Windows 7’s “My Documents” library folder is by default mapped to the system drive, e.g. as [C:\Users\<username>\Documents]. However it is also possible to map it elsewhere, e.g. to another volume. A broadly equivalent situation exists in Mac OS. One might for example use this option to move the Documents library/folder to a thumb/flash drive when using several computers (one at a time) or to put it on a non-system drive, e.g. to free up space on the system drive, exclude it from system backups (thus freeing up both space and time) or to put it on something like a server, possibly on “The Cloud”.
I found the following explanation by accident, while attempting to find a way to prevent Adobe Media Encoder (AME) from storing its own “preview files” (sic), which are huge, in a sub-folder of “My Documents”, which itself on typical Windows systems is to be found on the System Drive. It seems that AME has no Preferences setting to store these preview files elsewhere, so a workaround is needed, e.g. to move the “My Documents” library folder itself to another volume.
- http://forums.adobe.com/message/6045027
- 6. Mark Mapes, 23-Jan-2014 10:17
- http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/redirect-folder-new-location#1TC=windows-7
- Windows 7:
- To redirect a folder to a new location
- Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then click your user name.
- Right-click the folder that you want to redirect, and then click Properties.
- Click the Location tab, and then click Move.
- Browse to the location where you want to redirect this folder. You can select another location on this computer, another drive attached to this computer, or another computer on the network. To find a network location, type two backslashes (\\) into the address bar followed by the name of the location where you want to redirect the folder (for example, \\mylaptop), and then press Enter.
- Click the folder where you want to store the files, click Select Folder, and then click OK.
- In the dialog that appears, click Yes to move all the files to the new location.
- Mac OS (Mavericks & previous):
- To restore a folder to its original location
- Click the Start button Picture of the Start button, and then click your user name.
- Right-click the folder that you previously redirected and want to restore to its original location, and then click Properties.
- Click the Location tab, click Restore Default, and then click OK.
- Click Yes to recreate the original folder, and then click Yes again to move all the files back to the original folder.
- https://discussions.apple.com/message/23510349#23510349
- (Ignore the initial links, which are merely about changing names, e.g. when migrating a laptop from one person to another)
- John Galt, 25-Oct-2013
- The procedure was unchanged in Mavericks from previous OS X versions.
- What I did was create a new User in System Preferences, after which I logged out and logged in to that new User.
- I performed basic configuration, created some documents, etc.
- After that I logged out, logged in under my usual account, and dragged that User’s folder to another volume.
- Then, I used Users & Groups “Advanced Options” to point to the new Home folder’s location.
- After that, I restarted the Mac using OS X Recovery to reset that user’s Home Folder Permissions and ACLs since permissions problems with the copied Home folder would otherwise result.
- After quitting OS X Recovery I was able to log in to the User account established on the USB flash drive, and was able to use it more or less the same way without any surprises. Safari, iTunes, iPhoto all worked, no problems.
- The original User account (home folder) remained on the boot volume, so I dragged it to the Trash. I verified that I could still log in to the account on the flash drive, confirming the one created on the boot volume was no longer required.
- Attempting to log in to the account with the flash drive disconnected resulted in an expected error (below) and obviously you wouldn’t want to do that while using the account.
- Reconnecting the flash drive restored the ability to log in as expected.