Learn how you can safely relocate your installed programs from drive C to drive D or E.
You partitioned your hard drive initially and loaded the operating system, and now you realize that your C drive is running low on space while D drive is lying empty? You are now left with two options— uninstall space-hogging applications and reinstall them on the other drive, or resize your existing partitions using a partition management utility. The latter option is better as you can allocate the space permanently to drive C, but the threat of losing all your data in one go is high in case you accidentally reset your PC or witness a power failure. The first option is a faster one and would only affect the particular program it moves in case of any errors. Then again, this process is painstakingly slow. We will show you a simple utility which can relocate the programs from one drive to another in a few minutes. Download the utility ‘Application Mover’ from ‘http://www.funduc.com/app_mover.htm’ and install it. Run the program after installing.
Step 1: On the main screen, you must specify the two paths to the programs which need to be moved. Choose the current and new path accordingly. Leave all other check boxes untouched. Click ‘OK’.
Step 2: The next screen will confirm the files that will be moved. Confirm with ‘OK’, and the file operations will begin.
Step 3: A new window will open and you will be asked to finally confirm the replacement of the program location. Confirm with the ‘Replace’ button for every file or simply check the ‘Do not ask me again’ box.
Application Mover moves all files from the old path (and any subdirectories under that path) to the new path. The program then uses these strings to make changes to the Windows registry, Windows shortcuts, .ini and Install.log files in the program path. The application performs its operations in the following order - Files are copied to the new path > Registry Changes are made > Shortcuts are changed > Files are deleted from the old path > .ini and Install.log files are changed. The utility is shareware and can be purchased for around 13.5 $. Another alternative utility is Steammover, but the cons are—it runs under Windows Vista and 7 only, works on NTFS and not FAT32, leaves shortcuts on C drive, and if deleted, the relocated program won’t work.
Do’s and Don’ts: Do not move important directories (for e.g. C:\Program Files to D:\Program Files). The utility must be run with Administrator privileges. Do not move ‘My Documents’. Do not move ‘C:\Program Files\Common Files’. Programs must be shut down before moving. Backups must be taken to avoid mishaps. Moving MS Office is unsafe—do it at your own risk. Do not move antivirus applications. Do not move programs from one PC to another. Do not move programs over the network unless the shared drives are mapped to the PC. Do not install a new hard drive or USB drive which tends to replace the drive letter of the drive where the applications are relocated.
You partitioned your hard drive initially and loaded the operating system, and now you realize that your C drive is running low on space while D drive is lying empty? You are now left with two options— uninstall space-hogging applications and reinstall them on the other drive, or resize your existing partitions using a partition management utility. The latter option is better as you can allocate the space permanently to drive C, but the threat of losing all your data in one go is high in case you accidentally reset your PC or witness a power failure. The first option is a faster one and would only affect the particular program it moves in case of any errors. Then again, this process is painstakingly slow. We will show you a simple utility which can relocate the programs from one drive to another in a few minutes. Download the utility ‘Application Mover’ from ‘http://www.funduc.com/app_mover.htm’ and install it. Run the program after installing.
Step 1: On the main screen, you must specify the two paths to the programs which need to be moved. Choose the current and new path accordingly. Leave all other check boxes untouched. Click ‘OK’.
Step 2: The next screen will confirm the files that will be moved. Confirm with ‘OK’, and the file operations will begin.
Step 3: A new window will open and you will be asked to finally confirm the replacement of the program location. Confirm with the ‘Replace’ button for every file or simply check the ‘Do not ask me again’ box.
