Quick Tip: Customize Default Storage Locations for Files and Apps on Windows 10

No matter what operating system you use as a daily driver the security of your files is very important and none of us like the thought of loosing those family pictures, files and other documents we store on our computer.

You can protect those files by having a backup plan or syncing them with a cloud storage service like OneDrive or Box to have them located in an alternate location in case of a catastrophic failure of your local hard drive.

Since the cost of hard drives have dropped so much many of you also have second and sometimes third hard drives in your computers and Windows 10 can take advantage of those storage locations by letting you store files on those drives instead of on the system drive.

If you open up the Windows Settings app in Windows 10 and go to System>Storage you will find customization options for this task.

At the top of this page you will see a list of the physical storage locations available on this computer. Networked locations can not be used but external devices like USB flash drives, memory cards and external hard drives can be destinations for file storage. Just make sure that device will always be attached to your system otherwise files will be inaccessible.

To change the default storage location for apps or files just click on the drop down box next to the data you want to store on an alternate device.

Select the alternate location and then it will be set.

Note: Any changes you make here only cover new files or apps that are added to your system from the time you make the change going forward. Changing the default storage location does not move any apps or files that are already on your device. That will need to be done manually using File Explorer.

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