Too many Documents folders but cannot eliminate them

[Old_Friend]

This may sound like an oddball question but it does relate to VS. Mostly, it relates to Microsoft. If Corel hadn't forced users into installing VS inside the Microsoft "Documents" folder, none of this would have happened.

My issue is that I now have multiple folders named "Documents" and/or "My Documents." Each one of them contains a Video Studio X9.5 Ultimate installation. And, each folder has sub-folders containing hundreds of GB's of files (in each one), redundantly. My hard disk drive is nearing full-capacity because of this.

In total, I have 5 different Documents folders (each on a separate path). Three of those are named "My Documents," (I created only one of which I used for years without any issues at all). The other folders are named "Documents."

/ Microsoft's silly "Libraries" folder contains 2 of them; 1 under its Documents folder and 1 under its Music folder.
/ Windows Explorer (file manager) has 1 folder named "Documents" and 2 folders named "My Documents." One of those "My Documents" folders is now a sub-folder under the "My Music" folder.
-- I don't know how it got there but, I can't move it nor get rid of it.

Microsoft won't allow me to rename nor remove any single one of those redundant folders along with their sub-folders. It sees each one of them as the exact same folder. So, if I were to delete any one of them, I'd lose everything they contain, such as the VS installation files, my photos, video source files, the movie files I created, etc., etc.

My question is: Can any of you think of some way that I can solve this nightmare without my losing everything? I have only one hard drive (with very limited space left on it) and no external backup drive.

[asik1]

looks as a deep house cleaning is needed but no magic wand from far away can do so.
How well you know computers?
do you have any disk managements tools you work with?

[lata]

Hi
I may be wrong but I think the MyDocuments and Documents folders are the same, just that windows has given a different name depending on how you access the folder.

I would have to check the laptop running Windows 7.

For Windows 10 all Documents folders have the sane description as Documents

[gewb]

From what I read into your question, I don't think you understand the Windows Library system. You seem to think there are multiple duplicate FOLDERS (aka Directories) containing duplicate files, but that isn't the case.

The Libraries are only virtual containers and symolic links pointing back the the actual folders and files - those "folders and files" listed under Libraries > Documents > My Documents > blah, blah don't exists as their own entity, only a reflection the the real ones. The real ones are typically located in the path C:/Users/[user name]/My Documents/Corel VideoStudio Pro/ etc.

You can confirm this by expanding the Libraries drop list, then the My Documents drop list, the Corel VideoStudio drop list then locate one of your projects. Select (click on) one of the project files (VSP, image file, vid clip, sound file, whatever) then RIGHT CLICK it and select Properties from the pop up window.

On the General tab of the Properties window read the Location: line (you may need to click and drag select in order to read it all) - you'll see the file actually resides elsewhere on your drive.

Regards,
GEWB

[Old_Friend]

looks as a deep house cleaning is needed but no magic wand from far away can do so.
How well you know computers?
do you have any disk managements tools you work with?

Thanks asik1 for replying. I used to know a fair amount about computers but, the older I get it seems the less I know. heh heh. As far as tools, I have what Windows 7 Pro offers and I can work a little bit with Windows Regedit. My system is fairly clean; I removed as much clutter as I could last week. No problems except for what happened here during the last 2 days.

[Old_Friend]

Hi
I may be wrong but I think the MyDocuments and Documents folders are the same, just that windows has given a different name depending on how you access the folder.

I would have to check the laptop running Windows 7.

For Windows 10 all Documents folders have the sane description as Documents

Hi lata. I'm the one who years ago renamed the Documents folder to "My Documents" and installed VS into it. It was my intention to avoid having stuff in the Library. So, it wasn't Windows that renamed it. The "new" folder which showed up only yesterday named "Documents" has nothing in it but the Video Studio Pro folder and a sub-folder named 19.0 and under it is a sub-folder named VoiceOver. All the other folders, on different paths, are FULL of sub-folders of many different kinds - each filled with GB's of stuff.
-- Thanks for replying to me.

[asik1]

Well in order to know what you have you need
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/ ... e-portable
and CCleaner.
How many partitions you have?
post here your disk layout

[gewb]

You replied "It was my intention to avoid having stuff in the Library." - you can't delete "Libraries" without some work but you can control what is displayed under the default library folders (which can be deleted).

For example, right click on Libraries > Documents and click on Properties to see what locations are included in the library display. It is here where you can add or delete the symbolic links to folders displayed.

Regards,
GEWB

[Old_Friend]

From what I read into your question, I don't think you understand the Windows Library system. You seem to think there are multiple duplicate FOLDERS (aka Directories) containing duplicate files, but that isn't the case.

The Libraries are only virtual containers and symolic links pointing back the the actual folders and files - those "folders and files" listed under Libraries > Documents > My Documents > blah, blah don't exists as their own entity, only a reflection the the real ones. The real ones are typically located in the path C:/Users/[user name]/My Documents/Corel VideoStudio Pro/ etc.

You can confirm this by expanding the Libraries drop list, then the My Documents drop list, the Corel VideoStudio drop list then locate one of your projects. Select (click on) one of the project files (VSP, image file, vid clip, sound file, whatever) then RIGHT CLICK it and select Properties from the pop up window.

On the General tab of the Properties window read the Location: line (you may need to click and drag select in order to read it all) - you'll see the file actually resides elsewhere on your drive.

Regards,
GEWB

Thanks for explaining. However, I do understand how the Libraries work. I just don't like the concept. To me, they are redundant since I already know where my programs and files are located.
You said: "You seem to think there are multiple duplicate FOLDERS (aka Directories) containing duplicate files, but that isn't the case." Well, in my case there ARE multiple duplicate folders but, they are OUTSIDE the Libraries. That's my problem -- getting rid of all but one of the duplicates.

[gewb]

OK, I'm glad that the understanding isn't an issue. As I first replied I wasn't sure from the original post that the concept was understood.

I'm with you about the entire concept being forced upon users...it should have been an option.

Regards,
GEWB

[Old_Friend]

Well in order to know what you have you need
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/ ... e-portable
and CCleaner.
How many partitions you have?
post here your disk layout

Thank you for the link. I read every page they had links to but, I never saw any mention of a solution for the issue I'm having. To me it looks like their system is great for dealing with duplicate FILES. My issue is with duplicate FOLDERS (containing files). Microsoft will not let users rename nor delete FOLDERS because each folder is a mirror-copy of the other ones. And, unlike the Libraries which uses 'links', actual folders contain actual, duplicate files. Deleting one single folder would delete every folder of the same type. That means, I'd lose everything - everywhere.

I have only 1 partition (C:). And, I'm almost out of disk space so I can't copy folders full of data to another location on the same hard drive. Right now, I'm down to only 143GB's of free space. I don't know what to do.

[canuck]

old_friend,
what do you have stored in your "documents" folders? It certainly is not the VS X9 program since that is installed in the "Program Files", "Program Files(86)" and the "Program Data" folders of your system drive.

It is time to get an external USB drive and do some system maintenance.

[Old_Friend]

old_friend,
what do you have stored in your "documents" folders? It certainly is not the VS X9 program since that is installed in the "Program Files", "Program Files(86)" and the "Program Data" folders of your system drive.

It is time to get an external USB drive and do some system maintenance.

I'm sure you're correct about my needing another external USB drive. The Western Digital one I had lasted only just over 1 year, and I hardly used it. I haven't replaced it --yet.

I'm attaching a screen shot which I hope shows what my Windows Explorer looks like.

http://imgur.com/a/skVVQ

[Old_Friend]

Well, I guess I'm sol, again. Thanks everybody for offering suggestions.

[canuck]

I asked a question above but you never bothered answering.