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I'm setting up a new rig dual booting Linux and Windows with an SSD + HDD filesystem. I have Linux set up how I want:

Under Linux:

  • / is a partition on the SSD.
  • /home is a partition on the SSD.
  • /var is a partition on the HDD.
  • /mnt/data is a partition on the HDD. I'll call this the data partition.

~/Downloads, ~/Documents, ~/Pictures, ~/Videos, etc, are directories mounted from corresponding directories on the data partition.

What I want to do is map the Windows 7 user sub-directories to the corresponding directories on the data partition.

Essentially I want to symlink C:\User\me\Downloads to D:\Downloads.

What's the best way to go about relocating these directories to another drive?

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  • I would prefer to keep Users on the SSD. I'm not sure if there is any advantage to this, I'm under the assumption that user specific files are kept in C:\Users (config, some games files, etc). Any programs that require user-specific files would benefit from increased read performance. Am I wrong in assuming that user-specific files are stored in C:\Users in the same way that Linux uses ~?
    – Emma
    Jan 11, 2012 at 13:28
  • The assumption is correct. I pointed that out because it's almost the same as what's required from you, except that instead of all folders under \users, you want to move only specific ones.
    – Sathyajith Bhat
    Jan 11, 2012 at 13:30

3 Answers 3

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I think you can remove downloads folder in c:/users/$USERNAME and replace it with a windows link (.lnk) file leading to wherever you want.

It did work for me with My pictures as far as I recall.

Also, you can notice that folders in your documents folders (e.g. My music, My pictures, My videos) are already links leading to another folders living in your user folder.

That is why I think it should work.

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  • No it won't work. Shortcuts only work within Windows Shell. If any application tries to access c:\users\%USERNAME% via CreateFile or any other file-based API, it'll not find the entry with .lnk after %USERNAME%.
    – Ruslan
    Aug 8, 2014 at 18:29
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In the properties of C:\User\me\Downloads (right-click / Properties in explorer) there should be a tab called Location (German: Pfad) where you can move the location of the folder. I would recommend renaming the target location first and moving the contents back at the end as I'm not sure what Windows does if the target location exists.

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  • Actually it's Location in English. Aug 8, 2014 at 20:59
  • Thank you for pointing that out. I thought of writing Location but I went with Path as it is a more direct translation.
    – Scz
    Aug 8, 2014 at 21:01
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if You want to make such link transparent for whole filesystem, then use ntfs junction point http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_junction_point I have successfully remapped my Documents folder to another partition.

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