How to install OS on seperate drive

[mikeyakouba]

Hey Everyone,
I just bought an SSD and want to install windows 7 on it and have all my other files on a separate non ssd drive. How would you get the OS to change the default directory from C: to another directory and make it that way when installing programs etc... any help would be awesome! Thanks in advance!

 

[perfectblue]

You cant change the default directory C drive (where windows is) to another physical drive. You have to set D,E,... drives to the HDD and every time you install programs manually select the directory.

Good luck!

 

[wiyosaya]

Hey Everyone,
I just bought an SSD and want to install windows 7 on it and have all my other files on a separate non ssd drive. How would you get the OS to change the default directory from C: to another directory and make it that way when installing programs etc... any help would be awesome! Thanks in advance!

You can do something very similar to what you want in Windows 7. The trick is that you will have to create an empty folder on your C: drive where you will "mount" the extra drive. You will not be able to mount it in the c:\ directory - the root directory of the C drive.

I do not know if there is a variation in what is possible in Windows 7 Home, Professional, or Ultimate. I am running Ultimate, so these instructions may not be doable for other Windows 7 variants.

For your second drive, you would need to create a folder somewhere on the C: drive, for example, C:\SecondDrive

Now search for the exact phrase "Mount or dismount a drive" in the Windows 7 help. Click on the link. Then click on "To Mount a Drive"

Now here are the steps:

Click to open Computer Management. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

On the left, under Storage, click Disk Management.

Right-click the drive that you want to mount, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

Click Add, click Mount in the following empty NTFS folder, and then either type the path to an empty folder on an NTFS drive or click Browse to locate it. Click OK, and then click OK again.

Best Wishes.

 

[tlw1999]

Hey Everyone,
I just bought an SSD and want to install windows 7 on it and have all my other files on a separate non ssd drive. How would you get the OS to change the default directory from C: to another directory and make it that way when installing programs etc... any help would be awesome! Thanks in advance!

To change default folder location for saved documents see this link:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18629-user-folders-change-default-location.html


Warning-Make sure you back up your registry

To change default folder location for installing programs see this link:

http://www.intowindows.com/change-default-installation-directory-in-windows-7-vista/

 

[wiyosaya]

Hey Everyone,
I just bought an SSD and want to install windows 7 on it and have all my other files on a separate non ssd drive. How would you get the OS to change the default directory from C: to another directory and make it that way when installing programs etc... any help would be awesome! Thanks in advance!

Actually, I just realized that my post above was not what you wanted to do. I have done things like this before, but this, IMHO, is a non-trivial operation if you have never done it before, and I highly recommend that you make an image of your existing drive before you start this and save it to a file to ensure that you have a backup if things go wrong.

You can accomplish what you want to do with drive imaging software like "Image for Windows." The software has a 30-day free trial period. In this case, you would image your existing drive to the SSD - resizing as appropriate. Then, when your computer boots, enter the bios setup and pick the SSD as the primary boot drive. The OS will almost certainly see the non-ssd drive as a Windows drive, and may pick an odd drive letter for it. This is fairly easily reconciled in the Computer Management - Disk Management section described in my post above by manually assigning a drive letter to it.

However, the system may boot the SSD as some drive other than C: likely D, or the first free drive letter. If this happens, then you would have to go into Computer Management - Disk Management and take the non-ssd drive off line by right-clicking on it and selecting "offline," then reboot. At this point, your SSD should be booting as the C drive, and all your programs that are installed should work. Without the proper drive reference, i.e., the SSD booting as "C," the installed programs will not run properly, however, the drive will boot. You may have to work your way through this, however, if you back the existing drive up to a file with the drive imaging software, if mistakes are made, you would then simply restore the image from file to either the existing drive, or the SSD.

Lastly, you could reinstall the OS, but this would also require that you reinstall everything else. IMHO, using drive imaging software is much simpler.

I hope this is a better answer to your question.