Windows 7 on SSD, everything else on HDD HELP

[matthull1991]

Hey there, found a lot of information on this site and i am eternally grateful for it but i really need something clarifying for me. I've just upgraded my pc and after hearing about how much more amazing having an SSD makes your computer i decided i would get one and use it to run widows, then use a 1TB HDD to store everything else. I was hoping for just that, to be able to store EVERYTHING ELSE on the HDD but i just cant seem to find a sure fire way of doing that D: i've been able to do the usual regedit to get most programs to install on the HDD but then programs still try to store things on the SSD and it keeps filling up. i just really need to know if there is a way so that ONLY windows is on the SSD and EVERYTHING ELSE is on the HDD.

my specs are:
Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R mobo
Intel core2quad 2.5Ghz CPU
8GB (2X4GB) Corsair XMS 1333MHZ RAM
Inno3D 8800GT 521MB Graphics card
OCZ Onyx 32GB SSD
Samsung HD103SJ 1TB HDD

 

[matthull1991]

i found and followed RetiredChief's post about turning off hibernate and changing the virtual memory http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/274362-14-64gb-sata-windows#t1879016 and managed to free up about 13GB on my SSD but my original dilemma still exists, i want programs to be stored and only use the 1TB HDD and i want the SSD to only contain windows 7, if its at all possible

 

[WyomingKnott]

Hmm, you may have missed some of the articles in your reading.

First, to ensure that your data goes on the D : drive, have you changed My Documents and My everything else to point to a directory that you created on the D drive? A lot of programs store their save files under My Documents. If you haven't done this yet, create the directories on the D drive, right-click on My whatever, Properties, and change the Target. It should ask if you want to move all existing files; respond Yes.

For additional programs, I just tried to find the thread and I couldn't (rats; I thought that it was in my Favorites) but there is a registry value that you can change to change the default location for program installations. Some installations also prompt to allow you to change where the program is installed; just pick a location on the D disk for those. If I find the post, I'll edit this.

Finally, my Unasked-for Advice: Back everything up.

 

[matthull1991]

i have changed the default install location in regedit and i think there was also a 64bit regedit and i've also moved all my libraries to the D drive. i think its just some programs cant help but automatically use the C Drive for some of their functions. im changing as many as i can, right now im finding myself going through every adobe program i have and changing their scratch disk locations to try and make them not use the C drive as much as possible

 

[RetiredChief]

Move my documents:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-performance/move-the-my-documents-folder-to-another-drive/a41eaabb-2c5b-4502-85ba-fd49a007fd82
Move temp folder/files:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/change-location-of-temp-files-folder-to-another/19f13330-dde1-404c-aa27-a76c0b450818

 

[WyomingKnott]

Ahh - I forgot. Create a scratch directory on the D drive and edit your environmental variables to point TEMP to it!

Yes, you may also have to configure apps one-by-one to use the D drive. A thought, though: The SSD is faster than the D drive. Maybe it is a good place for scratch files, if there is high activity on them.

I didn't find the exact post that I was looking for, but look at these:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/8060-45-change-default-install-path
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/13136-63-default-program-installation-path-change
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/1271-63-registry-issue

 

[RetiredChief]

Restore points can eat up space over time.
Restore points, either delete all but most recent, or disable
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555367
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Turn-System-Restore-on-or-off

 

[matthull1991]

thanks a lot for the help guys. managed to free up 14GB after only having 1.5GB free. hopefully with all these changes the space will last much longer than 3 days

 

[Sitoshi]

The way i got around the space problem was to point my profile at the HDD. Simple really considering that your desktop, documents, music and everything you use on a day to day is fully stored in your profile. Change it by right clicking Computer and selecting Manage, in the new window find the Users and Groups tab and right click your username to specify where you profile is. ALLOT easier then pointing all the folders individually. After that its just redirecting your installs which sounds like you have from above. You could disable hibernation and restore points like the others said AND if you remove the windows indexing service you can shave a bit more off. The last bit to worry about is win updates. An average win 7 install with updates gets to around 20GB so on a 32GB SSD your gonna need to check that regularly. I have never needed to tweak my temp folders, think i only messed around with my virtual memory a little, limited it to a gig. 2GB is enough for win 7 so 8 means your gonna fly. Don't need a virtual memory store with 8GB of ram.

 

[matthull1991]

wow that is a much simpler solution than changing each files location, thanks very much for that

 

[WyomingKnott]

Sitoshi

The profile also contains information other than these data folders, some of which is necessary for the user to be able to log on and function. I personally consider them to be part of the OS and would prefer to leave them on, and in sync with, my OS disk.

The biggest problem is the Application Data folder, which some applications use heavily.

Then again, I have a 128 GB SSD, so I don't have the OP's worry about conserving space until Windows 9 comes out.

 

[RetiredChief]

^ is that 2 years after windows 8 (LOL)