How to transfer the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders.
In this very important and useful article I’ll tell you how to transfer the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders from the system drive to another drive and why it is generally advisable for all users to do this immediately after installing the operating system Windows systems.
Actually carry out the transfer of these system folders very simple and easy, it is much more important to understand why it is desirable to do this. My task in this article is to convince you of the feasibility of this operation and its necessity.
Why move system folders
Here are a few reasons why I strongly recommend that you move your My Documents, Downloads, and Desktop folders from system disk on the other...
The first reason is that their content very quickly and heavily fills the “C” drive with secondary files, which slows down the system over time...
The fact is that for normal, fast operation of the Windows operating system 10% free space required on your disk.
Majority computer programs By default, they shove the fruits of their work into the “My Documents” folder. For example, photo and video editors. No, the system, of course, asks where to save the file, but usually users, simply out of laziness, immediately press “Ok” agreeing to the default location.
All browsers by default save files you download from the Internet to the “Downloads” folder, which is located on the system drive.
In general, everything is very bad with the “Desktop” folder. For many years, I have not been able to convince at least one user (even my own wife) to refuse to place films and photo albums on the desktop. And this is understandable - it’s just more convenient for everyone.
Maybe someone didn’t know that when you “throw” a film of several gigabytes in size onto the desktop, among the shortcuts, you thereby place it in the “Desktop” folder, which is “mounted” in the system drive?
The second reason is that after your operating system suddenly quietly dies from abuse, it will take all your downloads, projects, saved programs and games to the land of cartoons...
If you transfer the “My Documents”, “Downloads” and “Desktop” folders to another drive, all your documents and files will truly become YOUR documents and files. After reinstalling the system, they will remain the most alive.
The third reason will be useful to owners of SSD drives. By transferring these folders, you will extend the life of your favorite hustler.
How to install a second Windows on another disk partition from a running first Windows? So as not to languish while waiting for it to load installation media, while they are copied from it to the hard drive system files, installation second Windows can be simplified using free program WinNTSetup.
1. About WinNTSetup
WinNTSetup is a small program designed for a narrow range of tasks: it allows you to install Windows in a simplified mode on other partitions and hard drives of the computer, as well as on virtual VHDs. As additional features programs - a small selection of tweaks for the installed system and the ability to integrate your own drivers. If in the normal case WinNTSetup only saves time on installing a second operating system, then for cases when there is neither a DVD drive nor a flash drive, this is also optimal solution problems.
Everything you need for Windows installations to another disk partition from a running current system - this is the downloaded ISO image Windows distribution and, in fact, the WinNTSetup program itself. WinNTSetup works on this principle: certain parameters are set in its window, after which the process of installing the system in background. At the same time, you can continue to work with the computer as if background tasks were being performed by any other minimized program. Once the process of installing Windows on the second disk partition is complete, all that remains to be done is normal mode, having just booted from installed Windows– go through the final stages of the installation process: wait for the drivers to install, set the region, keyboard layout and other parameters, create a local profile or connect account Microsoft. Let's look at all this in more detail.
First of all, of course, you need to make a backup of your current Windows. Not so much for its own sake, but for the sake of the boot sector, where, naturally, during the installation of the second system, changes will be made to another partition of the disk. Availability of emergency bootable media A disk with a backup program is welcome.
2. Download WinNTSetup
You can download WinNTSetup from its official website. This portable program, which does not require installation into the system. After launch, you immediately need to agree to download some data.
3. Connecting an ISO image of a Windows distribution
WinNTSetup takes installation files for the second Windows either from the installation DVD in the drive or from an ISO image downloaded from the Internet. The downloaded ISO image must be mounted in virtual drive. In Windows 8.1 and 10 systems, this is done normally using the “Connect” option in context menu on an ISO image.
In Windows 7, to mount ISO images you must use third party programs type Daemon Tools.
4. Installing Windows on another disk partition
WinNTSetup will launch with the installation tab active Windows versions, starting with Vista. In the first item of the program window, you need to specify the path to either the instal.wim file or install.esd as part of the Windows distribution. Depending on Windows builds its distribution will contain an “install” file with either one or another extension. Click the “Select” button.
And indicate the path to the file, it is located on installation disk in the "sources" folder.
The second item in the WinNTSetup window specifies the disk partition that will serve as the boot sector of the Windows installation. In Windows 8.1 and 10, a certain partition Z is specified by default. As partition Z, WinNTSetup defines a small technical partition (350-500 MB) of these versions of Windows called “System Reserved”.
There is no need to change anything here.
In Windows 7, this item will default to drive C, since in this version boot sector located on the same partition along with the operating system itself. And in this case, too, we do not change the presets, we leave drive C.
We go down to the next item and use the “Select” button to indicate the very second hard section disk where we are going to install the second Windows.
If selected for the second Windows partition the disk has not been previously formatted, this can be done without leaving the WinNTSetup window. When you press the “F” button, the standard function of formatting disk partitions will start.
Basic information about the system being installed has been entered; now you can begin to start the installation process. But before you click the button at the bottom of the “Install” window, you can delve into the program settings. In the lower block of the window, the path to your drivers is indicated and tweaks are applied to the installed system.
After clicking the “Install” button, we additionally confirm the start of the Windows installation process on the second disk partition by clicking “Ok”.
After which you can minimize the program window and go about your business. WinNTSetup will notify you of the completion of the operation with the following notification.
This means that the launch of only installed Windows will begin during the preparation of the operating system for deployment. After the computer restarts, we will be greeted by a bootloader menu with a choice of operating systems to launch. We select, accordingly, the newly installed Windows. And we go through the steps of Windows deployment - specifying regional data, keyboard layout, network settings, creating an account, etc.
5. Installing Windows on another hard drive
The process of installing a second Windows on another hard drive is a little more complicated, since for Windows 8.1 and 10 systems you will have to manually create a separate partition for the bootloader. For Windows 7, you just need to make active the partition of another disk on which you plan to install the system. Launch the standard disk management utility by pressing the +R keys and enter:
If the other hard drive is unpartitioned, we create partitions on it. On the first section, call up the context menu and click “Make section active”.
We make sure that the section is active, remember its letter.
In the WinNTSetup window, specify the path to installation file, as shown in the previous paragraph of the article. And as the bootloader partition and the partition of Windows 7 itself, we indicate the prepared active section. And we start the installation process.
For Windows 8.1 and 10, you need to prepare both the system partition and the bootloader partition - the same technical partition that is not displayed in the system explorer, but in managers disk space is listed as the “System Reserved” section. If the first section of another hard drive has already been formed, it needs to be deleted and a new one created in its place. In the context menu on the unallocated space of the remote partition, select “Create a simple volume”.
We go through the steps of the wizard, specifying at the stage of determining the partition size for the installed Windows 8.1 - 350 MB, and for Windows 10 - 500 MB.
From the remaining unallocated space we form a partition for the system.
We carefully check that the first small section is active, and remember the letters of both sections.
In the WinNTSetup window we indicate the newly prepared partitions: in the second paragraph - a small partition, in the third - a partition of the system itself. And we start the installation process.
After WinNTSetup completes its work, you need to restart the computer, enter the BIOS, set the boot priority, respectively, from another hard drive and go through the Windows deployment steps.
Have a great day!
When replacing an HDD or transferring a system from one computer to another, you need to know how to transfer to another drive or SSD. This is done so as not to install Windows from scratch, but simply make a copy from the old media and continue to use it.
You can transfer Windows 10 in various ways, but they are all quite similar and differ, perhaps, in the programs with which we copy Windows to another hard drive or SSD.
You can transfer the OS to an SSD or HDD, regular optical disk or a flash drive with a large amount of memory. In this case, the technique will remain the same, only it may take more time.
We transfer using standard Windows tools
Already exist on Windows 7/8/10 standard means, allowing you to transfer the system to a third-party hard drive. Therefore, if you do not want to install or buy additional software, you can do this procedure using these tools.
To create a copy, you will need two drives, one of which will be used as an image location, and the second as a means for system recovery. Typically, the role of the first is played by an HDD or SSD, and the role of the second is played by a regular flash drive, which will first need to be formatted.
- Open the Control Panel and find the “Backup and Restore” item there.
- Then select “Create a system image”.
- We indicate the connected hard drive or SSD we have selected.
- We wait until the creation of the image is completed.
- Select “Create a system recovery disk” and specify the flash drive there.
All. The system has been successfully transferred to a hard drive or SSD.
AOMEI Backupper Standard
You can also transfer Windows 10 to new media using AOMEI Backupper Standard. It is absolutely free and easily performs this function. The process of creating a copy again consists of two stages: creating, directly, a Windows 10 system image and creating a boot disk.
- Install the AOMEI Backupper Standard program.
- Launch and select the “Create Bootable Media” section in the “Utilities” tab.
Create Bootable Media section
- Select the second media type (WindowsPE).
- Then we indicate which media will perform this function. It is worth remembering that the flash drive must be formatted, since all information from it will be deleted during the creation of the media.
- Open the “Backup” section and select “System bacup”.
- Next, in the first paragraph, we indicate the disk that currently contains Windows 10; usually the program determines it itself.
- In the second paragraph, we indicate the HDD, flash drive, SSD to which the system will be copied.
- Click the “Start” button at the bottom.
The system image on another device and the installer for it are ready. For storage Windows image 10, you can use any media, but it is better if they are devices that use a USB channel, since transferring data via USB will be faster than to an optical disk. In general, the speed depends on parameters such as the amount of data being transferred, the speed of the USB port or optical drive.
After this, you can restore the system to the SSD or hard drive with which you replaced a similar old computer device. To do this:
- Launch the bootable media.
- The program window appears, select the “Restore” section.
- Using the “Patch” button we set the path to the system copy.
- Click “Yes” and then “Next”.
- Next, select the media on which the system will be deployed.
- We check the data and click “Start”.
So, now we have completely transferred Windows 10 to another hard drive or SSD, which replaced the previous one.
Acronics True Image is one of the most common applications that perform this task. The developers also tried to make porting Windows as simple as possible. The program, unlike the previous one, supports the Russian language.
- Install and launch Acronics True Image.
- Select the section regarding disk cloning.
- Place a marker next to the automatic mode.
- Select the source disk.
Acronics True Image will commit full cloning, after which the HDD will contain a copy of the entire system, which can be installed. Cloning usually takes 30–40 minutes, sometimes a little more, depending on the power of the PC itself.
In addition to these programs, there are many more offering to perform a similar procedure. As a rule, all these processes are performed in them at the same time, and the availability for the user is approximately the same. However, most of these utilities or programs are paid, since they can perform a lot of other actions that are of little interest to us.
Transfer to another computer
Transferring from one drive to another is much easier than transferring to another computer. In this case, inconsistencies may appear or the operation will end in failure. To prevent this from happening, it is important to know the features of such a transfer.
Firstly, it is worth removing your antivirus and image mounting programs (DaemonTools, Alcohol 120%) before you plan to make a copy, as it may interfere with recovery on the new computer. And secondly, use special utility to move Windows 10.
If you want to transfer the system to another computer using an old hard drive without replacing it later, then it will be even easier to do all this. If you want to use another HDD or SSD, then after completing the algorithm given below, you may also have to perform the algorithms that were described at the beginning of the article.
- Opening Command line on behalf of the administrator,
C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe
- Enter: “C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe”,
- Starts Sysprep utility. She will prepare Windu for movement.
- Check the box next to “Prepare for use”, “Shut down” and “Go to the system welcome window (OOBE)”.
- Disconnect the hard drive and mount it in new computer.
- We go through standard and easy procedures for registering a new user.
That's it, now Windows 10 is present in the previous configuration with all the files on the new computer.
Some utilities allow you to immediately mount the HDD or SSD containing the system, without encountering errors when transferring Windows. You will only be required to enter license key product, then you can start using the old data.
We can conclude that there is nothing complicated either in transferring Windows from computer to computer, or in copying it to third-party media, be it a hard drive or SSD. You can do this yourself, without the help of professionals. The main thing is to strictly follow the instructions given above.
Today I want to talk to you about such a thing as physical transferring hard disk to another computer. Why might this be necessary? Let's imagine a couple of real situations that occur regularly (take my word for it) in organizations with a large number computers.
There is also a situation when a hard drive has to be transferred due to the fact that the user needs to install a new (or not new, but more powerful) computer, but he has so many specific and difficult to configure installed software, that it is easier to try to transfer the old hard drive to a new configuration than to reinstall the OS and configure all the programs.
At home, the method described below can be used if necessary. replacing motherboard without Windows reinstallation . Although, as a rule, the issue here is resolved by a banal reinstallation of the system, exceptions to the rules are possible here too :)
Transferring a hard drive (while maintaining the functionality of the OS and application programs) to a different hardware configuration, the task is not entirely trivial. Now I will explain why. Do you remember that we had an article on our website dedicated to? In it we looked at various standards and drive connections implemented using control cards called “controllers.”
For these controllers themselves, the operating system installs drivers to interact with them. Moreover, this interaction takes place between two controllers: one controller hard drives on the motherboard side, which is part of its system logic (chipset) and the second, located as a separate board (on HDD disk) and - microcircuits in solid state.
And now, imagine that we take and “pull out” the drive from its “familiar” environment, transferring the hard drive to another computer (another motherboard, another chipset). The operating system installed on it “remembers” what set of system logic was on the previous board and has drivers installed for it. And if we simply move the hard drive to another computer, then there is a very high probability that the OS will not be able to boot there (without detecting the “expected” hard drive controller drivers). She doesn’t know how to set them up on the fly.
It is for this reason that transferring a hard drive to another computer is not as simple a task as it might seem at first glance!
So, let's return to our poor user, who was unlucky or "lucky" to get a new computer :) In fact, it doesn't matter to him what and how exactly we do with his PC, but he needs it quickly and with all the data saved and working software!
Let's look at what options do we have here (as a responsible employee of the IT department)?
- search (followed by replacement) with absolutely identical
- hook the user up to another (spare) computer and give it back
- reinstall the OS, transfer user data and configure programs
Let's briefly look at each option separately. The first one is hardly suitable for us for the reason that the motherboard may no longer be produced by the manufacturer and may be obsolete (there is simply nowhere to buy it as a replacement). If you have a fleet of relatively old computers, this is a very likely situation, but going and looking for it in some “breakdowns” and radio markets... well, you know, it’s not kosher :)
Option number two, for all its simplicity, has a big pitfall, which we discussed above (there is a very high probability that the transferred OS simply will not boot on another motherboard). Although there may be exceptions here (they come into force if the hardware configurations are similar or the motherboards are from the same manufacturer and have similar sets of system logic). It's called: oops, lucky! Usually, as you understand, it happens the other way around :)
The third option is not an option at all :) Especially if everything needs to be done quickly (and this usually happens in emergency situations), and all these client banks with digital signatures reconfigure - brrrrrr...
So, whether we like it or not, we have one option left - transferring a hard drive to another computer. But this migration must be prepared, otherwise nothing will work!
I propose now to carry out a similar procedure in practice and see what comes out of it?
Note: I recommend that you carry out similar settings on all computers in your organization at once after Windows installations and to placement of the PC at the user's workplace. This can greatly simplify your life in the future. After all, you don’t know what and when can happen to the equipment during its operation?
So, we have a task: quickly transfer a hard drive from one computer to another and give the “new” one to the user.
We have two computers. One (from which we will transfer the hard drive), let's call it "Workstation01". Here is a screenshot with information about him that is important for us, taken from the “” program.
On it we see the model and manufacturer of the motherboard, as well as the version and manufacturer of the chipset (Intel I845G), in which the hard drive controller is located.
And here is another computer screenshot, to which we will transfer our disk:
As we see, this is - motherboard DFI company, running on the SIS 650 chipset. We have two fundamentally different configurations.
Here are two more screenshots that show us the differences in controllers and, as a result, drivers motherboards installed under them.
Samsung hard drive (with a driver for the controller board located on it) and an Intel 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage controller (with a driver for it), located in the motherboard chipset.
And here is our second computer “Workstation02”:
We see here a Seagate hard drive and a controller on the board from SIS. That's the whole problem!
To begin with, let's try to transfer the hard drive by simply unscrewing it from the first computer (with a controller from Intel) and connecting it to the second (with a set of system logic from SIS). Maybe it'll go for a ride? In my case, it didn’t work :) Instead of loading and the Windows logo, I got a black screen with a blinking cursor at the top left. It all ended there.
If you think about it, this is logical. The operating system transferred to the hard drive “remembers” all the drivers installed in it for the previous computer, but it simply has nowhere to get others (for the new hardware).
Good afternoon, please tell mehow to transfer Windows to another hard drivewithout reinstalling the operating system. I’ll explain my situation: My Windows 8 is located on an old “badass” hard drive with a capacity of 250 GB, divided into 2 sections. Is it possible to move the system with all installed programs to a new hard drive with a capacity of 400 GB, but unfortunately it is not empty, it already contains one partition with 100 GB of data and nothing should happen to it. Alexander.
Hello friends. Let's help our reader and me at the same time! I also have an old hard drive Maxstor 250 GB with Windows 8.1 installed and I have long wanted to transfer it to another hard drive Samsung (400 GB capacity), this hard drive also has files. By the way, if you transfer the operating system, it’s better to transfer it to , that’s where everything will work faster for you.
We will work with you using Acronis True Image programs and we will also need Acronis Disk Director. The operating system in our case can be any, for example Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10. The entire transfer process is described in our article step by step and I think you will succeed.
You may also find our other articles on this topic useful:
- A similar article, only the tool used is Cloning. .
- A very simple article where we do the same thing using the free AOMEI program Partition Assistant, I recommend it to all novice users -
- If you have a laptop, then perhaps these articles will be useful to you .
- If you are interested in the article, visit the special section where you can find from one storage device to another.
Disk Management window
So, we have two hard drives:
Disk 0. Hard Samsung drive (volume 400 GB) with one partition. Everything is clear with this disk, there is one partition on it and there are 100 GB of data, with which nothing should happen. We will transfer the operating system to it from the Maxstor hard drive or Disk 1.
Disc 1. Maxstor hard drive 250 GB with three partitions.
The first partition is hidden and does not have a letter, it is called System Reserved, the volume is 350 MB, the main purpose of the hidden partition is to store files Windows boot 7 or Windows 8. We will move it. When transferring operating systems, this section with Windows boot files must be included in the backup.
The second partition under the letter (C:) has a capacity of 105.00 GB and has the Windows 8.1 operating system installed on it. We will also reschedule.
The third partition under the letter (D:) has a capacity of 127.00 GB with user data. We won't reschedule.
Acronis Disk Director
First of all, let's boot from boot disk or bootable flash driveAcronis Disk Director and separate it from the hard drive Samsung (volume 400 GB) 130 GB space specifically forWindows 8.1, which we will transfer to it from Maxstor.
Select with the left mouse the space of the Samsung hard drive (volume 400 GB) and select Resize volume
We grab the delimiter with the mouse and drag it from left to right, thereby “biting off” 130 GB of space from the Samsung hard drive for the future operating system. free up unallocated space 130 GB required at the beginning volumes . At the bottom of the window we see the future state of the partitions on the hard drive. Click OK.
Program Acronis Disk Director works in deferred operation mode. For our plans to come true, we need to press a button Apply
Continue
The first task is completed. On the Samsung disk, using Acronis Disk Director, we created 130 GB of unallocated space for the future Windows 8.1.
Acronis True Image
Creating a backup
Now we are working with the Acronis True Image program. In this program, we need to create a backup of the Windows 8.1 operating system located on the Maxtor hard drive and deploy this backup to unallocated Samsung disk space.
We also boot the computer from the boot disk Acronis True Image. In the initial window of the program, select
Backup. Disks.
Window Archived sections.
In this window we need to select Disc 1 sections for archiving.
In the window that appears, we see three disks:
Disc 1. Bootable USB flash drive with Acronis True Image program.
Disc 2. Samsung hard drive 400 GB , to which we will transfer Windows 8.1.
Disc 3. Maxtor hard drive250 GB(from which we are transferring Windows 8.1). To include it in the backup, check the hidden partition System Reserved, volume 350 MB, the main purpose of the hidden partition is to store Windows 7 or Windows 8 boot files. When transferring operating systems, this partition with Windows boot files must be included in the backup. Acronis assigned it a drive (G:), this partition does not have a letter in the operating system itself and can only be seen in Disk Management.
We also note the section with the Windows 8.1 operating system itself, here it has the letter (C:). You may have a different letter. We focus on the volume volume. Next.
Review
Here we select a Samsung disk under the letter (F:) for storing the future backup with a capacity of 400 GB on the left side of the window, the files on it are displayed on the right side.
Get started
A backup of Windows 8.1 is being created on the only existing partition of the Samsung hard drive.
Turn off the computer and disconnect the old hard drive Maxstor 250 GB and leave one hard drive in the system Samsung, you definitely need to do this! After transferring the operating system, the Maxstor hard drive can be reconnected.
Acronis True Image
Deploying a Windows 8.1 backup to your hard drive Samsung
Now at system unit there is one Samsung hard drive (400 GB capacity), on this hard drive there is one partition with data and it is on this partition that there is a backup with Windows 8.1, also at the beginning of this partition an unallocated space has been created, it is on this space that we will deploy the backup with the operating system .
Again, boot from the Acronis True Image boot disk and select Recovery. Disks. Files and folders.
We find our backup on the partition (C:) of the Samsung hard drive. Select it with the left mouse once and click OK
Click on the button New storage
Celebrating Unallocated space on our Samsung hard drive and click on the Accept button
Click on the button again New storage
Click on again Unallocated spaceAnd Accept
Select the target disk for MBR recovery
. We mark Disk 2 Samsung (capacity 400 GB). Check the box Recover disk signature And Next. Get started Program Acronis True Image deploys a backup of the Windows 8.1 operating system to the unallocated space of the Samsung hard drive that we created in advance. Essentially, the operating system is transferred to another hard drive.
OK and reboot the computer.
Friends, if you still have connected ones in your system unit hard drives, but you need to enter the boot menu of your computer and select the hard drive to which you transferred Windows, in my case, it is a Samsung hard drive.
After loading, go to Disk Management and see this picture.
1. A hidden partition without the letter System Reserved, volume 350 MB with Windows 8.1 download files, was transferred to the Samsung hard drive.
2. Windows 8.1 itself has also been transferred and is located under the letter (C:).
3. Nothing bad happened with 100 GB files, only with this section.
4. There is still an unallocated area and we will attach it to the drive (C:).
That's it
Now you can connect your old hard drive to your computer Maxstor and you will find our article useful -
