How to move Google drive folder from C to D
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2024
- If you moved programs and files from C to D and still need more space, have you looked at Google Drive? Did you know it takes up space on your C drive even though you believe it's in the cloud?
In this video I show you how easy it is to move the storage location from C to D.
----CHAPTERS-----
0:00 Intro
0:32 How Google drive works
0:52 The 3 options
2:05 How to change the path
4:50 Bloopers
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Thank you for explaining that process very clearly. I look forward to seeing more content!
Glad it was helpful!
thank you so much. i was looking for this
You're welcome
Great Video. Concise and Comprehensive!
Thank you
Excellent work! Very ease to understand. Many thanks!
You're welcome. Thank you for taking time to tell me.
Thank you. This was exactly what I was looking for.
You're welcome! Great to hear this.
You helped me a lot. Thank you!
I'm glad. You're welcome.
Very helpful and clear, thank you! Best wishes to you Daniel.
Thank you, I'm glad you found it helpful.
This video helped me a lot. Thank you so much.
You're welcome! Thanks for taking time to respond.
Thanks, it reminded me of the second settings cog once you get to the preferences.
You're welcome. Thanks for taking time to comment.
Thank you sir. That was life saving info.
You're welcome! Glad it helped.
Hi Daniel, thank you so much. Subscribed.
Awesome, thank you!
I was a little nervous since I have had a need to relocate 2 Tb of data from my Drive, but your video proved that simply changing the cache directory is a proper way to do that. Thank you!
You're welcome and thanks for taking time to comment
Thank you!
You're welcome
Thanks for the help!!
You're welcome
Thank you so much!!!!!
You're welcome.
Thanks Sir, this was doing my head in
You're welcome. Happy to help.
Thank you! This was so helpful. I was trying to just cut and paste it. I can now upgrade my windows 11, I have more than 8GB of space in my C drive now!
You're welcome!
Thank you so much!!
You're welcome!
Wicked thanks!
You're welcome!
Thank you a lot!
You're welcome!
Love it.
Thanks for the love
Thank you
You're welcome
nice voice. calm.
Thank you! 🙂
Thank you very much! I installed a program into my Google Drive directory and I assumed it would just sync the files, but what it started doing was putting everything in cloud storage by default and deleting everything it deemed as unused. It made the program extremely slow since it had to pull everything from the cloud (a lot of image and video files). I deleted everything manually in an attempt to start over. I ended up with the virtual drive in windows telling me I was missing 120gb of 1TB. By doing this it fixed this mismatch and also allowed me to use a much bigger drive (I now have a 2TB Google Drive volume) I also made sure to right click on the program directory and select Offline Access>Available Offline so I don't have that problem again.
You're welcome. Glad I could help.
Thanks so much - i needed that - i couldn't figure out what is taking all my space
You're welcome! Thank you for writing me.
@@TwinBytesInc thank you for sharing
@@SimsMoyal I do it for grateful viewers like yourself
Hello, thanks for your video. I am afraid that your solution is only for changing the path of the cache folder and not to change the google drive folder with our files... for the latter you have to follow steps described in a comment below. By the way, the same steps you had to follow also to the previous backup and sync application
Thanks for taking time to write me. Changing the cache location is the drive folder location with your files. They are not separate things.
All I did for my own was exactly what I showed in the video and it worked perfectly. I know sometimes things don't work the way they should, but in that case my instructions aren't missing anything other than troubleshooting steps if it didn't work as expected.
Possibly you were expecting the files to move immediately but you just needed to wait for the file transfer to complete. So many times I see people have issues just because they are impatient.
@@TwinBytesInc I have the same problem. Cache is C, Google drive is G, the files are actually on Z:\GoogleDrive\
The pretend "G" drive has a single file which is a link that points to "Z:\GoogleDrive\" but it cannot be edited
I cannot find a way to tell GoogleDrive to use C: instead of Z:
Very frustrating as I changed using the old "Backup & Sync" so it clearly used to possible.
Gonna try switching to OneDrive instead then uninstall GoogleDrive from all PCs and then try redoing it all over again. Seems like a sledgehammer to crack a nut though.
SOLUTION - BUT WITH RISK OF DATA LOSS, read before trying it...
1. Backup everything - Google still tried to delete some files
2. Ensure all files are synced.
3. Turn off syncing within GoogleDrive (right click, cog)
4. Exit GoogleDrive (right-click, cog)
5. Uninstall GoogleDrive (Windows Programs & Settings)
6. Reboot
7. Move your folder from the old drive to the new one.
8. Download & install the latest GoogleDrive app
9. When installing it will tell you it can't find the folder, tell it the new one on the new drive.
10. Watch it carefully, it may delete some files as it syncs badly. Errors occur.
For something so simple, Google really have made this an incredibly difficult process. It may be worth deleting all the files from the Google cloud and re-uploading them from your PC to ensure there's no data loss.
Thanks for writing this out. Actually I had to do this procedure once for a computer that refused to move the files. The video I made assumes your computer will work properly, but if it doesn't, then you need to follow this procedure. Having a local backup of your Google drive folder is critical for sure just incase.
I have google drive seperate disk of google drive name when I store the files in the Google drive why C drives gets fill also google drive gets fill both disks are filling how to solve it?
Moved the Google Drive to D: from C: as nicely explained by you - thanks. The older Google Drive folder under the user profile folder on C drive is still locked by some process - unable to delete this empty folder - your suggestions please.
Although my video explains the entire process, it seems to stick sometimes for some people and won't let go. you might have to stop the service, delete the old copy on C, then start the service again. if it puts the folder back, the program is still pointing there and needs to be reconfigured probably or reinstall Google Drive.
@@TwinBytesInc Thanks. I had to stop the service, uninstall, restart, delete the Google Drive folder in C:, restart and reinstall Google Drive. It showed a message about the now deleted C: folder and I asked it to ignore it for syncing. Interestingly it knew which D: folder to point to even though I had uninstalled and reinstalled the Google Drive with restarts in between - Google is sneaky; it maintains the information somewhere even though it is uninstalled!
@@rajeevarora190 You're welcome. Yes, most programs store settings in the registry and/or other configuration files in their program directory.
Looks like this moved the Cached directly location to the D: but I still have the GoogleDrive linked to C: In preferences the "Google Drive" screen shows "Open in Explorer" which when clicked, launches the folder in the C: To confirm this hasnt moved, I created a new file in Drive on my phone and it synced to the Google folder in the C:. Suggestions?
Thanks for your question. First backup your data to a USB drive incase things go really bad.
Ensure the new location is set it Google Drive preferences. Then Stop the Google drive service, manually move the files and delete the original location folder. Then start Google Drive service again. if it insists on pointing to C, it will notice it doesn't exist and should ask where the new location is.
Sir, plz guide me whether changing drive location is still possible with current version of Google Drive desktop application???
Yes, it's definitely possible with more options now. I'll make another video on that to guide you through it since this is a popular topic.
I just tried this with the new google drive app for the desktop (not backup and sync) and It didn't move the local folders, just some cache data folder.
I still have the 7.5GB of data in my C drive. Any idea on how to actually move the data?. The old backup and sync allowed me to chooce a folder for the data, any folder I would like to use. The new google drive for desktop seems to just do what ever it wants. Any help will be appriciate it. Thank You!!!!
Thanks for your question. It should have moved the files automatically. If it didn't, double check hte path was updated successfully after rebooting. Then you can cut and paste the files from the old location to the new manually if it didn't move automatically.
@@TwinBytesInc Thank you for the reply.
Sadly I tried everything and it only moves the cache files, not the full 7.5GB of data thats stored on C:\user\username\my unit.
The only solution I found to this problem was a brute force method:
1. Closed the google drive app for desktop (this is not backup and sync).
2. Using file explorer go to D: (or whatever drive you wana store the data in) and create a folder, for example mine was "Google Local Unit".
3. Then open another file explorer and go to C:\user\username\my unit (inside theres a copy of all the local data, I think is called "mirror" mode because is the same folders and files that are on the cloud just locally on each PC). Select every single folder and file and then right click the selection and "Copy".
4. Go into the new D: folder (for me Google Local Unit) right click and "paste". This will copy all the real data from the defaul google folder to the one thats better for you.
5. When the copy is finished, you then go back to C:\user\username, right click the "My Unit" folder (it may change name depending on Windows language) and delete it.
6. Optional step, just in case restart your PC.
7. Back into Windows after the restart, go ahead and open Google Drive app for desktop once again.
8. The App will realize the original folder is gone (not present anymore), and will offer an option to "Locate" the folder.
9. Press "Locate" and then navigate and select the new folder, ni my case: "D:\Google Local Unit".
10. It will ask you if you are sure you wana do that, because is not the same folder, go ahead and click "Yes", I believe it was "Yes", or perhaps "Continue".
11. Done, after that the local folder for you data will be the one you want and not the one by default.
Cheers and thank you
@@rodrirm Thanks for sharing your solution. It sounded like it was stuck and had to be forced somehow.
@@TwinBytesInc FYI, I had the exact same problem as Rodri and had to do the switch manually.
I'm sorry to hear you had trouble but glad to hear you got it working. Software doesn't always work as designed but that's why people like me exist. :) Thanks for taking time to comment.
I actually changed the location before seeing this video and it worked fine.
First, I quit the Google Drive. Then I copied the folder Google Drive from C to my biggest hard drive D: and after all files were copied, I deleted the folder on drive C. It works fine for the moment but when I open the Preferences on Google Drive the cache files are still on drive C.
Do you think I should move the cache as well or I can leave it like that since it work fine for now?
Thank you for your answer in advance
Thanks for your comment/question. it's good to delete the local copy as well and let it sync to the new location. I found it was a little stubborn even for me when I did it the first time before the video, but these instructions are the basics.
@@TwinBytesInc Thank you! I have already deleted the old Google Drive on C but my question was if I should do the instructions in your video for the cache as well or leave it like that since it's working fine for now
if it's working fine you should be ok. But you probably don't want two locations where one is current cache and the other is old. Just incase of whatever we might not think of.
@@TwinBytesInc You are right. Thank you again
@@asengrigorov9925 You're welcome
In my case this cache location is not the actual location of my google drive folder. So I guess cache location != google drive folder. Cache is probably for the steaming mode, and for mirroring it's different. Just cannot find where it is configured.
Sorry I can't help much more on this in this platform. It can be challenging and requires some playing with it to get it working sometimes. not sure why, but that's what I've experienced.
To this day this advice is still incorrect, by moving that you only move the cached files, so about 7Mb in my case
Actually, I've done this many times for customers successfully. Instead of saying I'm wrong, you could ask why it didn't work for you. Yes, it is cached files we want to move and change the default for the cached files. That is the entire point to free up space on C. I have seen cases where it is stuck and we need to manually cut and paste the folder from C to D, but ensure the path is changed successfully as I have shown in the video. Try again.
I just tried this and It didn't move the local folders, but just some cache folders. My solution is just changing "Stream files" to "Mirror files" in settings, and the app will ask you to choose a folder. Of course, this solution works only if you choose to mirror files rather than to stream files only.
This has become a confusing topic for many and the instructions don't always work perfectly as Google seems to force it's default in place and make it hard to change. I also had to struggle with mine, but unfortunately I didn't record my struggles. I just played with it first, figured it out, and then made the video of how it should work. In hindsight, I should have recorded the struggles.
Omg this was SO helpful, it worked! Thanks!
what about windows 7? this solution is not working in w7
It should be the same, however since Windows 7 is unsupported for almost 2 years now, there's no guarantees of anything working with Windows 7. In theory, the steps should be the same.
Sorry but this is crap. The actual drive folder is located "c:\users\username\google drive" - this is what you need to move.
Sorry, but there are different drive paths depending if you are with Google Business or the Free Google Drive. Also, you can't just move the folder as you say because the Google Drive app will just recreate that folder and download the files there again.
So before passing insults, maybe clarification is better like what I'm trying to do here. My video shows with the Google Business. You maybe using the personal edition.
You moved the cache only. Not the files folder.
@@SabriCanOkyay Actually, I saw the file actually move and the storage space actually reduce on C and increase on D drive.
My problem is... The folder is missing from C too. Yet in google drive it says it's there...
This method doesn't work. It moves cache folder only. The local folder with google drive files remains at the same place
I believe I answered similar comments a few times since this video came out. if you think the sync folder and local folder are two different locations. Please do share. I don't think you can because they are one in the same. it worked for me when I did it and freed up space. There are issues doing this in some cases and takes some extra troubleshooting steps. Otherwise this is the procedure. Feel free to share if you have another method that works.
It simply doesn't work.
Sorry it didn't work for you. Too many variables in each computer system. Some people will have much more trouble getting this going.
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Thank you
You're welcome