How to Move Desktop Folder to Another Drive on Windows and Mac

Do you want to move the desktop folder to another drive on your Windows or Mac PC? If yes, then discover the best ways to do so in this article! Read thoroughly and make the process of changing the Desktop location hassle-free and quick!

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If we talk about the Windows or Mac PC, all the user files and folders are stored in the C: Users, followed by the username. In the C drive, you can see a handful of folders that include Desktop, Downloads, Music, Documents, Pictures, etc.

So, there are times when you run out of storage space on your primary C drive, and hence, moving these folders to another drive seems to be the best option to free up space. This way, you can use the valuable space on the system drive for games and apps that benefit from the performance and speed of the SSD.

So, if you have GBs of data in the Desktop folder, then it's definitely a good idea to move the Desktop folder to another drive on Mac and Windows. But if you are unaware of how to do it, then we are here to help you! This article will show you the ideal ways to easily change the Desktop location on both Windows and Mac.

How to Move Desktop Folder to Another Drive on Windows in 2 Ways 

If you are running your Windows 10 PC on a relatively small partition of your hard drive or a small SSD and running out of disk storage space, then you can consider moving the desktop folder to another drive.

You can change the Desktop location on a Windows PC in 2 ways! The first way will help you move the desktop folder to another drive by using the default Windows 10 feature, and another method will introduce an excellent tool that will help you complete the entire process within no time.

So, let's look at how each of them works!

1. Use a Larger Folder Move Tool - EaseUS Todo PCTrans Free

If the above-stated method didn't work for you to change the Desktop location, you could consider doing the same by using an advanced tool that works wonders for moving large folders from one location to another on a Windows PC. EaseUS Todo PCTrans Free is a top-notch tool with a Large Folder Move feature to help you move the Desktop folder to another drive.

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The EaseUS Todo PCTrans tool moves data, applications, and folders from one location to another or between 2 PCs with or without a network. This tool has three transfer modes: transfer via network connection, transfer locally, and transfer via image files.

The EaseUS Todo PCTrans tool boasts a variety of features that involve:

  • Auto transfer
  • Move a PC game to another drive, no need to reinstall programs
  • Free transfer assistance
  • Migrate all the old PC files to the new Windows 10 PC
  • Recover programs and files from dead PC
  • Highly supports Windows 10/8/8.1/7/Vista/XP
  • Move everything securely and quickly

So, changing the Desktop folder location in Windows PC is no longer a problem with the Large File or Folder Move feature of EaseUS PC data transfer software.

Step 1. Run EaseUS Todo PCTrans on your PC. Choose "Large File Cleanup" > Click "Start" button to move on.

large file transfer - 1

Step 2. Select the disk you want to scan, click "Scan."

large file transfer - 2

Step 3. When the scan completes, files larger than 20M will be listed. Choose the wanted files and target drive to move. (You can choose the triangle icon to select destination or click "Browse" to pick the wanted place.)

large file transfer - 3

Step 4. Click "Move" button, then check files on the pop window. Then click "Move" button again.

large file transfer - 4

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2. Use the Properties Option

By using the Properties Option in Windows 10, you can quickly move Desktop folder to another drive. Always remember that you can move the folders that you wish to move instead of moving all of them.

Here's a guide on how to use the Properties option to change the Desktop location!

Step 1. Open File Explorer by clicking on its related icon on the taskbar or by tapping on the File Explorer icon in the Start Menu.

Step 2. Now, in the left navigation panel of the File Explorer, you will see multiple folders under Quick Access, including Desktop. You simply need to right-click on the Desktop folder and then click on "Properties" to open Desktop Properties.

desktop folder properties

NOTE: You cannot move multiple folders at once.

Step 3. Switch to the "Location" tab and click the "Move" button.

click the move button

Step 4. Now, select the location on any drive (except external drive) and finally click on "Select Folder" and then the "Apply" button to move the Desktop folder to the new drive.

move desktop folder

That's all that you need to do to move the desktop folder to another drive on Windows PC by using the Properties option. Share these ways to let more user know about it.

 

How to Move the Desktop Folder to Another Drive on Mac 

Before beginning with the process, always make sure you have a current backup because that way, you can retrieve everything to how it was before changing the Desktop or Home folder location.

So, here's a guide on how to move the Desktop folder to another drive on Mac!

Step 1. Using the Finder to navigate to the Users folder. For most Mac users, the path is /Macintosh HD/Users.

choose users

Step 2. Here, select the "Home" folder and drag it to the new location on another drive.

tap on home icon

Step 3. Click on the "System Preferences" icon on the Dock and select "System Preferences" from the Apple Menu.

system preferences

Step 4. Simply tap on "Users & Groups". Then, click on the "Lock" icon and enter your administrator password.

select users and groups

Step 5. From the list of user accounts, right-click on the account whose Home folder you have moved and choose the "Advanced Options" from the pop-up menu.

click on advanced options

Step 6. Here, tap on the "Choose" button located on the right side of the "Home Directory" field.

click on choose button

Step 7. Now, go to the location where you have moved the Home folder to and select the new home folder, and hit the "Open" button.

click on open button

Step 8. Tap "OK" to dismiss the "Advanced Options" sheet and then close the "System preferences".

That's all! You can restart your Mac now and see that the Home folder is in the new location.

Conclusion 

This was all about how you can move the desktop folder to another drive on Mac and Windows! No matter which method you choose above to change the Desktop location, you will surely get excellent results.

But if you ask us, then we will recommend you to try moving the Desktop folder to another drive by using the EaseUS Todo PCTrans tool, as it will get your work done flawlessly within a couple of minutes.

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Support Windows 11/10/8/7

About the Author

Updated by Sherly

Sherly joined EaseUS in 2022 and she has always loved writing articles and enjoys the fun they bring. She receives professional training here, focusing on product performance and other relative knowledge. She has written over 200 articles to help people overcome computing issues.

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Written by Cedric

Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.

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  • EaseUS Todo PCTrans Free is a useful and and reliable software solution created to serve in computer migration operations, be it from one machine to another or from an earlier version of your OS to a newer one.

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  • EaseUS Todo PCTrans is by the folks at EaseUS who make incredible tools that let you manage your backups and recover your dead hard disks. While it is not an official tool, EaseUS has a reputation for being very good with their software and code.

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  • It offers the ability to move your entire user account from your old computer, meaning everything is quickly migrated. You still get to keep your Windows installation (and the relevant drivers for your new PC), but you also get all your apps, settings, preferences, images, documents and other important data.

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How to Move Desktop Folder to Another Drive on Windows and Mac

Try smart Windows 11 data transfer tool to move all data in 1 click.

EaseUS Todo PCTrans

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