What is a safe way to move AppData\Local to a different drive?

I use a 60GB SSD for the C: partition where Windows and other essential programs are installed, using a larger mechanical HDD for D:, and I repeatedly find myself short of disk space on C:, with the main culprits being folders within %LocalAppData% [Picasa & Outlook files].

How can I move these folders to D:, recovering space on C:?

1. Open the %LocalAppData% Properties dialog
2. Location tab → Enter desired new location
3. Move

How about using mklink to create a symbolic link:

1. MkLink /d C:\Users\Nikhil\AppData\Local D:\AppData\Local
   

   • I haven't tried this, so maybe give it a test drive in a VM first; you may also have to create separate symbolic links for each subfolder
2. Move all the files/folders from the %LocalAppData% to D:\AppData\Local
3. Delete %UserProfile\AppData\Local

This isn't an answer to your question but probably a solution to your problem, as I'm thinking:

• Generally, C:\Hiberfil.sys is huge and since you don't need hibernation with an SSD as it lowers boot time, disable hibernation via an Admin terminal:

  PowerCfg –h Off
  

On my system, this freed 12GB since hiberfil.sys is no longer needed, and, for me, this would be a much better solution than moving the %LocalAppData% since moving it to a mechanical HDD would slow down drive-access for every affected program, thus defeating the purpose of the SSD.