Moving the default location of your My Documents or My Pictures folder is something that is not really necessary for most people, but does add an additional barrier of safety for your data by getting it off of the root drive. If the root drive fails, you run the risk of losing that date. For instance, if you have a spare hard drive and install it inside of your computer, you can create a new My Documents folder on that drive and change the current My Documents folder’s target to reflect the new change. In theory, if your C: drive crashes, you do not lose the data when you need to reinstall.
Note: This does NOT mean you still do not have to backup that data. Even though it’s in a new place, you still need to have a second copy locally and a third copy on the Internet (On services like Carbonite, Skydrive, GMail, etc).
To change the target location of you My Documents folder, just right-click the folder and select Properties. You can type in the new target or click Move to browse to the new location. You should create the new My Documents folder in advance before you attempt this. Once done, you should test to make sure documents are going into the new location and not the old one located on the C: drive. Once you confirm this, create a backup then you can remove or leave the old location and begin using the new location.
For more information about moving your folders, or any questions regarding your computer, be sure to visit us on our computer forums today!
