Quickly Move My Documents to Another Drive in Windows 10
Need to move My Documents to another drive
My Documents, a special folder in Microsoft Windows, is used for keeping computer documents and other files related to programs on your computer. Starting with Windows Vista, it is called Documents only before changing to My Documents.
Although My Documents can help users access files easily, this folder is by default located on the C: drive which contains the operating system. Putting My Documents and OS on the same drive is not a great idea for several reasons. Here are two main reasons.
- Degrade Windows performance. As My Documents is growing in size, C: drive will be running out of space or even filled up, resulting in long boot time and slow read/write speed.
- My Documents folder is easy to lose. The My Documents folder is vulnerable to system crashes, hard disk failure, or human error.
Considering these factors, you need to move My Documents folder to another drive. How to complete the task easily? Please read on.
Top 2 ways to move My Documents to another drive in Windows 10
To move My Documents to another drive, you can resort to a Windows inbuilt feature or a free backup and sync tool - Qiling Disk Master. The two methods are also applicable to moving My Documents to another drive in Windows 10, 11, or previous systems like Windows 7.
Below will take an example of moving My Documents from C drive to D drive.
- Method 1: Move My Documents to another drive via Windows inbuilt feature
- Method 2: Move My Documents folder to another drive using Qiling Disk Master
Method 1: Move My Documents to another drive via Windows inbuilt feature
1. Create a new folder named Documents at the target drive, D: drive, for example.
2. Navigate to This PC > Local Disk (C:) > Users > User Name.
3. Right-click on the My Documents folder and select Properties.
4. Click on the Location tab, and type the new path to the Documents folder (here is D:\Documents). Then, click OK.
5. Click Yes when asked if you want to move all of the files from the old location to the new location. Wait for the process to be done.
✍ Tips:
- The original My Documents folder in the C drive will be deleted automatically.
- If you want to get back the My Documents folder in the C drive later, you can find the Documents folder in the new location > right-click on it and select Properties > click Restore Default under the Location tab.
Method 2: Move My Documents folder to another drive using Qiling Disk Master
Qiling Disk Master Standard, the best free backup and sync software for Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP, can also help you move My Documents folder to another drive easily. With the Sync feature, you can synchronize one folder or multiple folders from their original location to a new location.
The new location can be another drive on the same disk, an external drive, a network location, or a cloud drive (eg: sync local folders to OneDrive). Learn how to move My Documents to another drive in Windows 10 with Qiling Disk Master as follows:
✎ Note: You don't need to create a new folder named "Documents" at the destination drive if you use Method 2, because it will be automatically created during the sync process.
1. Download, install, and launch Qiling Disk Master Standard. To sync Document folder to another drive in Server 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022, etc, try Qiling Disk Master Server!
2. Click Backup and recovery and select File Sync.
3. Edit the task name for this file sync task. Click Folder to select the Documents folder. If you want to move other user folders at the same time, like Downloads, Pictures, Videos, etc, click the "+" icon to add them.
Note: Optionally, select the My Documents folder in the above picture, and then click the Filter settings (supported by professional version) to include or exclude files or folders with certain file extensions. Just like backup files with a certain file extension.
4. Select the destination drive (eg: D:) to store the folder.
>> Options: you can write a comment for your sync task so that you can figure out the specific sync contents. You can also enable email notification here.
>> Schedule Sync: you can set the automatic sync task to run daily, weekly, or monthly. To enjoy more advanced schedule modes like "Event triggers" and "USB plug in", you may upgrade to Qiling Disk Master Professional.
5. Click on the Proceed button to move My Documents to another drive quickly.
✍ Tips:
- You can still find the Documents folder in the C drive after the sync process. You can choose to delete it so as to get more free space or to keep it as a backup.
- If you delete the Documents folder in the C drive, the sync task will become invalid; that is, the task can't run anymore.
- If you want to move Document folder to another drive on multiple computers, the easiest way is to create a portable version (supported by Technician or Technician Plus edition) of this software and run it off a flash drive.
Summary
You can move My Documents to another drive in Windows 10 or 11 easily with the two methods offered above. You may prefer the sync feature in Qiling Disk Master if you want to move multiple folders at once. If there are large files in My Documents, it would be a better choice to use the file backup feature to backup large files.
In addition to backup and sync feature, Qiling Disk Master also enables you to copy data from one hard drive to another, clone Dell laptop hard drive, replace laptop HDD with SSD, etc. Please download it now to discover more!
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