Family Historian User Group

Yes, Mike, it's increased my knowledge of my pc enormously. Being in my 70s as you know I seem to hit a brick wall when pc settings become too technical.
I've been interested in computers all my life it seems and even did a night school class for a year in the 70s for the 'Institute of bookkeeping and data processing' as it was called in those far off days; then they had extremely large storage disks like gigantic LP records and punch tickets. I visited ICL /IBM at Putney and Letchworth whilst on the course and was amazed at the latter that they used passwords to even enter the building and access different jobs like HR, etc, seemed like the 'Man from Uncle!'
Initially, I bought the Sinclair then Amstrad pcs which ran on tapes! It's all so different now and I guess the technical aspects have left me behind.

OK, we are now ready to move your OneDrive folder.

Before we start, do you know your OneDrive account name and password?
If you click the OneDrive icon, More..., Settings, then your account Email address is shown at the top.
But if you do not know the password it will get trickier later on.

Follow the instructions step by step in this link: How to change default OneDrive folder location on Windows 10
Note that they show the OneDrive icon in blue, but yours is grey and is quite normal.

If you have a problem with any of the steps then stop and ask.

At step 13. you must select your E:\Documents folder.

At step 21. it is VERY IMPORTANT to use Change location otherwise the folder will go back to the C: drive.

At step 22. you must select your E:\Documents\OneDrive folder.

At the end click OneDrive cloud icon, More, Settings, Settings tab, and untick Files On-Demand.

I'm not ignoring you Mike. I looked at settings and it says as you said but when I log in I've a registered hotmail account and password so am somewhat confused? It would be nice if Microsoft used that name rather than Live?

By "hotmail account" you probably mean a Hotmail Email address is what you have registered for your Microsoft Account which is what gets used for signing in to a Microsoft Windows 10 PC account, to OneDrive, to the Microsoft Store, etc.

It is just like you use the same Google Email address for Gmail, Google Drive, Google Photos, etc.

The important question is do you know the Password for that Microsoft Account?
It is unlikely to be the same as the Hotmail Email account Password unless you are in the bad habit of re-using passwords.
If you have forgotten that Password then it can be reset, but only if that Hotmail Email account is currently active.
Is that Hotmail Email one that you currently actively use for Email messages?

Hello Mike,
I checked my account with Hotmail which I've had for ages but don't use anymore for email, I managed to reset the password and saved it on my password manager.
Then just now I went through your instructions and 'voila' OneDrive is now on E: Documents as you instructed and the settings now show my Hotmail account and there is no OneDrive on C!

Excellent John

I trust that the OneDrive cloud icon is in your Notification area top right near the Google Drive cloud.
It may take a while synchronising but when you click on that OneDrive cloud icon it should say OneDrive is up to date.

Just double-check some of the settings via the OneDrive cloud icon, More, Settings option.
On the Settings tab ensure Files On-Demand is NOT ticked to retain file copies on your E: drive.
On the Account tab click the Choose folders button and check every item is ticked, then click OK.
Click OK to close the Microsoft OneDrive settings dialogue.

When you've confirmed that is working correctly we can review other items that may hog space on your C: drive.

Thank you Mike, I carried out those instructions too and all are done as you said. In fact, I had 'my photos' on there but that included all my ft photos so I split it into 2 and let One Drive hold my 'normal photos' whilst I guess GD holds most of my ft photos with FH?

Yes, that all sounds good. I hope you have noticed a reduction of the used disk space on C: drive.

Now let us look at a well-known disk space hog, the Recycle Bin.
Its default size is 5% of the drive size, so 5.5 GB on your 110 GB SSD and about 50 GB on E: drive.

There should be a Recycle Bin icon on your PC desktop.
Alternatively, in Windows File Explorer it should be listed near the bottom of the left-hand pane.
Right-click that Recycle Bin icon and choose Properties to obtain its settings like this:


Select your drive C: as shown above, and note its Custom size: Maximum size (MB): is probably 5500.
That will hold far more deleted files than you are ever likely to need, and can be customised to a smaller size.
Whatever size you choose sets the largest file size that can be recycled.
If anything larger is Deleted then it is immediately erased from disk instead of being moved to the Recycle Bin, but you do get a warning message and can Cancel the delete.

You can see I have chosen 500 MB (i.e. 0.5 GB) but you might prefer 1000 MB or 2000 MB.
But that will still make a significant saving of SSD drive C: space.
Just select the Custom size option and enter whatever size value you prefer and click the Apply button.

Now select your drive E: and it will probably have an even larger size allocation.
Just select the Custom size option and enter whatever size value you prefer and click the Apply button.

When happy with the customised sizes, click OK.

Let me know when that is done and we can move on to some other storage allocation options.

Thank you, Mike, mine was 7766 on C and so I've made all 3 drives including my portable 2000MB and as you say if I delete something larger as I do with the portable drive backups then it asks if I really want to delete it without going to the recycle bin-I just tried it.
My C Drive is now at 53.3GB free of 110GB, E 364GB free of 931GB and K portable 420GB free of 465GB.

Ok, that is getting better and better.
I hope you are keeping notes, just in case the settings need reviewing.

When you are ready, the next thing to check is Start > Settings > System > Storage to review your C: drive usage.

It should look like this. Please click on Show more categories below Temporary files to list a few more items.
Can you post a screenshot or two of what is shown or just copy type them? You can ignore anything less than 1 GB.

Hi Mike, I'm not keeping notes but presumably, I can refer to this topic here in the future?
I have got Settings in my taskbar so easy to find storage and screenshot here. There are no other categories below Documents that have anything in them.

OK, if you Bookmark this thread in the spanner Topic tools at the top, then it will appear in View Bookmarks under your Johnr65 username top right.

Your Storage size listing holds no surprises.
The Apps & features are about the same size as mine.
The System & reserved are about half mine.
The rest are tiny.

Above those Local Disk (C:) sizes there should be a Storage Sense option as shown in my screenshot.
It is advisable to have that switched On to clean up old Temporary, Recycle Bin & Download files.
Click on Configure Storage Sense or run it now and choose the options you like.
I have chosen During low free disk space, ticked Temporary files, and chosen 60 days for the other two.

Your SSD C: drive is only about 50% full, so keep an eye on that, but up to 80% full is OK.

From now on I advise that you install programs in their default recommended Program Files folder on the C: drive.
But ensure that your personal document files associated with that program reside on the E: drive.
i.e. Ensure that settings Storage page shows 0 for Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos & OneDrive.
If you need further advice on what should go where then please ask.

You must NOT delete the E:\Program Files or E:\Program Files (x86) folders because we don't know what earlier programs you installed there, and I wager you have not kept a note of which programs you installed where.
It does not really matter as there is plenty of space on that drive.

I have configured the Storage Sense as per your suggestions, 60 days for Temporary files, and Download folder-is that what you meant as these are the only ones I have. Storage Sense is On.
The problem with new downloads is that I'm never sure whether the download site uses C as the default because it's the norm on most pcs and they are unaware of any other drives?
I use free CCleaner for clearing my cache and it does have an option in the Tools to find 'duplicate files' would that help?
I did run it and there appear to be loads of duplicates but I've not deleted any.

Here are my Storage Sense settings:
For special folders like Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, Desktop, 3D Objects you can tell Windows where to locate them so they are permanently off your C: drive and on your E: drive.

Open Windows File Explorer with This PC and they are all listed together.
Right-click on each one in turn and choose Properties and select the Location tab.
Choose the E: drive folder you want to use and click the Move... button to move the contents permanently.

BTW: Most browsers have an option to 'always ask where you want downloads saved'.

Listing duplicate files does not help you decide which one is redundant, unless you do a lot more investigation.

Have done as you suggested Mike with the folders, there were only 2 on C, 3D objects-whatever they are and Desktop.
I know that most Browsers have a 'choose location for downloads' and I generally use it but sometimes forget when I change browsers-currently using Edge.
I'll give the duplicate list a miss then, seems a bit dangerous.
I see there is a new AS download and I've put the 64bit version on to E-is that correct?

So presumably the Downloads folder was already located on your E: drive?

Regarding AS, it depends what you mean by "put".
You download the installation file to the Downloads folder on E: but do not install on E: drive, I said yesterday:

From now on I advise that you install programs in their default recommended Program Files folder on the C: drive.

AS only needs 8.5 MB so you won't notice any significant change in usage.

Yes, Downloads was on the E drive.
Now for some unknown reason to me, my desktop screen is covered in my documents, folders which I don't want there?

Is it because I moved My Desktop to E? see screenshot

Yes, but it looks lik you moved the Location of the C: based Desktop to the root of the E:\ drive.
So now you have ALL your E: drive folders and files sitting on the Desktop.

You should have chosen a Location such as E:\Desktop

So first create that folder E:\Desktop on your E: drive.

Then move the Desktop to there, but after clicking the Move button do NOT agree to moving/copying anything, otherwise you will get a complete copy of your entire E: drive!

Then you will have to find the shortcut icons that used to exist on you Desktop and move them to the new folder.
They will be sitting in the E:\ root location with a small blue in bottom left cornet of icon.
I can see some such as CCleaner, Logitech HUB, Micro Sys Ajour, OverDrive for Windows, Family Historian, Recycle Bin.

I must have moved the Desktop to E\: Users which is where I found it eventually but without a blue button. I set up the new folder as E:\Desktop as you suggested and moved it to the new folder where it is now.
However, the Desktop remains as before so I've right-clicked on it so as not to show any icons and thus it's bare !?

Another thing that confuses me is that down the left hand side of the file explorer it seems to show duplicated drives-should that be so? See screenshot.

Ok, I think you have not actually been following the correct process to relocate the Desktop.
It is crucial to use the right-click Properties > Location tab method otherwise Windows does not know.

The blue E:\ is where your Desktop is still formally located and explains why you still had all the folder icons.

I guess you have hidden those Desktop icons by right-click View > Show desktop icons and unticked it.

So please move the formal Desktop Location as explained before. Just creating a folder called Desktop is not enough.

In File Explorer show This PC so that the key folders such as Desktop, Downloads, Music, Pictures are shown.
Right-click on the Desktop icon which might just look like E:\ or even be blank.
Choose Properties and open the Location tab where I bet it still says E:\
Change that to E:\Desktop and click Move but DO NOT agree to move any files.

On each of those other key folders, repeat that right-click Properties > Location tab and confirm to me that they are located on the E: drive in a folder whose name matches.

Finally you will have to find the shortcut icons that used to exist on your Desktop and move them to the new folder.
They will be sitting in the E:\ drive root location with a small blue arrow in bottom left corner of icon.
I can see some such as CCleaner, Logitech HUB, Micro Sys Ajour, OverDrive for Windows, Family Historian, Recycle Bin.
In File Explorer select the ones you need, right-click Copy, navigate to the E:\Desktop folder, right-click Paste.

I am unable to find the Desktop in My PC as the screenshots show
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Oh dear, John ~ what a mess! That is going to take some sorting out.

The 3rd one on E:\ with the blue rectangle icon is the Desktop.

But when that is relocated we need to fix two others.

If that is the Desktop, it seems to hold most if not all of my documents and programs? Would it be simpler to set up a new Desktop?