second hard drive

[IcSilk]

I have just installed a second hard drive on my PC.

My OS is windows xp and I can't figure out how to get the start menu to read new programs from the new drive (F instead of the old one (C.

I am not sure if I was clear enough - for example : I had a graphics suite that I moved over to F from C and it was on my start menu. and the comp can't find it. How do get the start menu to find it on the new F drive?

[nihil]

I guess it is all down to access paths.......................

If you have an icon on your desktop, right click on it, go into properties, and manually change the access path to point to the new location.

I will just go and boot up my XP box and edit with any other thoughts

EDIT:

Just checked and if you go into <start> <all programs> and right click on the items in there you can change them in the same way.

[MilitantEidolon]

Nihil is correct!

Also if you want to point your proggies to the F: drive from the start menu you add a shortcut or change the target paths. And Viola!


- MilitantEidolon

[Negative]

I hope you didn't "just move" all the files from C: to F:, because that won't work...

[IcSilk]

I hope you didn't "just move" all the files from C: to F:, because that won't work...

Well 'Negative' you got me worried - that is exactly what I did - click and dragged them.

If that was a no no please tell me how I should have done it............

I did change the target paths from 'C:' to F: and it just wanted to open them in notepad - which as we all know is useless for a graphics suite.

[CXGJarrod]

As far as applications go you should uninstall and then reinstall them to a new directory on your new drive. (After backing up your data)

[Negative]

Nothing to worry about
That immediately explains all your problems!

Originally, your (Start Menu-) shortcuts were pointing to the actual exe-files on C: (the program files, like word.exe).

Then you added a second hard disk, and you dragged-and-dropped all the program-files (probably the entire directory) to that second hard disk. Result: your (Start Menu-) shortcuts are still pointing to the previous C: location, but there's nothing there anymore. Solution: change the properties of your shortcuts, to make them point to F:. That fixes the "can't find file" problem, but there's still another problem.
All those programs aren't "just files" residing on your hard disk. They had to be registered (in the Windows Register). You moved them all to F:, but the registry is still thinking that they're on C:.

As CXGJarrod pointed out: back up all the data-files (not the program-files), uninstall the software (through the control panel), and reinstall them on F:.
Just a precaution: I'd move everything back from F: to C: before you uninstall...

[nihil]

Well it all depends on the application in my experience......................

I moved a fair bit of stuff from the C to D drives on this box........................worked just fine.

The question is does the application stand in its own right, or does it make a load of registry entries and the like.

If it is a complex install, you have to uninstall and reinstall into the new location (well I suppose you could mess around in the registry , but I certainly would not recommend that route )


Cheers

EDIT:........Negative beat me to some of that.............I was watching the end of the murder mystery on TV

EDIT#2: Forgot to mention, if you have an app that you have lost the installation software for, just move it back, and to save space you can always move your pagefile onto the second drive..............not sure with XP, but with earlier OSes you have to delete the original after you have re-booted, because it is still in use when you make the change.

[Spyder32]

well I suppose you could mess around in the registry , but I certainly would not recommend that route

And of course, you can always backup the registry which is recommended before any tampering with it is done. But yes, go with Neg/Nihil's advice and don't tamper with it.