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How do I move (not merely copy) folders/files from one internal hard drive to another internal hard drive?

Anonymous
2010-11-08T01:26:37+00:00

I just finished building a new desktop with 2 internal drives: a 128MB Crucial SSD, and a 1TB Samsung HDD. I loaded Windows 7 (64 bit) and my commonly used programs on the faster SSD, and want to use the much bigger HDD to store data and less commonly used programs. I transferred all my data over from my old desktop using Windows Easy Tranfer, but it would only allow me to transfer the data to my C: system/boot drive (the SSD). So I now want to move my data files to my D: drive. Windows will allow me to move folders and files to an external drive, but apparently will only allow me to copy to the internal D: drive. Which means I'll have to delete every file copied from the C: drive to the D:. It's admittedly not a huge problem, but I wonder if there's any way to simply move all the files, rather than copy/delete. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-08T01:58:05+00:00

    If you are using Windows Explorer, do a RIGHT-click and drag and then select 'Move here' from the context menu.  The files and/or folders you selected will be copied to the destination and then deleted from the source.

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-08T05:00:02+00:00

    I just finished building a new desktop with 2 internal drives: a 128MB Crucial SSD, and a 1TB Samsung HDD. I loaded Windows 7 (64 bit) and my commonly used programs on the faster SSD, and want to use the much bigger HDD to store data and less commonly used programs. I transferred all my data over from my old desktop using Windows Easy Tranfer, but it would only allow me to transfer the data to my C: system/boot drive (the SSD). So I now want to move my data files to my D: drive. Windows will allow me to move folders and files to an external drive, but apparently will only allow me to copy to the internal D: drive. Which means I'll have to delete every file copied from the C: drive to the D:. It's admittedly not a huge problem, but I wonder if there's any way to simply move all the files, rather than copy/delete. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

    Why don't you just cut & paste?

    Open up Windows Explorer, select the files you want.  If you want to select all the files in a given folder, press Ctrl + A (this will select ALL files & folders).

    Press the Alt key on your keyboard and you will see the Edit menu (see the screenshot below).

    Select 'Cut'.

    Now go to your destination folder and press the Alt key again.  Click on the Edit menu.

    Select 'Paste'.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-02-06T15:16:42+00:00

    I too was having this issue.  I came across this site while searching for a solution.  Although this thread is a few years old I thought I would contribute in case someone else like me wanders in here.  The best solution I have found is to either: 1. hold down the shift key while dragging the files from one drive to the other (shift forces a move), or 2. right click dragging the file will bring up a menu, one of the options is to move the file. (the menu will only appear after you release the mouse button.  For me, this is better than copy/pasting because it is quicker.  Also, I am on Windows 10, I am not sure if this works for older versions of Windows.

    I hope this helps.

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  2. LemP 74,930 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2017-11-30T15:06:59+00:00

    Tip:  When moving important files, use COPY rather than MOVE.  You can always manually delete the original files after you determine that the copy worked as intended.  "Move" is just a "copy" operation combined with an automatic "delete" and if something goes wrong, you may end up with nothing.

    Drag and drop works the same in Windows 7, 8, and 10, and does not depend on file types.  Normally, use the left mouse button.

    • If you drag and drop from one drive to a different drive, the operation is COPY.
    • If you drag and drop from one location to another on the same drive, the operation is MOVE.
    • If you press the SHIFT key while doing the drag and drop, the operation will always be MOVE, regardless of destination.
    • If you press the CTRL key while doing the drag and drop, the operation will always be COPY, regardless of destination.
    • If you press CTRL+SHIFT or ALT while doing the drag and drop, you'll create a shortcut at the destination location
    • If you don't want to be bothered to remember all of the above, just press the right-mouse button instead of the left one when you do the drag and drop.  You'll get a menu with all of the options.  The default option (which will happen if you don't select anything) will be in bold.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-03-22T23:30:29+00:00

    press the shift button when dragging the flie

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