If you have a subscription to MS Office you get 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage space and that's where I have all my CL assets and personal docs, photos, etc.

Depending on how your new laptop was configured at the factory, the Videos, Docs, Photos and Music libraries may already be set up on OneDrive but you may want to move them and the OneDrive folder to the D: drive to keep them safe if you ever need to format or restore your C: drive. This is a good plan even if you don't use OneDrive.

You might actually need to create a logical D: drive if you only have a single large C: drive, and there are many online articles showing how to do that as well as how to move library folders from their default locations and how to relocate the OneDrive master folder.

I'd strongly recommend getting those all set before installing PD and any other major programs so they'll start off with the storage landscape already set 👍

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You might actually need to create a logical D: drive if you only have a single large C: drive, and there are many online articles showing how to do that as well as how to move library folders from their default locations and how to relocate the OneDrive master folder.

I'd strongly recommend getting those all set before installing PD and any other major programs so they'll start off with the storage landscape already set 👍

I've already installed the programs, but haven't used them yet. I will uninstall them, and then research how to create a logical D: drive. That sounds like a great idea.

Do you, in addition to keeping everything on OneDrive, keep originals on C: in photos? Do you create separate folders for your project files?

Thanks for your suggestions, Optodata!

I do most of my editing on my desktop which has 10TB+ of storage, so most of my raw video clips stay on my non-C: drives but they aren't on OneDrive as they're way too large.

I tend to keep videos from one subject on a specific drive (I have 6 physical SSDs) and will often create a new folder for each set of raw videos and all projects I use them for, but not always. I also have one drive set aside for random things like when I'm working on forum issues and that doesn't have any real structure to it.

My phone's camera roll is automatically backed up to OneDrive so I can access those images from all connected devices and I won't lose them if my phone is lost, stolen or otherwise becomes unusable.

Quote Depending on how your new laptop was configured at the factory, the Videos, Docs, Photos and Music libraries may already be set up on OneDrive but you may want to move them and the OneDrive folder to the D: drive to keep them safe if you ever need to format or restore your C: drive. This is a good plan even if you don't use OneDrive.

You might actually need to create a logical D: drive if you only have a single large C: drive, and there are many online articles showing how to do that as well as how to move library folders from their default locations and how to relocate the OneDrive master folder.

I've been thinking about this and I'm wondering if it makes sense to create a logical D: drive on the new laptop. If the C: drive fails, so will the logical drive, correct? Is there another benefit I'm missing?

If the physical drive fails, then you're right - the data on both the C: and D: drives may be lost.

However it's rare for a new drive to simply fail, especially if it's a brand new SSD. Issues that might require reformatting are normally limited to a single logical drive, so any other logical drives on the same physical device would remain unaffected.

Another reason is that if you ever need to reinstall Windows, it's much simpler if your personal info is on another drive so there's no risk of losing any of it.

Doing this lets the C: drive be dedicated for the just the OS, which also makes it easier to make system image backups and restore them if anything (ahem, like a showstopping bug in an important app update) might suddenly appear.

If that happened, you could simply restore the most recent system image and not worry about whether you'd separately backup up all your personal files so they wouldn't be overwritten with older versions.

I've learned several painful lessons regarding what I did and didn't back up since Win3.1. This is how I now configure all my computers now and it's saved me more times than I can count!👍

Quote Another reason is that if you ever need to reinstall Windows, it's much simpler if your personal info is on another drive so there's no risk of losing any of it.

Doing this lets the C: drive be dedicated for the just the OS, which also makes it easier to make system image backups and restore them if anything (ahem, like a showstopping bug in an important app update) might suddenly appear.

I've learned several painful lessons regarding what I did and didn't back up since Win3.1. This is how I now configure all my computers now and it's saved me more times than I can count!👍

I have very limited knowledge about logical drives, but I think this makes sense. If the C: drive is going to be dedicated for just the OS, once the logical D: drive exists do I move all other programs and files from C to D? I've already transferred a few files over from the old laptop, not PowerDirector files though. Well, I did, but I'm uninstalling all PD files before I do all of this.

I'm currently packing my project files, I didn't know it would take so much time for each one! Oh well!

I'm happy to learn from your experiences...Win 3.1! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.

Quote If the C: drive is going to be dedicated for just the OS, once the logical D: drive exists do I move all other programs and files from C to D?

That gets complicated really quickly. If you'd done this from the start, it would've been easy simply to set up your libraries on D: and everything would end up in the right place.

You can't move any installed programs. You'd have to uninstall each of them and then reinstall them intentionally onto your D: drive (if they even give you that option). I'd actually recommend leaving them all on the C: drive anyway so they'll always be part of your system backup.

I think the D: drive should only be for personal data, and since Windows has 4 dedicated libraries (Music, Docs, Pics, Videos) it makes sense to relocate them to your new D: drive. This article explains the steps.

If you're planning to use OneDrive, you may need to move that folder first. There are many online articles describing that process.

I keep all my installed my programs on C: because, if you format and reinstall Windows, they will need to be re-installed too.
But all my other assets are kept on the D: drive (separated from C - photos, videos, downloads, documents. I back them out automatically on an extrenal drive too.

Quote I keep all my installed my programs on C: because, if you format and reinstall Windows, they will need to be re-installed too.
But all my other assets are kept on the D: drive (separated from C - photos, videos, downloads, documents. I back them out automatically on an extrenal drive too.

Thanks SoNic67! 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

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I think the D: drive should only be for personal data, and since Windows has 4 dedicated libraries (Music, Docs, Pics, Videos) it makes sense to relocate them to your new D: drive. This article explains the steps.

Thank you for the article!

On a side note -I don't remember the process of Packing Project Materials taking a long time in the past. Does PowerDirector actually produce the video in the process? I thought I remembered it being a rather quick process. It's taking several hours.

Quote I don't remember the process of Packing Project Materials taking a long time in the past. Does PowerDirector actually produce the video in the process? I thought I remembered it being a rather quick process. It's taking several hours.

It's not producing anything but it is copying every single video in your project to the new folder, which will take time if there are several multi-GB files.

If you've used the same clips in multiple projects, you'll end up with multiple copies on your D: drive, so packing projects might not be the best way to go. Duplicating your video folders using File Explorer might be a better way to go and then just point PD to where the new folder is when you open each project and get the "can't find xxx" message.

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If you've used the same clips in multiple projects, you'll end up with multiple copies on your D: drive, so packing projects might not be the best way to go. Duplicating your video folders using File Explorer might be a better way to go and then just point PD to where the new folder is when you open each project and get the "can't find xxx" message.

Oh man! That sounds so much easier, and quicker! I'm forgetting how large some of these files are. I watched the two Project Management videos on YouTube, and he suggests packing the projects. Darn.

Ok, just thinking out loud...duplicate folder containing all video for the project...including the .PDS file I presume, and any photos I may have used? ...Open PD on the new laptop and point PD to the new location...Voila! Everything pertaining to the project is there.

What about custom titles, etc.?

If you still have access to your old computer where the custom titles were originally installed, you should be able to copy the folders to the new laptop. See this discussion.

Otherwise, you might be able to recover them as long as you've packed at least one of the projects that used them.

Quote If you still have access to your old computer where the custom titles were originally installed, you should be able to copy the folders to the new laptop. See this discussion.

Otherwise, you might be able to recover them as long as you've packed at least one of the projects that used them.

Thanks for the link. I do still have my old laptop, with all files intact.

Do you have any recommendations for determining partition sizes?