Ok, title says it basically, i just bought a new 250gb external hard drive coz my internal 80gb got full up. I just want to now download as default to my new hdd, and have it show up normally in my desktop etc as it does on my old one, thanks for lookin ppl. BTW i am really sorry if this shows up as 2 threads, browser kinda messed up
go to the preferences of whatever program you download with and set the destination folder as a folder you've created on your external drive.
Aight thanks, i done that now...dunno why i didnt think of it, i feel like a retard now lol. And is there a way to save it to the desktop but actually use space on my new hard drive and not my old one?
navigate to your folder, right click and copy, go to your desktop, right click, and "paste shortcut," not "paste."
Do you mean when you save items on the desktop, they are actually saved on the new HDD? (Assuming you are using WindowsXP) You mean you want to change 'C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Desktop\' to '<new HDD drive letter>:\Desktop\'? This setting can be set in the windows registry [!!CARE WARNING!!]... 1. Create a folder on the new HDD called 'Desktop' that you want to be were desktop files are saved and make a note of its path. 2. Open the Registry Editor ([Start] > [Run] > type REGEDIT and hit [OK]). 3 Nativgate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders' and locate the 'Desktop' entry. 4. Edit the entry to be the path to the folder you created. (see above) 5. Exit the Registry Editor. 5. Restart the computer. Once logged in you desktop should be in the new location. thats about it but if you want to do this and arent sure ask for more info!
Ok, im getting some troubles...i followed what you said and all...but it doesnt save my setting when i turn the pc back on? how do i make it do this?
Would'nt thought it possable since there's no OS on it from boot, assuming your mother board BIOS supports booting from USB,it would be easier to use a ghosting utility like "norton ghost 2003" to make an image of your original hdd then use "norton partition magic 8.0" to resize the partitions on the larger hdd,if your BIOS suports USB booting you can dual boot,or just boot from the external,or remove the smaller hdd completely and put the larger one in it's place and use the smaller hdd as a backup in case of virus or too much tinkering and stuffing up the OS...lol...
^yea i think ur right, doesnt look like its going to work,if i do this "ghosting" thing will it make my new hard drive work excactly like my old one? coz that would be perfect! Im downloading acronis true image right now, should this do the trick?
Yes ghosting or more correctly "disk imaging" makes an exact copy of your original hdd including partitions,but to do so you need to copy the whole drive that is select all partitions (assuming you have more than 1 partition on the original)or it won't be bootable,if you have more than 1 partition you'll need partition magic to resize (lets say you have two partitions ,the first is a FAT32 that houses your recovery software the 2nd is NTFS which houses your windows OS etc,what will happen is when ghosting,the imaging software will automatically create the new partitions on the larger hdd,but it will also calculate the percentages so if the FAT32 partiton is say 5GB in size on the smaller hdd it will make it 25GB on the larger one (at least with ghost 2003 it does) & that's why you may need a partitionong tool to move the partitions around & to do so safely partition magic is the only app i know that lets you make a set of DOS disks as attempting a resize while the OS is running will not work especially if it houses windows,data partitions however can be resized within windows bear in mind i have never used acronis so it may work different,one thing tho if your BIOS does'nt support boot from USB you'll need to put the larger hdd inside the spare comp bay as a slave for the imaging to work,it will also mean you won't be able to use the USB to boot from,in which case i suggest buy another hdd and use it in the USB cage as a data partition only WARNING READ THE INSTRUCTIONS OF ARCRONIS BEFORE ATTEMPTING AN IMAGE,also be aware what instructions are given as when it's finished imaging it may automatically reboot and you may have to shut the comp down before it does
- sorry - the info i gave you was incomplete - the setting you need to change is: 3. Nativgate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\USER shell folders' and locate the 'Desktop' entry that is found there! when your windows comes back up, the desktop will have moved - but make sure the location was correctly typed. oh - a final thought - i've just remebered this procedure can actually be done using the TWEAKUI program that is free to download from microsoft...
nope, still not saving. I am doing excactly as you say. It all works fine, i change the directory to the one i want to and close it, restart and bam, its changed back to the c drive. Maybe it will work for me if i use tweak ui, how do i use it?
thats really strange! I've just tried it on my work pc and it works here to! how very bizzare - sorry it doesnt work for you! if you download and install tweakui, start up the program - on the left had side navigate to 'My Computer' > 'Special Folders'. In the drop downlist select 'Desktop' - below it will display the current location of the desktop. Click on the 'Change Location' button and browse to the new location you want the desktop to be.. Again it will require a log out or reboot!
You sir are a legend! lol, thanks man, that done it! dunno why it wasnt saving before, definitely very strange. Again thanks!
