Windows 10: is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc?

Discus and support is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc? in Windows 10 Drivers and Hardware to solve the problem; on my external drive it has around 899GB of memory. while the main drive has about 433GB. memory loss is always on my mind..even on this semi new pc.... Discussion in 'Windows 10 Drivers and Hardware' started by Pathfinder, Nov 17, 2016.

  1. is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc?


    on my external drive it has around 899GB of memory. while the main drive has about 433GB. memory loss is always on my mind..even on this semi new pc. that is why i try and utilize a lot of programs that work off on the flash drive.


    is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc? [​IMG]


    :)
     
    Pathfinder, Nov 17, 2016
    #1
  2. Jane Lla Win User

    Is there an easy way to restore my Programs and Apps on Windows 10 ISO install?

    Hello Cliff,

    Cutting and pasting/moving said files(apps) from the Windows.old folder to your current Program folder would not do the trick. It's possible that the radio button for Keep personal files only was the one ticked instead of the Keep personal files and apps, hence
    the issue. Furthermore, we can only recommend to manually reinstall the applications as the best workaround.

    Hope this information helps.

    Let us know if you have questions.

    Regards.
     
    Jane Lla, Nov 17, 2016
    #2
  3. ClifW Win User
    Is there an easy way to restore my Programs and Apps on Windows 10 ISO install?

    Microsoft free tech help managed an install from ISO of 1703 (Creator's Edition) over an existing Windows 10 earlier version. Although assured throughout that both data and apps would be fine (I think this is called an in-place-install), at the end of the
    process all I have is my data. The programs that built that data is missing although they do appear in my windows.old folder.

    Is there a good and easy way to restore those Programs without re-downloading and finding all the media and so on? Can they be renewed via cutting and pasting or moving from windows.old Programs and Programs(X86) or is that just asking for trouble.

    Thanks.

    Cliff
     
    ClifW, Nov 17, 2016
    #3
  4. fdegrove Win User

    is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc?

    Hi,

    Not sure what it is you're afraid can happen. Drive failure ?

    Cheers, *Wink
     
    fdegrove, Nov 17, 2016
    #4
  5. Berton Win User
    Some programs and Windows will not install on removable drives and may be be able to set them to automatically store data created by programs. It's much better to add a second HDD in the computer if there's room and a free SATA port. Most of the SFF/Small Form Factor and UltraSFF cases don't have the room. I got a new computer last week and don't care for the split of the 1TB HDD, 150GB on the boot/system/C: partition and 780GB on D: partition [too much like Sony Vaio of WinXP days]. I am installing programs I need as I go and so far putting them on D: but there will be some that have to go on C:. I would use Disk Management to change the sizes but there's a 500MB System Recovery partition between them that screws up that idea.
     
    Berton, Nov 17, 2016
    #5
  6. spunk Win User
    The ASUS X540SA is a laptop and does not have room to install a secondary HDD internally.
    As stated, many programs will not run off of an external USB drive. If you get them to install and run off of a USB drive, then if the C: drive fails, none of the programs will work anyways, because they won't have access to the Windows Registry on the C: drive.
    It is better to keep a current backup and a Image file of your C: drive on an external drive. If Windows or the C: drive fails, you replace the drive and restore your image, and backup files to the new drive.
     
    spunk, Nov 18, 2016
    #6
  7. fdegrove Win User
    Hi,

    If drive capacity is a concern and assuming the external WD drive is a 2.5"one then it's feasible to clone the current internal to the external one etc.
    It will take some partitioning and moving of files but it should work.

    Cheers, *Wink
     
    fdegrove, Nov 18, 2016
    #7
  8. spunk Win User

    is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc?

    If you clone or make a (Clone) Image file of your internal HDD to an external drive, you do not have to partition or move any files. The Cloning process makes a mirror image of the internal HDD to an external drive so it is exactly the same.
     
    spunk, Nov 18, 2016
    #8
  9. fdegrove Win User
    Hi,

    TS already has data on the external drive. Wouldn't it be more prudent to shrink that drive and use the space created to move the data onto that partition?

    I meant "imaging" but wrote "cloning" for some obscure reason. *sarc

    Cheers, *Wink
     
    fdegrove, Nov 18, 2016
    #9
  10. Steve C Win User
    What's the problem - you have loads of free space! You are currently using 32 GB on drive C and 56 GB on drive H. If you moved all the data on H to C, you would need 88 GB space still leaving 377 GB (81%) free on drive C:.

    Programs (except games) don't use much storage space so you have plenty of space left on C for expansion. I would just install all programs & data on C then consider archiving old data to your external USB hard drive or the cloud (e.g. OneDrive). Your programs will open much more quickly from the laptop's drive. A worthwhile upgrade would be to install a SSD in your laptop if you don't already have one.
     
    Steve C, Nov 18, 2016
    #10
  11. greetings. thx for replies.. when I tried out my pc's backup option, it was much easier to deal with. so I see the backup folder is saved within the external HDD..but now when I go to restore section, I see there is data being compiled.i wanted to avoid any unnessesary memory usage..can I delete the compiled restore points? iam afraid it will grow to over 1GB.


    is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc? [​IMG]
     
    Pathfinder, Nov 18, 2016
    #11
  12. CountMike New Member
    Those are Restore points and in no way a substitute for partial of full backup.
    You could easily fit a full system backup from Macrium Reflect for instance on that portable drive. A file you make like that is about 20 -25% smaller than space taken on disk image is made from.
    That way you are safe from any snafus with system drive. Just make a full system disk backup periodically or after some bigger changes.
     
    CountMike, Apr 5, 2018
    #12
Thema:

is there an easy way to use external drive and not the main HDD on pc?

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