Caching is a technique that many programs use to improve performance, especially applications that work over the Internet, such as streaming programs or web browsers. This technique consists of saving all or part of the information that is being processed in a directory so that, if we return to it, instead of having to download it from the Internet, it is loaded directly from the computer. And although in general terms it may seem a good feature, if we do not control the cache of the programs it may cause us the occasional headache. So sometimes we may want to change where the cache is saved .
Although thanks to the cache, the web pages we visit frequently can load faster, if we have a small hard disk (for example, an SSD), this cache may be taking up a large part of this space on the disk. In addition, if we have a conventional hard disk, instead of an SSD, by having slower access times, the use of the cache may be counterproductive, being better to download the data from the Internet again than to load the ones already stored in the hard drive.
Programs generally store their caches within their own directories. And the developers idea is that users don’t change these settings. Luckily, there are little tricks that allow us to change, at least in browsers, the directories where the cache is saved and managed.
Move Google Chrome cache
Among the many configuration options that Google Chrome has, we cannot find a section that allows us to change the path where the browser cache is saved. To change it, what we have to do is manually modify the browser shortcut so that, when it is opened, it is indicated to the same that the cache is in another route.
To do this, we will locate the Google Chrome shortcut, right-click on it and open the Properties window. Within the properties of the direct access, what we must do is go to the “Destination” section, we will add the following:
--ser-data-dir=directorio (cambiando "directorio" por la ruta que queramos usar)
When we open the browser again, the cache will be saved in the new directory that we have specified. Whenever we open the browser for this shortcut, the new cache directory will be used. But if we open it from another access, the default cache directory will be used again.
To reuse the default cache directory, we simply need to clear this parameter and rerun Chrome.
Change the Firefox cache
Although Firefox does not make it very intuitive, it allows you to change the cache path from the advanced browser settings, albeit manually. To do this, what we have to do is enter the browser settings by typing “about: config” in the address bar, and search for the following string:
browser.cache.disk.parent_directory
In case it does not exist we can create it manually. We will click with the right mouse button and choose “New> Chain”, giving it that name.
Once the new chain is created, we must edit it to add in it the directory that we want to be configured as the browser’s cache.
Once done, we restart the browser and, when it reopens, the new directory will be configured as the default path to save the cache. If we want Firefox to use the default cache directory again, we simply have to look for this option again and delete it from the trash icon.
Change Edge cache
Microsoft Edge, the Windows 10 browser, is based on Chromium. This means that, for better and for worse, it adopts the same features as Google’s browser. Like its rival, Edge does not allow us to change from the configuration the directory where we want its cache to be saved. But the process to change it is identical to that of Chrome.
Therefore, what we must do is edit the shortcut and add the same parameter, at the end of the destination box, that we have added for Chrome. It is recommended that each browser have a separate directory (even if it is a subfolder), since if they all use the same
Just like in Chrome, we must open the browser from this shortcut to use the new cache. If we open it from another one, the default directory will be used again. To undo the changes we simply have to delete this parameter from the URL.
Change the cache directory of Opera
In the case of using this alternative web browser (or other Opera based browsers), we can also customize the directory where we want the browser cache to be saved. The process is similar to that of Chrome and Edge, that is, we have to modify the shortcut to specify the directory where we want the cache to be saved. But instead of adding the previous parameter we should add the following:
--disk-cache-dir=directorio
When we run the browser from this shortcut, it will use by default the new path that we just specified to save the cache and temporary files. If we want to use the default cache again, we simply have to remove the parameter we just added and reopen it. Or open it from a different shortcut.
