Windows 10 October 2018 Update rollout now paused

Definately a mind set

If i said to my mrs im gonna move it to another location - i wouldn't be posting on this forum.
Granted i got her to back up her folders to an external drive -- NO way would she let me touch her little baby.

Me im quite happy to destroy and rebuild.


Roy

Dirk Gently said:

Why is it that some people are so attached to these default folders that they can't help but use them? Is it Microsoft brainwashing? Is it a pavlovian response? Microsoft rings a bell and everyone drops their data in those folders? Do people know they don't have to use those folders? Do people know they can create folders with the same names on D: for example. (Adding shortcuts for these folders to Quick Access/Desktop/Taskbar as needed?)

I hear some people are so attached to these default folders, that even when they do use a secondary drive for user data, they 'move' the default folders rather than creating new ones? Why? Do people not know that you can set most programs to 'Save' or 'Download' to any user created folder no matter where it is?

What is it about C:\Users\<Username> that is so compelling to people that they can't live without it?

You're right of course but the only reason I do it is that I can make my C:\Users\<Username> into
D:\Users\<Username> and then use that as the key for my backups via File History and FreeFileSynch.

And yes it does retain the standard links and shortcuts as you say.

Laziness or pragmatism?

RingTailCoon said:

Oh grrrrrrrrreat, my PC wouldn't turn on this morning and after a few tries it would turn on. after that my external hard drive wasn't recognized by Windows so after some cursing and a restart it played nice again. After some more deliberate power downs (not restarts) the issue did not came back. Just to check if it DID came back. But no, thankfully!! But my PC wasn't like this before...???

Just possible that you didn't do a restart after the last update (not that you should need to of course) but I've seen similar behaviour from Windows over the years.
And, if it's OK now then try to forget it.
OOI have you got "Fast Start-up" enabled? That is the MS default but I always disable it.

Dirk Gently said:

So with it set up that way, if you selected to clean 'Downloads' in the new Disk Cleaner utility, it would empty your Downloads folder, despite the physical location of the files being on D:?

Or if an update decided to empty C:\Users\<Username>\Documents, it would do so regardless of your Documents physical location on D:?

Am i right that the correct term for this is symlink or symbolic linking?

Sorry to muddy the waters Dirk, but my Downloads folder is the exception that proves the rule.
On my systems it's D:\Downloads, copied to E:\<Machine Name> Backups & Registry\Downloads.

So my Downloads is not part of the conventional "Users" folders but I still moved it using KFR.

That is decidedly non-standard but (drum roll) it works for me (so far!) As the whole string is backed up, i don't care if 1809 does delete it but will be interested to see what happens when I eventually do decide to brave 1809 .

Will also be interested to see what Disk Cleanup does after I'm on 1809.On 1803, it certainly does no harm as we know.

This is another thing about MS's condescending attitude - assuming all users do it their way...these are OUR COMPUTERS you arrogant <expletive>

Oh, as for your other question.....https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/1622...dows-or-linux/

Dirk Gently said:

So with it set up that way, if you selected to clean 'Downloads' in the new Disk Cleaner utility, it would empty your Downloads folder, despite the physical location of the files being on D:?

Or if an update decided to empty C:\Users\<Username>\Documents, it would do so regardless of your Documents physical location on D:?

Am i right that the correct term for this is symlink or symbolic linking?

It's a bit different from Symlinks. With Symlinks you can't have anything left in the original folder location. Effectively it becomes a type of shortcut. This appears to be some kind of redirection built into the Windows code.

Dirk Gently said:

Thanks for the replies fellas. I'm learning all sorts of new things today!

You have to in order to survive with Windows!
Seriously, as has been mentioned here, it's far better to keep your data separate from the OS anyway, however you achieve it.