Many budget and older laptops shipped with a relatively small main drive, sometimes just 128GB or 256GB, which fills up quickly once photos, downloads, and documents accumulate over the years. If your PC has a second internal drive, or you're happy using a permanently connected external drive, you can relocate your personal folders there entirely, freeing up your main drive without deleting anything.
Key takeaway: Windows lets you change the target location of your Documents, Pictures, Downloads and other user folders, moving their contents to a second drive while everything continues to work exactly as before.
Before you start: Only do this with a drive that stays permanently connected, since Windows will expect to find these folders there every time. Back up your files first, just in case.
Moving a folder to another drive
- Open File Explorer and locate the folder you want to move, such as Downloads, under "This PC."
- Right-click it and choose Properties.
- Click the Location tab.
- Click Move, then browse to a folder on your second drive (create a new folder there first if needed, such as D:\Downloads).
- Click Select Folder, then click Apply.
- When prompted, click Yes to move all existing files to the new location automatically.
Repeat this process individually for Documents, Pictures, Music, and Videos as needed. Each one is moved the same way, through its own Properties > Location tab.
Confirming everything still works
- Open File Explorer and click each moved folder from the left-hand sidebar to confirm it now points to the new drive and shows your files.
- Save a new test file from any app (such as a quick note from Notepad) to confirm it lands in the new location automatically.
- Delete the old, now-empty folder location on your main drive if Windows hasn't already cleaned it up.
| Method | Effort | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Move user folders to second drive | Low, one-time setup | Frees main drive without losing any files |
| Manually copy files across occasionally | Ongoing, repetitive | Easy to forget, space creeps back up |
| Delete files to save space | Low | Permanently loses data |
Tip: If you don't have a second internal drive, a reasonably priced external USB drive works just as well for less-frequently accessed folders like Pictures or Videos, as long as it's plugged in whenever you need those files.
Which folders benefit most from moving
Not every folder is equally worth relocating. Pictures and Videos tend to be the biggest wins, since photo and video files are large individually and accumulate steadily over years without you necessarily noticing. Downloads is another strong candidate, particularly if you regularly download large files like installers, ISO images, or media, and don't always remember to delete them afterwards. Documents is usually smaller in total size but still worth moving if your main drive is genuinely tight on space, since every folder moved reduces pressure on the drive Windows itself needs room to operate comfortably on.
It's generally not worth moving the AppData folder or anything deep within your user profile beyond the standard folders covered here — those are far more tightly bound to specific software behaviour, and relocating them incorrectly is a common cause of confusing app errors, unlike the standard user folders described above, which Windows explicitly supports relocating through its own Properties dialog.
Frequently asked questions
- Will moving my Documents folder break any of my programs?
- No. Windows updates the folder's location system-wide, so apps that save to Documents by default will automatically use the new location without any extra configuration.
- What happens if I disconnect the second drive after moving folders to it?
- Windows will show an error or an empty folder until you reconnect it, since it expects to find your files at that location. This method suits a drive that stays permanently connected.
- Can I move the folders back to my main drive later?
- Yes, just repeat the same Properties > Location steps and choose a location back on your main drive.