SSD for Windows 7 only

[DaveK001]

Hello,
I have a new build (first one) and set it up with a 64 GB SSD for the OS (windows 7 Pro) and 2 HD set up in RAID 1. My plan was to limit the OS and a few drivers to the SSD and EVERYTHING else to the E drive. This seems to be good in theory. Some programs don't give me an option to install to another drive. Even the ones that do like to put files on the 'C' drive.
my thought: start over, rename the SSD as 'E' and install the OS and then name the RAID 'C' and then let everything else install to the 'C' drive.
Has anyone done this? Heard of it being tried? Am I going to have problems with Windows not having a 'C' drive to install to?
Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Soda-88]

Changing drive letter won't make any difference.
If you want to move programs that install to OS drive you can move their whole folder to E:\ and then making a directory junction in the original folder. I'll give you an example I experienced the other day installing Autodesk 3DS Max.
During installation I was given the option to change the install path for main program. I set it to D:\Program Files but the problem is that the additional material I selected to install goes to C:\Program Files\Common Files by default.

Here's what I had to do to save space on SSD:
1) Move 'Autodesk' folder from C:\Program Files\Common Files to D:\Program Files\Common Files (simple cut and paste operation)
2) Run command prompt as administrator (you can right click in C:\Program Files\Common Files while holding shift and click 'Open elevated command prompt here'
3) Type in mklink /j Autodesk 'C:\Program Files\Common Files' 'D:\Program Files\Common Files' - this creates shortcut-like icon in your original folder that is seen as a normal folder by your OS. Quotation marks are required for folders with spaces in their name.

This is the only way to reliably move application's files around after the initial installation without breaking the functionality.

 

[DaveK001]

Good idea. I didn't think of that. Autodesk is one of the programs that put folders in various places on the C drive, and it does not like it if I copy those over the E drive and try to change the path to those folders.

This still doesn't give me a condition to where I can swap out the SSD and install new OS and leave my programs and data unaffected. Could a copy of those links be kept in backup folder and just copied back into place after a new install, in the event of a new OS install?

Thanks for your example.