Downloads folder

[Mast3r]

So you know the downloads folder which has a blue arrow facing down.Well,mine has 10GB which is not exactly ok since it's on my SSD and I'm running out of space.Is it safe to move it to my HDD disk?Will anything in it stop working or stuff?

 

[DelJo63]

No problem, just be sure to change that setting in ALL of your browsers

 

[captaincranky]

@Mast3r First, you can change you download destination, every time you save a file. The entire computer is fair game, as the entire file tree is available.

Personally, I oftentimes download directly to the desktop for files which are compressed, (.zip & .rar are the most common file extensions), then drag the container directly to the recycle bin. (But yes, that does use up space on C/

Obviously downloads can contain many different categories of content. Some examples would be, programs, videos, .Mp3 still images, program manuals, game scenery packages, & more.

Methinks it would behoove you sort through your downloads, separate them into types of content, then setup individual folders for each type on your mechanical HDD, with shortcuts to each folder on your desktop.

As you may, or may not know, you can drag a FILE to a shortcut, and it will be transferred to the targeted location. Shortcuts are not just for opening their intended location.

If you choose the desktop itself as your download location, you can work the file from there, and put it in its proper location.

Since every download to the desktop creates an icon, it will be "in your face", so to speak, and not get lost, forgotten, or ignored in a folder, no matter on which drive that folder may be located.

To carry that concept one stop further, the folders that Windows supplies for different topics, IE "My Documents, "My Photos", "My Videos", and yes, "Downloads", are the worst possible places you can store anything, for a variety of reasons.

 

[DelJo63]

How you organize your User space c:/users/login/* is entirely up to you. My wife dumps files and downloads on her desktop and she still has issues sometimes locating files.
After years of programming, I've gone to a hierarchical structure which makes my files easy to find in the Explorer or Search.

There's just no right way to do this.

 

[captaincranky]

How you organize your User space c:/users/login/* is entirely up to you. My wife dumps files and downloads on her desktop and she still has issues sometimes locating files.

I never suggested "desktop" as a permanent file destination

After years of programming, I've gone to a hierarchical structure which makes my files easy to find in the Explorer or Search.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea whereby my description of sorting files into categories and shuttling them to folders on a storage drive isn't "hierarchical" filing system. Is it because I'm .having trouble with my syntax or literacy in my old age? Or is it because I simply didn't use the fancy term, "hierarchical"?

There's just no right way to do this.

Perhaps not, but there certainly is, "a wrong way". That would be using the file spaces provided by Windows on C:/ for permanent storage.

All my "New Volumes", have shortcuts assigned to them on the desktop, as well as additional shortcuts assigned to large files such as my CD rips, or my permanent digital photo files.

Adobe "Bridge" would catalog them where they lay, while "Photoshop Elements" would force them onto C:/, exactly where they would be in jeopardy in the event of a reformat and reinstall of the OS.

For most of my files I don't need "search", I just click the shortcut on the drive associated with that type of file.

 

[DelJo63]

I simply didn't use the fancy term, "hierarchical"?

Then perhaps you might relate to "Outline" where each subdir defines a unique level of detail

/users​

/login-id​

/home​

/finances​

/banks​

/investments​

/insurance​

/taxes​

/federal​

/state​

/family​

/pictures​

/vacations​

/business​

/banks​

/legalDocs​

/accounting​

/data​

/reports​

/taxFilings​

file spaces provided by Windows on C:/ for permanent storage

There's nothing inherently wrong with those classification -- but they apparently violate some philosophy for you.

 

[captaincranky]

EDIT (By captaincranky): Or Maybe Stuff > Sub Stuff >Sub Sub Stuff

There's nothing inherently wrong with those classification -- but they apparently violate some philosophy for you.

No, there's nothing inherently wrong with those classification, save for the fact they're located on the C:/ (operating system drive)

I just checked, and my personal digital photo folder is 76.4 GB. (Not to mention I just bought 2 / 24 Mpx Nikon bodies, and the cards haven't been transferred yet).

My CD rips folder "Music_CD_WAV" ( lossless), totals 121 GB.

That's only 197.4 GB in total, and yeah you're right, those are categories better and more easily served by storing them in the appropriate Windows provided folders , "Photos" & "Music" After all, that would leave you with a whole 40 GB empty on a 240 GB SSD. That should plenty for the OS, programs, and anything else I might come across..

Oh well, apparently my typewriter has developed a stutter, and I know absolutely nothing about data filing categories or keeping them off of C:/, for safety or storage capacity reasons.

If I run into trouble with finding my files or downloads in the future, I'll be sure to start a thread right here, and you can, "lead me out of the wilderness", so to speak"..

 

[DelJo63]

Yes, user data on ANY DRIVE other than C: is a much better choice.