Correcting the references of the documents
Correcting the references of the documents
Hello everyone, I managed to install an SATA m.2 drive into my girlfriend's laptop and everything worked smoothly during cloning. The problem I'm facing now is that I didn't create the documents folder on the HDD before relocating it. Currently, quick access and the This PC documents folder point directly to the drive root instead of the actual folder. When I try placing it in the custom documents folder, I receive an error saying "Can't redirect a parent into a child. The specified path is invalid." I've also attempted to restore to the default location (C:\user\username\Documents), but it failed with the message "Failed to build the list of regular subdirectories under D:\System Volume Information. Access is denied." The drive I used was the one that came with the HDD, which I formatted before attempting the move. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated since she needs to finish her schoolwork today!
It seems unclear if cloning a drive also copies documents folders. The standard locations are under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders Documents, with the "Personal" key pointing to "%USERPROFILE%\Documents". Default values are saved in a registry file named defaultlocations.reg.
You’ve managed to transfer most of your files to the new SSD without issues. The only missing part was the documents folder, which you forgot to create. To access the registry, look for the key related to the folder location—often something like `HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall` or similar. Once you locate it, you can edit or adjust settings there. This should help place the folder back in its proper place without further trouble.
It's just the default registry file, so it reverts to earlier, original configurations. Plus, learn how to manage regular folders—make a "music" or "downloads" folder yourself and use it instead of depending on system paths. It's much better that way. You can also add your favorite paths to your explorer and apply them in any program; you can adjust paths in applications to point to your own directories, rather than relying on fixed defaults. Also, keeping the SSD unused is a waste of money—you pay for it, not for having it free.
You ran it and it resolved the issue. I understand how to manage folders since you have three drives on your desktop. My girlfriend isn’t very tech-savvy, so I want things simple for her. She enjoys photo editing as a hobby, so there will be many photos stored on this laptop. I plan to help her create a working folder on the SSD where she can edit and save images, then move them to the HDD when she’s done, since she’ll use it less often.