Wanting to see an external drive as an internal drive.

Baby_Mechanic_1

Evenin'

I want to use an external drive to store all the pics I'm taking, now I'm retired.
Simple enough at the moment as all I have to do is click on the appropriate external file designation in File Explorer.

However, I started thinking if I could have the Pictures folder in my File Explorer open up to the external drive, instead of the existing internal drive.
My plan would be to move all of the Pictures folder to the external drive, and then delete the internal drive version of Pictures.

Is this possible, and if so, how do I do it ?

Ta muchly for looking in.

Neil_Jones

If Windows 10, look into the libraries:

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-libraries-windows-10

You can paint the impression that the Picture folder lives on the external drive and set it as default or even move it, but you can't delete it.  It's a key Windows folder.

[Deleted User]

Don't forget to have a backup copy of all the photos on a different drive!

Heedtheadvice

Best to use the external drive as one of several backup methods to reduce the risk of loosing all your pictures?

Why do you wish to do as you ask? Are you short of storage space?

jamesd

Baby_Mechanic_1 said:

I want to use an external drive to store all the pics I'm taking, now I'm retired.
Simple enough at the moment as all I have to do is click on the appropriate external file designation in File Explorer.

However, I started thinking if I could have the Pictures folder in my File Explorer open up to the external drive, instead of the existing internal drive.
My plan would be to move all of the Pictures folder to the external drive, and then delete the internal drive version of Pictures.

Is this possible, and if so, how do I do it ?

Moving instructions are here, for Documents as well if you want to do that.

Please don't rely on one copy. External drives are fairly cheap, though likely to get cheaper over the next six months in larger sizes that have been used for cryptocurrency mining - they are still well above where they were two years ago in the high size range.

You can have Explorer start wherever you like if you want. Open it and look at the directory tree on the left. Right click on the folder you want and choose "pin to taskbar" and you'll find an entry under Windows explorer there that you can pick on via a right click. You can do the same with assorted applications, like Notepad, though of course not all support it.

Baby_Mechanic_1

Heedtheadvice said:

Why do you wish to do as you ask? Are you short of storage space?

Yes !
Since I retired, I'm taking a lot more pics, so what storage space I had has been eaten up !

I was wondering if there was an easy way to do what I wanted, technically lazy on my part, but I'll investigate all of your suggestions.

Thanking you kindly

wongataa

Baby_Mechanic_1 said:

Evenin'

I want to use an external drive to store all the pics I'm taking, now I'm retired.
Simple enough at the moment as all I have to do is click on the appropriate external file designation in File Explorer.

However, I started thinking if I could have the Pictures folder in my File Explorer open up to the external drive, instead of the existing internal drive.
My plan would be to move all of the Pictures folder to the external drive, and then delete the internal drive version of Pictures.

Is this possible, and if so, how do I do it ?

Ta muchly for looking in.

There is little point in trying to delete or move the 'Pictures' folder on the C drive.  Just create a suitable pictures folder on the drive of your choice and choose that one to save your pictures in.  You are not forced to use any specific folder to save your files of any type.