Will my computer be able to find my files?

Question

I have a question which is likely somewhat software specific but the company I bought it from only handles installation questions. So. Here goes.

I have a photo slide show software program which is installed on my C Drive under Program Files. The default for slide shows I've already created is to store the working folders (with the parts - music, transition effects, etc.) on C in a different place: C:\Documents and Settings. When I save a completed slide show, I've been saving it to an external drive just to save space on my hard drive.

I know I have to leave the program file itself on the C drive because that's where my operating system is. I'd like to be able to move the working files out of Documents and Settings and store them on an external drive, perhaps the same drive where the project files are saved. My plan is to copy them to an external drive for starters. If I do that, will my system be able to find my working folders?

The point in doing is is to free up hard drive space. My hard drive is only 40GB and I'm using a refurb. The cost of replacing the hard drive would be almost as much as buying a new refurb so I'm just trying to use external storage to the extent I can. I should have bought a laptop with a bigger hard drive but that ship has sailed.

Answer 1

1 issue is if the program you're using has the ability to 'remember pathways'. these days many do, and in many it's a setting in the tools/settings of that program. i would be sure when moving th efiles to use folders in the drive which are specific to the type, but that's just me. the problem with all of this is if you have other removable drives, like a jump drive, is that the assigned letters can change, so sometimes, even if the program remembers the pathway, is that the pathway has changed.

Answer 2

Well, there are a couple of guru tricks You could use, here are a few ...



1) If the program itself has any options to open projects or files and allows You to choose a location from the list of projects, like when You're in MSWord and can change the locations box at the top. Click "file" - "open", or "open project", etc..



2) You could open the projects files themselves by looking at them on the external drive and dbl-clicking them, which will automatically start the program their "file association" tells them uses those files, voila - the slideshow program with that project loaded.



3) You might be able to actually create just shortcuts to the external drive in the folder where it stores the projects, and let it follow the shortcuts to the actual files when You try to open a specific project from the program. This one's iffy and probably won't work becasue the program will only show You files that end with the three letters of the project filetypes.



BTW - Keep looking online for better hard drive prices, and look for "bulk hard drive" on most of the pricing sites, also try www.geeks.com since they list hard drives for laptops at about $35.00 to $65.00 for some great sized drives. Far less than the cost of a refurb'ed laptop although they have good prices on those too.



Some other GREAT pricing sites for hard drives are :



www.newegg.com www.ecost.com www.microcenter.com





Good luck!.

Answer 3

You didn't day what program it is, but most software has an option to choose a default file folder. If there are no options or preferences in the drop-down menus from the tool bar, the choice was probably in your install. If that's the case, back up everything from your current default folder and reinstall the app. Pay attention when clicking your way through the install. On of those clicks is your default folder choice.

If you don't want to reinstall, you should be able to access the project files on the external drive with the Browse option in the Open File dialogue.

Answer 4

Try to change the setting of the program

it is not recommended to do so because

if your external drive is G: for example when you remove those drive and put another drive, when you re insert those external drive the drive letter may change to H:

and there is posible of data crash on external drive

Answer 5

Yes it will, so long as you type in the correct path. So for example an external harddrive ussually appears in the my computer directory. So



my computer->(whatever you have your external harddrive named) -> file. And when you want to use it,, just turn on the casing you have your external harddrive connected to