J
John.Kaufmann
On Windows 10 (v.2004). I wanted to separate User data from the system drive to simplify backup and maintenance of a Lenovo X1Yoga, which uses a nominal 500GB (actual 477GB) NVMe M.2 drive. [I ran XP with separate system and data partitions.] The outcome was not simple. Here is what happened:
(1) After temporarily removing the system files at the end of the Windows volume (hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys, swapfile.sys), I used Disk Management to shrink the partition to 238GB, freeing 237GB. Then I restored the sys files (hiberfil, pagefile, swapfile), and everything worked fine.
(2) Back in Disk Management, I divided that unallocated space in half, giving the second half of that space to a User Data volume (assigned D:). [I used the second half of the unallocated space in order to leave space between the Windows partition and the Data partition (to simplify expanding either one, as needed, into the unallocated space). Later I learned that using the second half -- leaving space between the Windows and Data partitions -- was a mistake.]
(3) Then in Explorer, I made folders at the root of the new D: drive for each user (2 users plus Admin), plus Public. Then I went to C:\Users, and for each user went to the folders of interest (Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Music/Pictures/Video), selected Properties from the context menu, and used the Location tab to change the folder location from C:\Users\<user>\<folder> to D:<user>\<folder>.
Again everything worked fine; it was almost exactly what I wanted. The qualm was that the new Data drive had little spare room. No problem, I thought: that's why you left space between the Windows and Data partitions. Wrong.
(4) I learned that Disk Management will only expand a volume into unallocated space following the partition, not preceding it. So I assigned that unallocated space as new volume N: (to be later reassigned as D: after the previous D: was no longer needed).
(5) Then in Explorer, I made folders at the root of the new N: drive for each user. Then I went to D:, and for each user went to the data folders (Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Music/Pictures/Video), again selected Properties from the context menu, and used the Location tab to change the folder location from D:\<user>\<folder> to N:<user>\<folder>. Everything looked fine: now D: was empty, with everything relocated to N:. I just needed to remove volume D:, then change the drive letter to the new Data drive N: to D: (or so it seemed).
Unfortunately, at that point I did not check that everything was working fine (that is, with applications finding the data files), as I had previously. I had already spent more time on this than anticipated, and the previous steps all checked out. This was (or seemed to be) only a repeat of step 3, so what could go wrong? Now I wish I had checked, because I don't know if the problem occurred in step 5 or 6.
(6) In Disk Management, I removed the D: volume. It asked if I was sure, warning that D: was still in use. But I knew D: was empty, so said go ahead. Then I changed the drive letter of N: to D:, expanded the partition, and had a new larger Data drive.
So I went back to work... except that applications could no longer find the documents and other data files. And, on restart, the desktop was missing.
The <user> folders were all still there on the (new) D: drive, but were dissociated from the Windows drive and its applications. Something else was different about the folders on the (new) D: drive: unlike on the earlier D: drive, the folders no longer had a Location property tab. The <user> data folders were missing from C:\Users\<user> (that had happened with the initial change of Location), but the new folder locations just seemed to be lost.
How can I fix this?
Continue reading...
(1) After temporarily removing the system files at the end of the Windows volume (hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys, swapfile.sys), I used Disk Management to shrink the partition to 238GB, freeing 237GB. Then I restored the sys files (hiberfil, pagefile, swapfile), and everything worked fine.
(2) Back in Disk Management, I divided that unallocated space in half, giving the second half of that space to a User Data volume (assigned D:). [I used the second half of the unallocated space in order to leave space between the Windows partition and the Data partition (to simplify expanding either one, as needed, into the unallocated space). Later I learned that using the second half -- leaving space between the Windows and Data partitions -- was a mistake.]
(3) Then in Explorer, I made folders at the root of the new D: drive for each user (2 users plus Admin), plus Public. Then I went to C:\Users, and for each user went to the folders of interest (Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Music/Pictures/Video), selected Properties from the context menu, and used the Location tab to change the folder location from C:\Users\<user>\<folder> to D:<user>\<folder>.
Again everything worked fine; it was almost exactly what I wanted. The qualm was that the new Data drive had little spare room. No problem, I thought: that's why you left space between the Windows and Data partitions. Wrong.
(4) I learned that Disk Management will only expand a volume into unallocated space following the partition, not preceding it. So I assigned that unallocated space as new volume N: (to be later reassigned as D: after the previous D: was no longer needed).
(5) Then in Explorer, I made folders at the root of the new N: drive for each user. Then I went to D:, and for each user went to the data folders (Desktop/Documents/Downloads/Music/Pictures/Video), again selected Properties from the context menu, and used the Location tab to change the folder location from D:\<user>\<folder> to N:<user>\<folder>. Everything looked fine: now D: was empty, with everything relocated to N:. I just needed to remove volume D:, then change the drive letter to the new Data drive N: to D: (or so it seemed).
Unfortunately, at that point I did not check that everything was working fine (that is, with applications finding the data files), as I had previously. I had already spent more time on this than anticipated, and the previous steps all checked out. This was (or seemed to be) only a repeat of step 3, so what could go wrong? Now I wish I had checked, because I don't know if the problem occurred in step 5 or 6.
(6) In Disk Management, I removed the D: volume. It asked if I was sure, warning that D: was still in use. But I knew D: was empty, so said go ahead. Then I changed the drive letter of N: to D:, expanded the partition, and had a new larger Data drive.
So I went back to work... except that applications could no longer find the documents and other data files. And, on restart, the desktop was missing.
The <user> folders were all still there on the (new) D: drive, but were dissociated from the Windows drive and its applications. Something else was different about the folders on the (new) D: drive: unlike on the earlier D: drive, the folders no longer had a Location property tab. The <user> data folders were missing from C:\Users\<user> (that had happened with the initial change of Location), but the new folder locations just seemed to be lost.
How can I fix this?
Continue reading...