Moar Computer Helps

[Deth Muncher]

So, I just got my computer back from the IT dept. here at school. As it turned out, apparently my harddrive sucked, so they gave me a new one. Thankfully, they were nice enough to backup all the files.

The problem?

Now all of those files are in a folder on the Desktop, not where they need to be. Is there some way to reintigrate them into the folders they're supposed to be without going one by one and merging them?

[Willis888]

What specifically is the problem? Programs not running? Organization and efficiency lost? Web pages with links to the local drive now point to the wrong locations? Something else? Why is it a problem that all your old files are lumped into a folder on the desktop?

If they reinstalled the operating system, and it sounds like they did, you will have to reinstall most/all of your programs. Just moving files around so they are in the same places they used to be will not be enough.

[Gullara]

When you say "files" do you mean pictures and word documents and such?

If so then you can just copy and paste the files to the desired location.

[Deth Muncher]

When you say "files" do you mean pictures and word documents and such?

If so then you can just copy and paste the files to the desired location.

Word documents, pictures, program files, everything that would normally be on a harddrive. My harddrive was literally copied and pasted onto this new harddrive. I just didn't want to have to drag everything into the folders, like if there was some way to just merge all the folders with folders of the same name or something.

[Willis888]

Your files used to look like this:

c:\stuff


Now they look like this (assuming you are using windows 7):

c:\users\username\desktop\someRandomFolder\stuff

If you are using XP, the names might be different but the process would be similar.


Assuming that is accurate (and that you have enough free space on your disk):

Go into the folder your disk was copied to, select everything (ctrl+a), copy it (ctrl+c), then go to c:\ and paste (ctrl+v).

By "go to c:\" I mean click on MyComputer then click on C:\ then paste. Don't go into any folders before pasting.


However, you will still need to reinstall your programs. Just pasting the files to where they used to be will not make it work. The only benefit is that your pics and word docs and such will be where you remember saving them. One drawback is that some programs may give you trouble when attempting to reinstall if they see that the program files are already there, meaning you may have to delete those program files later on before you can reinstall program.

[factotum]

The only benefit is that your pics and word docs and such will be where you remember saving them.

Only if his new user profile has exactly the same name as the old one, which isn't guaranteed!