App Data Change Location to Accomodate Small SSD - Windows 7

[Hayden202]

Hey everyone,

Just installed my first SSD. I was able to set up everything up on a secondary hard disk but I am afraid that he AppData folder on my C drive will get to large and cause unnecessary wear on the SSD. I would like to have this folder on the backup platter drive; however, I hear lots of programs might get messed up if i change the shell folder target.

Just wondering if this is safe to do.

Also, will my backup drive, on which i have a lot of applications installed on (steam included) have an appdata folder when it needs one? right now it does not have one and i am not sure whats going to happen when steam installs a game that requires an app data folder to store save games or whatnot.

Thanks in advance.

[deltatux]

just move the AppData folder and then do this:

mklink /D C:\Users\<username>\AppData D:\<folder>\AppData

replace D:\ with the actual drive letter. You must do this in cmd.exe and not PowerShell.

This will redirect all requests to the original AppData folder locations to the new location. This practice is called creating a symbolic link. It's used a lot in the UNIX world. It's one of the conveniences I can't live without when doing system administration.

deltatux

[TruMutton_200Hz]

^ That's the one best way to destroy Windows security, though. The AppData folder contains system files and some of them are actually referenced by Windows in a hardcoded fashion / via hard links so that your symbolic link might render them inaccessible to Windows.

See what Arthur Xie wrote:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...5-7e64277dda57

More info here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ebb296e?page=1

[deltatux]

Originally Posted by TruMutton_200Hz

^ That's the one best way to destroy Windows security, though. The AppData folder contains system files and some of them are actually referenced by Windows in a hardcoded fashion / via hard links so that your symbolic link might render them inaccessible to Windows.

See what Arthur Xie wrote:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...5-7e64277dda57

More info here:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ebb296e?page=2

That's true, I tend not to move my AppData folder at all. This is one of the many reasons why I find Windows very poorly designed. There's too much legacy methodology still kept by the operating system.

I think AppData should stay where it is, unless he's willing to mess with security settings to lock down the folder to the user itself which isn't hard, however, people could still circumvent the symlink to override the security settings but since this is a home computer, the chances of being attacked like that is not worth it for hackers on one guy.

At least in UNIX, you can just move the whole /home directory to another drive and then remount it as /home lol.

deltatux

[TruMutton_200Hz]

^ If system security is no object then I still wouldn't use the method you described because some stubborn software installers have the filepath hardcoded into them. It's all been thoroughly explained in the lengthy discussion I linked in my previous post, here it is again:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...ebb296e?page=1

[Hayden202]

There is a lot to consider there. Thanks for all the information everyone. My AppData folder is pretty small so I may end up leaving it where it is as security does concern me slightly as well as overall system stability.

Thanks again.

[deltatux]

I was just looking at lusrmgr.msc (only available in Windows Vista/7 Business/Professional and up ... it's also available on all Windows Server editions) and I found a "profile" tab when checking the Properties window of my own Windows account, maybe this is where you change your Home folder?



deltatux