Why NOT move the My Documents folder?

[Frank]

Moving the My Documents folder (and my other data) to a separate
partition seems like a good idea. Doing so would make life a lot
easier if I ever had to do a clean install of Windows XP. Are there
any drawbacks to moving My Documents?

 

[Taha Tungekar]

Moving the My Documents folder (and my other data) to a separate
partition seems like a good idea. Doing so would make life a lot
easier if I ever had to do a clean install of Windows XP. Are there
any drawbacks to moving My Documents?

Hi Frank,

You are right, moving the My Document folder is a good idea.
Drawbacks? Well that depends on how you try to move the My Documents
folder. I did it using the TweakUI Power Toy, and I haven't faced any
problem as yet. I would suggest that you use this tool as well. If
possible, I would also advise you to move your 'Favorites' and 'My
Pictures' Folder if you use them (you can do this using the TweakUI
PowerToy).

Hope this helps.

-Taha Tungekar

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Moving the My Documents folder (and my other data) to a separate
partition seems like a good idea. Doing so would make life a lot
easier if I ever had to do a clean install of Windows XP. Are there
any drawbacks to moving My Documents?

No drawbacks, and it can be a good idea, but I disagree with the reason you
cite for doing it.

That reason implies that you don't have an external backup of your
documents. To me, if your data is important to you, it always needs to be
backed up, and if it is backed up and you ever have to reinstall the
operating system, you simply restore the data from the backup, even if it's
not on a separate partition. In fact, I think that many people who do as you
suggest get a false sense of security from it and have that kind of
separation *instead* of a backup, thinking that it takes away the need for
a backup. In fact, that's not at all true of course, since things like a
hard drive crash, severe power glitch, nearby lightning strike, virus
attack, user error, and theft of the computer can easily destroy everything.

To me the best reason for keeping your data on a partition separate from the
operating system system is to facilitate data backup. If you back up only
data, rather than image the entire drive, with most backup programs, it's
easier to do it if the data is on a separate partition.

 

[Frank]

No drawbacks, and it can be a good idea, but I disagree with the reason you
cite for doing it.

That reason implies that you don't have an external backup of your
documents. To me, if your data is important to you, it always needs to be
backed up, and if it is backed up and you ever have to reinstall the
operating system, you simply restore the data from the backup, even if it's
not on a separate partition. In fact, I think that many people who do as you
suggest get a false sense of security from it and have that kind of
separation *instead* of a backup, thinking that it takes away the need for
a backup. In fact, that's not at all true of course, since things like a
hard drive crash, severe power glitch, nearby lightning strike, virus
attack, user error, and theft of the computer can easily destroy everything.

To me the best reason for keeping your data on a partition separate from the
operating system system is to facilitate data backup. If you back up only
data, rather than image the entire drive, with most backup programs, it's
easier to do it if the data is on a separate partition.

For backups, I have a second internal hard drive and two external hard
drives. I use Norton Ghost for daily imaging of my entire hd, and
Synchback for daily file copying of new or changed files. So I always
have two current backups: a complete image of my entire C drive and a
separate, complete file copy of all of my data. Every so often, I
swap one external hd for the other, which I store off site. I am
trying to be careful so please, if you see a weakness in this
strategy, tell me.

As far as moving My Documents, I know that I can do this by right-
clicking on My Documents and using the Move button. Does TweakUI do
something that the Move button does not do?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On Feb 3, 3:57 pm, "Ken Blake, MVP" <[email protected]>
wrote:

For backups, I have a second internal hard drive and two external hard
drives. I use Norton Ghost for daily imaging of my entire hd, and
Synchback for daily file copying of new or changed files. So I always
have two current backups: a complete image of my entire C drive and a
separate, complete file copy of all of my data. Every so often, I
swap one external hd for the other, which I store off site. I am
trying to be careful so please, if you see a weakness in this
strategy, tell me.

No, that sounds fine. But with all that backup, I wonder why you feel that
having your data on a separte partition "would make life a lot easier if I
ever had to do a clean install of Windows XP." Since you could readily
retrieve all your data from an external backup, what benefit does the second
partition provide if you reinstall Windows?

And since your backups are image backups, rather than just data backups, in
your case, I don't see any compelling reason for separating data on a
separate partition at all.

 

[Frank]

No, that sounds fine. But with all that backup, I wonder why you feel that
having your data on a separte partition "would make life a lot easier if I
ever had to do a clean install of Windows XP." Since you could readily
retrieve all your data from an external backup, what benefit does the second
partition provide if you reinstall Windows?

And since your backups are image backups, rather than just data backups, in
your case, I don't see any compelling reason for separating data on a
separate partition at all.

With My Documents on a different partition, a reinstall wouldn't
affect it. There would be no need to "retrieve" it because it would
still be there.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

With My Documents on a different partition, a reinstall wouldn't
affect it. There would be no need to "retrieve" it because it would
still be there.

And you call that "making life a lot easier"?

OK, your choice, of course. I think that that's such a tiny advatage that I
wouldn't even consider doing it for that reason. But it's your computer, not
mine.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

For backups, I have a second internal hard drive and two external hard
drives. I use Norton Ghost for daily imaging of my entire hd, and
Synchback for daily file copying of new or changed files. So I always
have two current backups: a complete image of my entire C drive and a
separate, complete file copy of all of my data. Every so often, I
swap one external hd for the other, which I store off site. I am
trying to be careful so please, if you see a weakness in this
strategy, tell me.

The "weakness" is in your being obsessed with backups and apparently
not trusting them.

With the backups you describe, there should NEVER be a need for a
clean install. NEVER.