How to Move AppData to Another Drive on Windows 11 - 2 Ways

Because the available space of the system drive is closely related to the performance of Windows. Therefore, when the system drive is almost full, users expect to move some unrelated folders to other drives to free up the system drive, such as the AppData folder.  In this article, we will introduce how to move or transfer AppData to another drive on your Windows 11 PC. Before we begin, please review the following FAQ:

🔍What is in the AppData folder?

AppData folder contains data not part of the original installation files. When you install a program, all the files needed to run it are stored in the Program Files or Program Files x86 folder, and data other than these files is stored in the AppData folder. These data include program cache, temporary files, configuration files, etc.

🔍Is it possible to move the AppData folder to another drive?

Yes, you can move AppData to another drive. But you cannot move the AppData folder by copy and paste. Copy and paste is minimal, and it can only operate on some simple folders. Copy and paste copies of the files on the surface, not the other data used to find and access those files. Even if some files are moved to the new location, they cannot be used because the drive letter has changed, and the system cannot find the path.

Windows 11 Move AppData to another drive successfully

Method 1. Move AppData to another drive via Transfer Tool

To do this, you need to seek help from AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This is a powerful program/folder transfer utility (Support to Windows 11/10/8/7/Vista/XP). Move folders feature helps to move folders from one drive to another safely and easily, so that you can free up more space on the original partition. The moved folders will work fine at the destination location, and you can restore them to the original location as well.

If you want to move installed programs to another drive then you can try the App Mover feature. Please download the Demo version to see how to move AppData to another drive on Windows 11.

 Step 1. Install app transfer tool.

Install and launch PA Professional, select the “App Mover” under "Free up".

Step 2. Choose moving type.

You will see 2 options: APP Mover or Move folders. In this step, we choose "Move folders".

Note: You can click Manage/Restore to restore apps/folders to the original location.

Step 3. Choose the target folder and start.

Please click “Add Folder” to add the AppData and choose the target drive. After that, please click "Move".

Step 4. Move finished.

Wait a moment, you will see the AppData folder have been moved successfully.

Method 2. Move Appdata to another drive via other manual ways

In addition to using specialized tools, many users on the Microsoft community have mentioned some additional ways to get more storage space:

• Clear AppData on Windows 11 directly 
• Copy and paste the AppData folder to move it to another drive
• Use Windows Registry to change the location of AppData on Windows 10/11

However, we do not recommend using these methods. The copy-paste method will not successfully migrate Appdata, and clearing AppData or using Registry to change the default location of AppData may cause the application to crash.

Is it safe to move Appdata to another drive?

Sure! With the help of professional AppData transfer software - AOMEI Partition Assistant, you can easily and securely transfer your Appdata folder to another drive, for example, from C drive to D drive.  By default, AppData is located in the C drive; the C drive often encounters low disk space errors.

With the help of the Data Transfer Tool, users can easily free up the system transfer tool. Apart from using transfer software, some users are also questioning whether they can use copy and paste method:

"I have 3 drives, Boot(C:), Data(D:) and Restore(E:). My C: drive almost full, it contains my Appdata\Local (50GB), and my D: has 377GB free, I wonder if I can safely move the AppData folder to D:? I tried creating a User\username\AppData folder in D:, and I am going to manually move it to the new folder. I see it's copying everything right now, will this work?"     - Question from Superuser

It is unlikely that this will be a viable solution. The process of copy-paste only copies the files on the surface, not the additional data used to find and access those files. This means that some files may become inaccessible if they are moved to a new location, as the drive letter may have changed, and the system may no longer be able to find the path. To prevent possible errors, it is recommended that you use professional and trustworthy transfer software - AOMEI Partition Assistant.

Bonus tip: More tricks extend system drive space for Windows

In addition to moving programs/folders, you can also directly allocate the free space of another partition to the system drive, which is an easy, fast and convenient method to extend the system drive.

Free download AOMEI Partition assistant and enjoy the better performance it brings to your computer.

Step 1. On the main interface of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, right-click the partition with excess space (here, take D as an example), and select "Allocate Free Space".

Step 2. Here, choose how much space to allocate to the system drive. Then click "OK".

Step 3. Go back to the main interface and click "Apply" to perform the operation.

Tip: If the current disk space is insufficient, you can even clone the hard drive to a larger one.

Sum up

This is the whole process of how to move AppData to another drive on Windows 11. With the help of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, you can do it easily and safely.

Last but not least, if you want to move installed programs/folders on Windows Server, please switch to AOMEI Partition Assistant Server, which can help you manger Server PC timely and flexibly.