease making & restoring system images which are the single most useful backup you can make.
Even if you face the disaster of your OS not working, you can "restore" its drive image ["system image"] back onto your C:\ drive within half an hour. System images turn disasters into mere inconveniences.
You have much more choice when it comes to backing up your own files from your D:\ drive - from simple file copying onto an external drive through to specialist file backup utilities and even to the making of additional system images of the D:\ drive.
This discussion is valid for Windows 11 as well - my ditty - File backup vs imaging, imaging utilities, backing up drivers [post #3] - TenForums

If you have never made a system image before then I suggest you do not spend ages trying to decide which system imaging utility is "best".
Just choose Macrium reflect - Its TenForumsTutorial is excellent & applies equally to Windows 11 and there are so many helpful members of ElevenForum & TenForums using Macrium reflect that you can always get rapid & effective assistance if you ever run into problems.

Best of luck,
Denis

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Welcome to ElevenForum.

It's really worth making time to browse through the Tutorial index - there's a shortcut to it at the top of every page [within the Tutorials dropdown list].
- At the foot of the Tutorial index is a shortcut to download it as a spreadsheet.
- I download a new copy each month.
- By downloading it as a spreadsheet I can benefit from Excel's excellent filtering capabilities when I search for topics of interest.
- Tutorials are also listed at Tutorials - there's a shortcut to that at the top of every page.

You can search ElevenForum using the search box in the top-right corner of all ElevenForum webpages or using Advanced Search - ElevenForum
- You can also search ElevenForum threads in many general search engines, such as Google, by adding site:elevenforum.com after your search term. For example,
Taskbar setup site:elevenforum.com
- [This is what the search box in the top-right corner of ElevenForum webpages does automatically]

Janice said:

I just bought a new HP All In One with both a SSD and a HD. I'm absolutely lost trying to figure out how to set this machine up to use the D drive as the main drive.

I have a tiny (almost full) SSD drive. I want to use the D drive as my main drive. How do I set that up? How do I transfer my files from my Windows 8.1 (I know about flash drives but where do I put my old files on the new computer?)

I've fooled with this until my head hurts. I could really use some simple instructions on how to set this up (I'm old).

Thank you in advance.

Janice

Click to expand...

How tiny is the SSD? It is always preferable to use SSD as main OS drive as others are suggesting.

You will get a big reduction in general performance using an HDD.

Frankly, I would consider replacing even the HDD with an SSD and use the HDD as an external storage drive (buying a cheap usb enclosure).

Janice said:

I just bought a new HP All In One with both a SSD and a HD. I'm absolutely lost trying to figure out how to set this machine up to use the D drive as the main drive.

I have a tiny (almost full) SSD drive. I want to use the D drive as my main drive. How do I set that up? How do I transfer my files from my Windows 8.1 (I know about flash drives but where do I put my old files on the new computer?)

I've fooled with this until my head hurts. I could really use some simple instructions on how to set this up (I'm old).

Thank you in advance.

Janice

Click to expand...

Janice, did this computer come with win11 installed? It should have been installed in the ssd by HP and your libraries and files go onto the hdd.

magilla said:

Janice, did this computer come with win11 installed? It should have been installed in the ssd by HP and your libraries and files go onto the hdd.

Click to expand...

Yes, it came with Windows 11 installed.

Thank you NavyLCdr, Try3, Cereberus, and Magilla for your help. I really appreciate it!

Janice said:

Yes, it came with Windows 11 installed.

Click to expand...

So now you can copy your libraries, files to hdd whatever it is—-c or d and boot from your ssd with win11 on it! Happy to help, as are all of us on the forum. We need help sometime too. And a number of us are ‘old’ also.

magilla said:

So now you can copy your libraries, files to hdd whatever it is—-c or d and boot from your ssd with win11 on it! Happy to help, as are all of us on the forum. We need help sometime too. And a number of us are ‘old’ also.

Click to expand...

1 last stupid question: where and what are my "libraries"?

Janice said:

1 last stupid question: where and what are my "libraries"?

Click to expand...

Documents, pictures, etc.

Can you supply the exact model number for your HP all-in-one? I wonder that you're running out of space on the SSD. That might be expected with a tablet which uses a 32GB SSD (eMMC).

Janice said:

1 last stupid question: where and what are my "libraries"?

Click to expand...

The libraries are the generic folders like Documents, Music, Videos, Downloads, highlighted below. They are normally contained in folders of the same name under C:\Users\<your user name>\. If you notice, I do not have the corresponding folders under my C:\Users\John folder because I have already moved mine to D: drive.



After moving:

Hello Janice and welcome to the forum.

To answer your question, In Windows 11 or Windows 10, Libraries include folders namely Camera Roll, Documents, Music, Pictures, Saved Pictures and Videos. These known folders are automatically included in the default libraries and set as the default save location. These libraries can be located on your C: drive, a secondary data disk, or in Onedrive.

One thing you need to check. If you missed one tiny option during oobe setup, the location of user folders is set to Onedrive by default instead of locating these user folders on your local hard drive. Verify if this is true in your case. Go to file explorer, right click on one of your personal folders (ex:documents or desktop), select properties. Observe the location. Does the location point to onedrive? If so, you need to make several choices.

Answer the following 4 questions and report back. I can then send you a simplified tutorial to accomplish what you want in your particular case.

A. From the result of first step above, do the properties of your user folders show the location as Onedrive, C:, or some other location?
B. Do you want to store all or some your files and folders on Onedrive? If so do you have ample onedrive storage space? You get 5 gb free with a MS account. If you require more onedrive space you have to purchase it or subscribe to Office 365 which includes 1000 gb of Onedrive space. To continue with your default user folder location as Onedrive you need to do nothing since these folders are not stored on either of your disk drives.

C. Do you want some of your folders on Onedrive?

D. Do you intend to use Onedrive at all?

glasskuter said:

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Hello Janice and welcome to the forum.

To answer your question, In Windows 11 or Windows 10, Libraries include folders namely Camera Roll, Documents, Music, Pictures, Saved Pictures and Videos. These known folders are automatically included in the default libraries and set as the default save location. These libraries can be located on your C: drive, a secondary data disk, or in Onedrive.

One thing you need to check. If you missed one tiny option during oobe setup, the location of user folders is set to Onedrive by default instead of locating these user folders on your local hard drive. Verify if this is true in your case. Go to file explorer, right click on one of your personal folders (ex:documents or desktop), select properties. Observe the location. Does the location point to onedrive? If so, you need to make several choices.

Answer the following 4 questions and report back. I can then send you a simplified tutorial to accomplish what you want in your particular case.

A. From the result of first step above, do the properties of your user folders show the location as Onedrive, C:, or some other location?
B. Do you want to store all or some your files and folders on Onedrive? If so do you have ample onedrive storage space? You get 5 gb free with a MS account. If you require more onedrive space you have to purchase it or subscribe to Office 365 which includes 1000 gb of Onedrive space. To continue with your default user folder location as Onedrive you need to do nothing since these folders are not stored on either of your disk drives.

C. Do you want some of your folders on Onedrive?

D. Do you intend to use Onedrive at all?

Click to expand...

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A. the location from File Explorer:
Desktop: onedrive
Pictures: onedrive
Downloads: C drive
Movies: C drive
Documents: onedrive
Videos: C drive

From This PC; C://userfiles/myname:
everything is located in the c:\users\myname\filename

B. I want nothing to do with Onedrive. I have no folders saved there, and no plans to store any in the future.

I want anything that doesn't need to be on the SSD drive over on the D drive. Since I have no idea what that may be, I'm open to advice and suggestion. I just need simple elementary school level instructions. I've never dealt with double drives before. (My grandson took care of all the technical details for me, but he's off to college now.)

I have my files from my old computer copied onto a USB flash drive.

Many thanks to those of you who have taken the time to help.

Janice

step A-Though it may not be necessary, I consider it prudent to copy those folders that are defaulting to Onedrive to an external flash drive just to be on the safe side. (Once I either messed up or the process did not go as planned and I lost the files within the desktop folder so I now play it safe).

1. Unlink PC from Onedrive In task tray, click Onedrive icon. Click gear icon to get into Onedrive Settings. Under Account tab, select "Unlink this PC"
under Settings tab - Uncheck start Onedrive automatically with Windows.

2. HOW TO CHANGE LOCATION OF PERSONAL FOLDERS TO A NEW STORAGE LOCATION SUCH AS A SECONDARY DRIVE

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to your storage drive
3. Create new folders there named Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos

TO MOVE FOLDER LOCATION
In the left file explorer navigation pane, RIGHT click on 'documents' folder, select properties.
Note: If you don't see the Documents folder in the navigation pane, then you can find it by going to C:\Users\your username

Click location tab

Click Move button

Click the Select Folder button.

In the explorer window that pops up, browse to the secondary drive and select the DOCUMENTS folder you created.

Click Select Folder, Click Move. click Ok

You'll see a prompt asking whether you want to move files from the old location to new location. Select YES.
To prove to yourself that it worked, when you now go to properties of the documents folders it should show location as your secondary drive.

Repeat this process for the other 5 folders you want to move to your secondary drive.

Make sure that all the files that were originally in those 3 folders that defaulted to Onedrive are there in the new location. If not, just copy the files from the folders you backed up from step A.

You can now safely copy all the files from your old computer into these new folders and not have to worry about space.

Something I strongly suggest you do, once you get everything on your new computer just like you want it, is to implement some sort of backup solution using one of the free backup apps that are available. Make regular backups of both your drives so that either the OS with all your applications or your data drive can be restored. It's not hard to do and any of us here can give you step by step instructions on how to backup. Here is a thread that you can use to decide on what backup solution you want to use.

Also, once you get everything off of Onerdrive,
open the control panel
select Programs and Features
select Onedrive on the list
click Uninstall.

Yes, you can uninstall onedrive per @Scott suggestion, but chances are an update will re-install it at some point. By just unlinking the PC and stopping onedrive from loading with Windows, you won't get nagged to setup onedrive in the future. It will still be on your computer but not doing anything nor popping up all the time.

Thanks to your sterling instructions and graphic aids, I am proud to say I have D drive set up and my files loaded from my old computer. I absolutely could not have done this on my own, and I am so very grateful for those of you who took the time to help me.

Now, do you mind taking time to tell me the best way to load programs on this new computer? I have a rather large database program that I need to download and install (along with some pretty large info files to go with it) and an email program. Again, please word it for an elementary school child or point me toward a good tutorial. Janice

If the program downloads in exe format, just doubleclick on it to install. If the program downloads in zip format, RIGHT click on it, select extract all and follow the instructions.
Go to the unzipped folder location and open the folder. Find setup.exe, Clicking on that will begin installing the program.

Janice said:

Thanks to your sterling instructions and graphic aids, I am proud to say I have D drive set up and my files loaded from my old computer. I absolutely could not have done this on my own, and I am so very grateful for those of you who took the time to help me.

Now, do you mind taking time to tell me the best way to load programs on this new computer? I have a rather large database program that I need to download and install (along with some pretty large info files to go with it) and an email program. Again, please word it for an elementary school child or point me toward a good tutorial. Janice

Click to expand...

If the programs are truly large... just install them on the D: drive.
The installer will make the necessary shortcuts on your Windows drive, automatically.

During the install, (you may have to choose Custom), the installer will ask where you want to install the program.
It usually has C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86), already filled in.
Just change that to D:\<some folder> Like maybe: D:\Database Program ...and then let the installer do it's thing.

When it finishes, you'll have the Database Program installed on the D:\ drive, and the shortcuts for the program will be on the Windows drive. Usually a desktop shortcut and a Start Menu shortcut.


For example, this is the installer for a program called HD Tune...
You can see where I changed the "install location" to my D:\ drive.
You can either "browse" to your D:\ drive, or type it in, like I did.





Sometimes, after you agree to the license agreement, you'll have a choice between Standard or Custom install.
If you see that, always choose Custom. That's where any install "options" (like install location), will be.

Some installers will have new, modern artwork, But they are basically the same.
I just picked this old one, because it's easy to understand.

256GB boot drive.

Shouldn't be necessary to install on other than C:.

I wonder what size databases Janice is dealing with? I don't know, but I wouldn't bet that they're many gigabytes.