There are several threads on here already about this issue. Using junctions is one way to seamlessly move content onto another drive without changing anything about your currently installed programs.

Another approach, which might be better in your case, is to simply clone your current C: drive onto a bigger SSD, then reuse the original C: drive for storage. The easiest way to do that is with 3rd party software, as that can completely automate the task.

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Quote There are several threads on here already about this issue. Using junctions is one way to seamlessly move content onto another drive without changing anything about your currently installed programs.

Another approach, which might be better in your case, is to simply clone your current C: drive onto a bigger SSD, then reuse the original C: drive for storage. The easiest way to do that is with 3rd party software, as that can completely automate the task.

I must have used the wrong words to search for other threads LOL.
My SSD already has a lot of photo and video files, so I dont' think I can clone my C: drive to it. I guess I better try your junction suggestion. It sounds like the files will be moved to D: but the junction will make the computer think they're on C: Is that correct?
I don't need to change the download location for updates/style packs, is that correct?

What would happen if I just downloaded the programs to the SSD, then remove the programs from C: ?

Thnaks! DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

Cloning would only work if you had a brand new drive. They're pretty inexpensive these days, and it's a one-time 100% solution.

If you want to stick with your current drives, you'll first want to copy all of the relevant content from your C: to your D:, like copy the C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\Templates folder to your D: drive so it's D:\Templates. Next you'll have to delete the original Templates folder (which may require Admin permission), then you'll create the junction there with the mklink command from the command prompt.

When you're done it should look like this in File Explorer. Note the little blue arrow on the junction folder icon:



As you move forward, I think it's easier if you tell the App Manager to install new content on your D: drive, but there's no right or wrong way to do this and you can move more content and use junctions whenever you need more space on your C: drive.

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Quote Cloning would only work if you had a brand new drive. They're pretty inexpensive these days, and it's a one-time 100% solution.

If you want to stick with your current drives, you'll first want to copy all of the relevant content from your C: to your D:, like copy the C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\Templates folder to your D: drive so it's D:\Templates. Next you'll have to delete the original Templates folder (which may require Admin permission), then you'll create the junction there with the mklink command from the command prompt.

When you're done it should look like this in File Explorer. Note the little blue arrow on the junction folder icon:



As you move forward, I think it's easier if you tell the App Manager to install new content on your D: drive, but there's no right or wrong way to do this and you can move more content and use junctions whenever you need more space on your C: drive.

Good idea about a new SSD, but then I have this one that isn't being used. I hate that LOL. I
I think I can do this though, with your instructions. I've been locating all of my CyberLink files - so far I've found them in my Program Files directory, Program Files (x86) directory, and Program Data directory. Are there any other places I need to look?
Do you know why some files are in Program Files and some in (x86)? DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

MyEmerald - Optodata has given you all the options.

You are allowed to have and move your user files (Documents, downloads, pictures,videos, etc.to the D drive and they will be assigned to D without using the junction method that you seem to be hesitant. See this article: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-move-default-user-folders-new-drive-windows-10 . That is what I did. You can create the Program Files and Program Files(x86) folders in the D drive and install all your new programs there. You can leave your old programs where they are on C drive for now. Again this is what I did. You can look at this say as another option to allow you to customize what you can do.

The two different program folders are for 64 bit and 32 bit programs respectively.

An additional option is to

1) make an image of your current SSD with a product called Image for Windows.
2) Then make an image of your HD with PD on it with Image for Windows.
3) Then restore your HD image to your SSD using Image for Windows. (You can set the program to restore on 1 MB Boundaries for the SSD.)
This will wipe out what was on your SSD.
4) But then you use Image for Window's auxillary program, TBIView to extract your photos and stuff from the image of your SSD and paste them into your SSD.

There's a 30 day trial version of the product. I can't remember if it has a cap on how much you can restore in the trial version.

Quote
My SSD already has a lot of photo and video files, so I dont' think I can clone my C: drive to it.

Why would you use the SSD for video files but not for the OS? The single biggest advantage of SSD's is to be used as the boot/OS drive (C drive in your case).
Video editing doesn't benefit from files being on SSD, the read/write speeds during encoding are nowhere near of the values that a HDD can sustain. It's a waste of resources IMO.

I would strongly suggest to replace the C drive with a new SSD of larger size (since you are out of space already). Free software (like Macrium Reflect or EaseUS) can assist with the move of the OS from HDD to SSD while performing the needed alignment and expansion of space.
PS: The SSD must be aligned differently from HDD, so the move cannot be a simple direct image copy: https://lifehacker.com/speed-up-your-ssd-by-correctly-aligning-your-partitions-5837769

Quote MyEmerald - Optodata has given you all the options.

You are allowed to have and move your user files (Documents, downloads, pictures,videos, etc.to the D drive and they will be assigned to D without using the junction method that you seem to be hesitant. See this article: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-move-default-user-folders-new-drive-windows-10 . That is what I did. You can create the Program Files and Program Files(x86) folders in the D drive and install all your new programs there. You can leave your old programs where they are on C drive for now. Again this is what I did. You can look at this say as another option to allow you to customize what you can do.

The two different program folders are for 64 bit and 32 bit programs respectively.

#

Tomasc - I'm not hesitant at all about the junctions, just hadn't done them before. I gave it a try last night and did it :
Thank you for the link though, I may end up doing that too. This is my first laptop, and I don't fully understand what can and can't be done with the various drives. DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

Quote Why would you use the SSD for video files but not for the OS? The single biggest advantage of SSD's is to be used as the boot/OS drive (C drive in your case).

SoNic67 - No good reason. I didn't know any better when I set up my laptop. I still don't know much, so I appreciate everyone's suggestions.

Quote Video editing doesn't benefit from files being on SSD, the read/write speeds during encoding are nowhere near of the values that a HDD can sustain. It's a waste of resources IMO.

I thought it would be the opposite, SSD much faster. See? Told you I didn't know much LOL.

Quote I would strongly suggest to replace the C drive with a new SSD of larger size (since you are out of space already). Free software (like Macrium Reflect or EaseUS) can assist with the move of the OS from HDD to SSD while performing the needed alignment and expansion of space.
PS: The SSD must be aligned differently from HDD, so the move cannot be a simple direct image copy: ]https://lifehacker.com/speed-up-your-ssd-by-correctly-aligning-your-partitions-5837769

I'm a little confused. Are you saying I should have 2 SSDs? One as C and one as D? Did I misunderstand when you said an HDD is preferable for video editing? Also, I guess I need to find out if my laptop will allow 2 SSDs. DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

Quote If you want to stick with your current drives, you'll first want to copy all of the relevant content from your C: to your D:, like copy the C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\Templates folder to your D: drive so it's D:\Templates. Next you'll have to delete the original Templates folder (which may require Admin permission), then you'll create the junction there with the mklink command from the command prompt.

Hi optodata - I followed your instructions and was able to create junctions for everything. That's a cool tool. Now, unfortunately, I think I made a mistake with the locations of some of the original files. Here's a document with screenshots and some notes. Would you mind looking at it and letting me know if there is a way to fix everything? PowerDirector works but PhotoDirector freezes after launching. DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

Quote I'm a little confused. Are you saying I should have 2 SSDs? One as C and one as D? Did I misunderstand when you said an HDD is preferable for video editing? Also, I guess I need to find out if my laptop will allow 2 SSDs.

Well, you have now a HDD and a SSD, don't you? I would at least put that SSD as boot drive by cloning the HDD over with one of those tools.
Of course, whatever you have on SSD no would need to be saved on an external drive or something first.
Then you can change the location of the drives or change the boot order in the BIOS.
After that, when you make the HDD as D drive, you can copy back the saved stuff from the external drive.

Quote Would you mind looking at it and letting me know if there is a way to fix everything? PowerDirector works but PhotoDirector freezes after launching.

Well you've done a lot of work, and I'm pretty sure that something got messed up when you accidentally copied content from one folder on the original drive to a different one on the junction destination. One thing that makes it extra hard is that there are often identically named folders at various points in the folder tree, like Templates and Shared Files, and it's all but impossible to sort everything out if you're not sure where the copying went wrong.

What I'd do is to uninstall both PD and Phd (and any other Cyberlink apps) just so you can get a fresh start. I would also choose to keep personal settings if you're given that option during the uninstall process. It's possible that PhD may not uninstall cleanly, and you may want to try using a reliable uninstaller like RevoPro (which has a fully usable free version) to see if it can ferret out all the appropriate files to be removed.

Next, open a command prompt and type dir /al /s from the root directory of your C: drive to see where all the junctions and symbolic links are. You'll see a ton that Windows automatically created, but just make sure that the main ones (shown in your first screen capture in the linked image) are intact and correct. Use rd <path name> from the command window, or use File Explorer to delete any incorrect junctions.

Now, with the apps uninstalled, take a look and see if there's anything left over in the PhD folder on the D: drive. If so, delete any files you find as long as you keep a copy of the xxxx.phd database/project file. I know you know the importance of that file

When you reinstall the CL apps, you use can the default installation folder and let your junctions do the redirecting. Test each app after installation to make sure it works properly before installing the next app.

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Quote What I'd do is to uninstall both PD and Phd (and any other Cyberlink apps) just so you can get a fresh start. I would also choose to keep personal settings if you're given that option during the uninstall process. It's possible that PhD may not uninstall cleanly, and you may want to try using a reliable uninstaller like RevoPro (which has a fully usable free version) to see if it can ferret out all the appropriate files to be removed.

Completed uninstallation of all CyberLink programs/apps.

Quote Next, open a command prompt and type dir /al /s from the root directory of your C: drive to see where all the junctions and symbolic links are. You'll see a ton that Windows automatically created, but just make sure that the main ones (shown in your first screen capture in the linked image) are intact and correct. Use rd from the command window, or use File Explorer to delete any incorrect junctions.

Only 1 of the 3 junctions remain, ProgramData. The Program Files and Program Files (x86) are gone. What do you suggest? DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

Quote Only 1 of the 3 junctions remain, ProgramData. The Program Files and Program Files (x86) are gone. What do you suggest?

That's completely your call!

You can change the installation folder in the App Manager and make sure everything gets installed where you want to begin with; or you can manually recreate the 2 junctions for the top level Cyberlink folders in the default C: locations for PF and PF(x86) and let the App Manager run with the junctions redirecting all of the installation files and content.

There's no right or wrong, so go with whichever seems easier or makes the most sense for you.

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Quote

That's completely your call!

You can change the installation folder in the App Manager and make sure everything gets installed where you want to begin with; or you can manually recreate the 2 junctions for the top level Cyberlink folders in the default C: locations for PF and PF(x86) and let the App Manager run with the junctions redirecting all of the installation files and content.

There's no right or wrong, so go with whichever seems easier or makes the most sense for you.

Ok, thanks, that's good to know. Would you mind taking a look at my document, I added a screenshot to the bottom. I just want you to see the files that are still on my D drive after uninstallations. I can run that other program you mentioned if need be, but I want to verify that all of it should be gone. My xxx.phd files are safe in other folders on D: DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

Weird, I responded 20 minutes ago but I just checked and the post is gone! Hopefully this one will stick.

Everything in the D:\ProgramData\Cyberlink folder tree is safe to delete. Go ahead and either set the App Manager to install on your D: drive, or recreate the C:\ProgramData\Cyberlink <==> D:\ProgramData\Cyberlink junction and let it install everything to the default locations (which will really be on your D: drive)

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Quote Weird, I responded 20 minutes ago but I just checked and the post is gone! Hopefully this one will stick.

Everything in the D:\ProgramData\Cyberlink folder tree is safe to delete. Go ahead and either set the App Manager to install on your D: drive, or recreate the C:\ProgramData\Cyberlink <==> D:\ProgramData\Cyberlink junction and let it install everything to the default locations (which will really be on your D: drive)

It came through this time

Ok, I'll delete D:\ProgramData\Cyberlink
Should I leave everything remaining in the 2 Program Files folders? DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD

I'd make a copy of the Templates folder(s) just in case.

Since you've deleted all the CL apps ,I think you can safely remove the Cyberlink folder under both PF and PF(x86), then go ahead with whichever approach you want to use that I've outlined above to reinstall the apps and content packs.

Good luck!

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Quote I'd make a copy of the Templates folder(s) just in case.

I didn't see this part of your message before I deleted everything, I hope it will be ok

Quote
Since you've deleted all the CL apps ,I think you can safely remove the Cyberlink folder under both PF and PF(x86), then go ahead with whichever approach you want to use that I've outlined above to reinstall the apps and content packs.

Good luck!

I've deleted everything. I downloaded CyberLink Application Manager and installed it. I'm able to login but then all I see is the Application Manager screen with nothing on it. Do you have any suggestions on that one? I've uninstalled and redownloaded/installed a couple of times. Nothing. I used Revo Pro to remove everything associated with Application Manager. Thanks!! DirectorSuite 365 | Win 11 Home | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX with Radeon Graphics 3301 Mhz, 8 cores, 16 logical processors | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | 2TB SSD