How to download things to HDD and not SSD

[blakewhitling]

i have a new system and my hdd is recognised n everything but my ssd only have 20 gb left of 128 gb! not sure how to make my games n things install to hdd, very happy with my new system i built gtx 670, i7 playing crysis 3 beta max graphics smooth as, hopefully u guys can help me out with my question, thanks

 

[NerdBBQ]

Hello blakewhitling,
For starters, I recommend leaving your games and the OS on the SSD. When you're installing/downloading things, make sure to change the save location to your hard drive, which is most likely your C: drive. Typically, prior to installation it will ask you where you would like to set the install path. Next, copy any other files on the SSD to your HDD. This is just a simple matter of cut & paste to the C: Drive. I hope this resolves your issue, and if you have any more questions or comments please feel free to let me know.

 

[g-unit1111]

There's a couple of things you can do to free up space:

1. Turn off the page file, which can be done by going into control panel --> system --> system properties --> advanced. It will bring up a control panel called "Performance options". In that panel, go to the Advanced tab. There is a box that says "A page file is an area on the hard disk that Windows uses as if it were RAM". Then click on the change button. It will bring up another control panel. Click on the check box that reads "Automatically manage paging file size for all devices". Then click the button that says "No paging file". That should free up a lot of space.

2. If you're using Steam some games should allow you to choose which folder you install into. You can do this and then select where you want them installed. I have my Steam Folder stored in the other hard drive rather than my SSD and new games automatically load into the drive by default.

 

[blakewhitling]

thanks heaps guys, problem solved,

 

[nukemaster]

Also moving your default download folder to the hard drive is as easy as right clicking the downloads folder then using the location tab(this can be done with all the users folders). Please note that some games do not get along with moved folders(mostly unreal based ones. Adding -nohomedir to the shortcut fixes the issue).

If you install Steam on the hard drive, you can use junctions to point to games you want on the SSD(lets say you make a folder on the SSD c : \ games \). This way, you do not have to reinstall the game and steam will think it is still on the hard drive. Steam can be a pain with install locations. When you are no longer playing that game, but do not want to uninstall it, just break the junction and copy the game back to its old folder on the hard drive. It will still work, just not be running from the SSD.

I wrote a guide for just such a reason using a readily available freeware program to make things very easy.

Guide : Move software/games to another drive without reinstalling.

Also, if you are NOT using hibernate, turn it off and remove the hibernate file as it takes up room for nothing.

powercfg -h off is the command to remove the hibernate file and make sure it is switched OFF

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

BTW also make sure to disable and delete the hibernation files. they can take up a lot of space. start, type cmd, right click the command prompt and run as administrator. type "powercfg -h off" without the quotes. this will disable hibernation but if you don't need it, it can free up a lot of space.