2 drives

[clintonkeenan]

Hi guys
I have built a few systems now, but they have never had 2 different storage devices on them, just one large one. I was looking at building a new system in about 3 months, so now I'm just planning. My plan is to buy a 8-16gb SSD to speed up boot time, and put my most important programs on. So, if I have an SSD, and a larger HDD for programs, how do I get the User account (with my movies etc) and Program files to be on the larger HDD? Obviously I can't just copy it over. I can install programs to the HDD by choice, but some programs don't offer that selection. Is there a way I can get windows (7) to put User accounts and Program files on another drive?
Thanks

 

[geekapproved]

It will do it automatically if both drivers are connected during the windows installation.

 

[sminlal]

There's no way to automatically configure the system so that new programs are installed onto the hard drive - you'll have to select "Custom Install" when you install each program and choose a folder on the hard drive. You only have to install each program once, so it's not that difficult to do.

If you have a program that doesn't provide a choice of install folder then you may be able to find a way to manually install it via a Google search or by asking about that specific program on this forum.

To move the user folders, see: http://www.w7forums.com/change-location-my-documents-folder-t338.html

8GB is too small for Windows 7, and 16GB is very, very marginal. I'd recommend AT LEAST 40GB.

 

[geekapproved]

When you install the program, you choose what drive to install it to.

Not sure what you mean by 'user account (with my movies)'. If you know where your movies are you can find them with a click.

 

[clintonkeenan]

8GB is too small for Windows 7, and 16GB is very, very marginal. I'd recommend AT LEAST 40GB.

Hmmm, I installed 7 Ultimate 64 bit on a 10gb partition about 5 days ago...

 

[sminlal]

> 8GB is too small for Windows 7, and 16GB is very, very marginal. I'd recommend AT LEAST 40GB.

> Hmmm, I installed 7 Ultimate 64 bit on a 10gb partition about 5 days ago...

...but it won't fit in an 8GB partition, and if you install it on a 16GB SSD you'll end up with only about 4-5GB of free space. That's not a lot of room left over for a hibernation file, and over time that's going to get eaten up through the normal installation of patches. You can cut back on the space used up by restore points and manually delete the uninstall folders for all the patches, but it's going to be an ongoing struggle to keep enough free space on your drive so that it's performance doesn't degrade because it doesn't have enough free space to do efficient garbage collection.

A 16GB SSD will also pretty much prevent you from installing any of your applications on the SSD, so you won't get the full benefit of faster startup times for them. Not to mention that 16GB SSDs are not particularly stellar performers because they can't take advantage of parallel I/O to multiple flash chips.

You can probably get away with 16GB, but in the long run 40GB or more is more effective and less hassle, IMHO.

 

[clintonkeenan]

Thanks, good advice.