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Is it safe to delete files in the appdata/roaming folder if I copied the files to an external hard drive?

Anonymous
2022-06-15T14:04:23+00:00

I installed a game onto my laptop a few months back and just played it recently, only to find the files and folders in the appdate/roaming folder just bit a large chunk out of my disk space (the large amounts of space that Windows updates take up don't help either, especially since it takes so long for the temp files from them to be deleted). I figured out I can copy the files to my external and change the directory so the game pulls from my external and not the appdata/roaming folder. Since I copied all the files to my external, is it safe for me to delete the ones in my appdata/roaming folder since they're now basically just sitting there taking up space? I know it's always recommended to not delete files in the appdata roaming folder (learned that the hard way after doing so for GIMP and having to get my set-up back to how I like it), but I don't think it makes sense to keep the game folders there now that they're on my external.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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DaveM121 883.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
2022-06-15T15:02:21+00:00

Hi AngieSinnwell

1

The best first option is to move those files from the AppData folder to another folder on the drive, then restart (not shut down) your PC and check if Minecraft is working correctly, if it is, you can safely delete those files.

2

The rest of your drive looks perfect, I do not see anything wrong with the storage, you manage your drive space very well.

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  1. Anonymous
    2022-06-15T14:55:36+00:00

    Disk cleanup does very little, and half the time when I use it I LOSE disk space....... it doesn't help as much as you think it should

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-06-15T14:54:40+00:00

    The game is Minecraft (i downloaded it from the official site). the method I used is this: after plugging in my external I went to the AppData/Roaming folder, copied the folder for Minecraft, then pasted everything into a folder on my external. I then launched the game launcher, went to the page where it lists the versions that are installed, and changed the directory from the AppData/Roaming folder to the folder on my external. As for Treesize, here's the pic (I did run it as admin):

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  3. DaveM121 883.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2022-06-15T14:37:43+00:00

    Hi AngieSinnwell

    I am Dave, I will help you with this.

    1

    What type of game are you playing, is that a Microsoft Store game, a Steam Game or a3rd party game?

    2

    What method did you use to tell the game to look for those files on the other drive?

    3

    Click the link below to download a small free utility called Treesize.

    https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/treesize-free...

    Important - to run TreeSize, you must right click its icon and choose Run as Administrator.

    Please provide a screenshot of your C drive in that TreeSize utility, so I can see your hard drive and work out where that space is being used and if there is an underlying problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-06-15T14:25:31+00:00

    Disk cleanup will delete temp files

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