Moving AppData (or contents of) from SSD to HDD to save space

Hi,

I've recently completed a custom build computer with an SSD drive and an HDD drive. I've bought Windows 8, installed it used it for a few days and upgraded to Windows 8.1.

I've moved the location of My Documents, Videos, Music etc to my HDD (F:\) to save space on the SSD (C:\ where Windows is installed) but AppData is still taking up a huge amount of space.

Searching on the Microsoft Community it doesn't look like I can move AppData.

For software like Spotify I can change the settings to make sure that files are saved to F:\, but what about other applications (like Windows Apps) or whatever else is in the AppData folder? How can I move the contents of AppData to a different drive?

I'm trying to save space on my SSD - can I set it up automatically so that everything going into AppData goes to the F:\ drive (and is subsequently read from there)? If not, what is safe to move and how can it be moved?

Any help on minimising the size (or changing the location) of AppData would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

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Answer

a___WHAT___

Follow this tutorial to make a symbolic link to your new appdata file. It might be complicated to move the file because it will be in use. but i succeeded with all but one folder.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/

be warned that this will make your computer a little slower as a lot of programs use the data in this folder. I would suggest using this symbolic link tutorial to move different files (such as big program installs) to your HDD

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Answer

John Rubdy

Hi Chris,

Unfortunately you cannot move AppData folder to another drive. Moving AppData folder to another drive might cause system stability.

AppData or Application data is a hidden folder in Windows 8/8.1. It is to protect user data and settings from any unwanted change or deletion. It contains many important data such as program settings, IE cookies, toolbar settings, IE browsing history, temporary files created by applications, Libraries, send to items, templates and many more.

By default Windows 8 stores all apps in a folder "WindowsApps" present in "Program Files" folder. To access this folder. You need to unhide the system folders and take the permission of the folder to view installed apps.

Moving WindowsApps folder to another drive is also not recommended. If you move this folder the apps won't get updated or might not function normally.

If you want more disk space on computer you can use Disk Cleanup to remove unnecessary files on your drives.

Delete files using Disk Cleanup

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/delete-files-using-disk-cleanup#delete-files-using-disk-cleanup=windows-8

Hope this information helps. If you need further assistance with Windows, let us know and will be glad to help.

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Moving AppData (or contents of) from SSD to HDD to save space

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Moving AppData (or contents of) from SSD to HDD to save space

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Question Info

Replies (37)