* Follow user instructions on file locations

[Keithj]

My computer has an old and delicate but very fast solid state drive as the boot drive C.

Because of its age and small size, I do not use it for data storage, only for the boot system and a few selected files.

When I installed the trial version of FH6, I told it to put all its "stuff" on drive D, in a folder called "FH6". It did, and it left it there for the trial. When I paid the registration fee and picked up the latest version of the GED file from Legacy, it ignored that instruction and copied everything over to the SSD, deep in the subfolders of C:\Users. It didn't ask, or suggest - just did it. Why, oh why, would it not put stuff where I'd told it to?

I've moved the files to Drive D, and set up a symlink to stop it doing that again. I shouldn't have needed to.

[tatewise]

Hi Keith, welcome to the FHUG.
I have moved this to the General Usage Forum to see if we can advise on a solution before proceeding with a Wish List entry.

You told FH V6 Trial to put its "stuff" on drive D. There is a lot of FH "stuff" in different folder locations.
So are you talking about the installation files that by default reside in C:\Program Files (x86)\... and C:\ProgramData\...?
Or are you talking about your Project data that by default resides in C:\Users\{username}\Documents\Family Historian Projects\...?

If the latter, then I presume you used the File > Project Window > Location feature to change the default?
Or did you only set the Tools > Preferences > Startup > Default Startup File?

When you bought the licence I presume you installed the FH V6 licensed copy over the FH V6 Trial.
It might be the case that the re-installation reset the File > Project Window > Location back to the default.

If that setting is checked after each major upgrade, then all should be OK.
When importing the Legacy GEDCOM you would have navigated through the File > Project Window so that would have been a good time to eyeball the Location setting, especially since you had set yours to a different value to the default.

[Keithj]

Yes indeed, Mike. The trial version was very well behaved, and installed where I told it - D:\FH6. There is nothing at all from FH6 (still) in C:\Program Data or C:\Program Files (x86). The trial version put the .GED, media and related stuff in D:\FH6\Family Historian Projects as instructed. The software went into D:\FH6\Program and is still there.

I didn't reinstall FH6 - I followed the on-screen instructions to "Purchase", and simply entered the registration code into the trial version.

I then made new .GED and Media files (to pick up a couple of hundred updates from the "trial" version) and put those into D:\FH6\New and told it to refer to those. It chose to move them to C:\Users\Keith\Documents\Family Historian Projects - I didn't spot on the screen that it was intending to do that, but I soon found out!

It's curious that most of the software I use understands when it's told "default file location" and sticks to that. FTM, Legacy, and now FH6 have all wandered off at some stage and created their own new directories in C:\Users\Keith\Documents - even though that folder doesn't exist until they create it. I think the next time I'll leave the Documents folder there and set up a symlink from it to somewhere like I:\Naughty Software.

What I should really do is buy a new, bigger, more tolerant SSD but it's a faff to change over, and the existing one works brilliantly (until recalcitrant software fills it up).

Yes, the default startup file is now D:\FH6\Family Historian Projects - as indeed it was before I entered the registration code. It seems that either the act of registering, or the "Import GEDCOM File" option (which worked in so far as it picked up the new file) also overwrites the default file instructions. It doesn't even use the location the imported file is coming from. A couple of minutes work with a very old text editor in the .GED file sorted it.

Job done, but my SSD has lost another of its lives in the process.

[johnmorrisoniom]

It would be easier to"Move" the My Documents folder to a location on your D Drive (This is what I have done), then softawre will use that as the preferred default location for the data files.

[tatewise]

I understand most of your explanation, but there are a few points that I need to clarify.

Installation Program Files.
FH installs two products: FH itself and the Nova PDF Printer.
The default folders are as follows (except on 32-bit PC where the C:\Program Files\ folder is used instead):
C:\Program Files (x86)\Family Historian\ with sub-folders Books, Diagrams, Fact Types, Flags, Program, etc...
C:\Program Files (x86)\Calico Pie\Family Historian PDF\ with sub-folders AMD64 and i386.
Does your D:\FH6 folder show signs of all the above?

Customisation Program Data.
FH also installs its customisation files with public access in the following default folder:
C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\ with sub-folders Diagrams, Fact Types, Flags, General, etc but NOT Books or Program.
Many of these sub-folders have further sub-folders whereas the C:\Program Files (x86)\Family Historian\ ones do not.
Does your D:\FH6 folder show signs of the above?

There are also other folders that FH uses that can be investigated when these first few have been checked.

Family Historian Projects.
There are two FH settings that determine where it finds Projects and you have partially mentioned both.
The Tools > Preferences > Startup > Default Startup File determines where the default Project resides and is opened automatically when FH is run.
The File > Project Window > Location determines where to find Projects and where to create New Projects.
Those two settings are quite independent of each other.
So you could have happily been opening your Default Startup File Project from D:\FH6\Family Historian Projects\... and yet File > Project Window > Location was still set to C:\Users\Keith\Documents\Family Historian Projects.

As a check I have just set my File > Project Window > Location to F:\Family History and that is where a New Project was created and set as default.
I then reset File > Project Window > Location to the default Documents\Family Historian Projects folder, but on closing and reopening FH the F:\Family History new Project opened.

My Documents Folder.
Rather than Move the default Documents folder, it is better to create another folder on D drive and Add it to the Document Library and set that D drive folder as default.

[Keithj]

It would be easier to"Move" the My Documents folder to a location on your D Drive (This is what I have done), then softawre will use that as the preferred default location for the data files.

The "My Documents" folder on my PC is D:\Documents, and has been for the last couple of PCs I've had. Most software respects that and uses it (Word, Excel, Paint Shop Pro for example). FTM, Legacy, and FH6 all ignored that at least once over the past couple of years, and each created a new Documents folder in the depths of the C drive to put their stuff in. Apple is also quite good at ignoring default file locations and doing its own thing.

I've become quite adept at setting up symlinks to redirect Apple to where it's supposed to be going.

[Keithj]

Interesting, Mike. There is indeed a Calico Pie folder on C:\Program Files (x86) but all the stuff in there is dated 2011 or 2012 and I didn't spot those when I moved the batch of FH6 stuff to D. It's using 4.2MB of space. There is also a Calico Pie folder in C:\Program Data, using 14MB. I can afford that much space on C: as long as the software doesn't keep writing to those folders: the SSD has a finite number of write cycles before it will start to fail.

The list for C:\Program Files (x86)\Family Historian\ all appears under D:\FH6.

Tools - Preferences - Startup is set to D:\FH6\... as is File - Project Window - Location, so hopefully I've won that one now.

Yes, the default Documents folder is D:\Documents. The "Documents" link also includes D:\Excel, D:\Winword, and F:\ - the relevant software knows which one to use, and has behaved impeccably for years. Most new installations have picked up D:\Documents with no further ado. As I mentioned, Apple has been the exception but symlinks deal with that.

[tatewise]

Yes, the C:\Program Files (x86)\Calico Pie\Family Historian PDF\ folders are 4.2MB dated 2011/12 and hold the Nova PDF Printer utility. Essentially read-only program executables.

The C:\Program Files (x86)\Family Historian\ folders or your D:\FH6\ folders are about 27MB and hold the essentially read-only FH program executables.

The C:\ProgramData\Calico Pie\Family Historian\ folders hold customisation files for Diagrams, Reports, Queries, Plugins, etc, etc, and a file will get written every time a setting is changed or a new custom file is installed such as from the FH Plugin Store. Initially 14MB, but mine has grown to 36MB. I am not sure how C:\ProgramData\ can be relocated, and it is used by many more programs.

I understand the SSD write cycle problem, but I believe Windows has good SSD management features, so I would be surprised if it fails too soon. I believe Windows uses TRIM and bans Defrag to extend life, So as long as your regular day to day data files are not stored on SSD it should be immune to relatively infrequent write cycles.

Instead of symlinks have you tried the Document Libraries technique, with your D:\Documents folder added and set as default? It works for me.

[Keithj]

I have, Mike. D:\Documents is the default documents folder, and most software recognises that. I only put in symlinks where specific software ignores the default. There are fewer than ten links in all, most for Apple (iTunes and related stuff), FTM, Legacy, and a couple of others. When a C:\Users\Keith\Documents folder appears, I look to see what did it.

Windows does indeed recognise the SSD for what it is, and prevents defrag from working on it. The SSD speeded boot-up from about 5 minutes to well under a minute, and improved performance significantly.

[tatewise]

I have reported to Calico Pie the fact that FH ignores the Documents Library Default save location.

I have created how_to:move_settings#using_non-default_locations|> Move Family Historian Settings and Projects > Using Non-Default Locations as a guide to relocating these key FH folders. Do you have any comments?

[Keithj]

Looks good to me, Mike. I probably won't bother to relocate the Calico Pie folders on mine since they are very small. If they start to "churn", I may change my mind

In changing the Family Historian Projects folder location, rather than using Windows/File Explorer to move it from My Documents to its new location, I'd probably COPY it, make the change under Choose Location, and then check that it's worked correctly before deleting the original from C:\... I'm just naturally cautious.

Making symlinks is a tricky business, and while they work very well, any error can cause serious problems (infinite nested backup loops being one I've met). They come with a warning.

[tatewise]

Thanks for the feedback. I have updated the Projects folder advice to use Copy and Delete.

The PDF Printer program folder will not "churn" but the ProgramData\Calico Pie folder will definitely grow as you customise FH, especially with downloads in Plugins folder, that starts empty, but mine is now 32MB.

Many users move it to their OneDrive/DropBox folder with a symlink, for both backup and sync with another PC.