Windows 10: Ssd win 10 drive + hdd program and file drive

I have read many articles on setting up my SSD drive as my boot drive, and using my HDD for file and programs I don't need the speed for. I have read everything from moving users, files, and changing default locations using the registry, to just creating D:/program files folder on my D(HDD) and installing the programs I don't need on my SSD to that location. Isn't there an easy way to do this in Win 10 without messing with the registry? Will creating duplicate Program Files and x86 files on D:/ cause problems with the same named folders on my C: drive? I was able to change the location of the contents of my Documents folder, but creating alternate locations on my D: drive for non critical programs has me a little leery of doing so without some decent advice. Thanks for any help.
Core i5 6600k, 32 GB Corsair Dominator, EVGA Z170 Classified K MOBO, SAMSUNG 500 GB SSD. 2-2TB Seagate HDD in raid 1.

:)

 

Changing boot drive from HDD to SSD

I have Dell desktop 8500 - came with Win 8 preloaded. Upgraded to 8.1, then 10. Added SSD and wanted to run Win off the SSD and use 2 TB HDD for storage. Made complete system backup on two separate external drives. Unplugged HDD and used recovery
Dell Media Disk (Win 8) to load Win onto SSD. (Dell had also sent me a "Drivers and Utilities" disk with the OS disk but I did not run this prior to upgrading to Win 10...not sure if this is relevant). Install worked fine. System assigned SSD drive letter
"C" and reassigned the HDD drive letters "I" and "H." ("I" was original "C" and the "H" was partition used for storage.) Upgraded to 8.1 and then 10. System starts fine, runs FAST and I can add new programs, but all the old programs...Office, Adobe, the dashboards
for my Seagate and WD external drives, etc on the HDD and programs saved to the backup drives will not run, even when moved to the SSD. Tried to reverse things by changing BIOS to have the HDD be primary boot drive and have the original Windows program run
the computer but the OS is not recognized. Tried to restore, but all the restore points on the HDD are gone. Tried third party SW (SymMover) to move the programs from the HDD or backup drives to the SSD, but this doesn't work. I get error message that the
progams (Word for example) are not compatible. Would like to avoid wipping the HDD and recoverying from the backup drives. MS techs wouldn't take a stab at a solution. Any thoughts?

 

Choosing installation drive.

My current C drive with win 8.1 on it is nearly full. During the upgrade process to Win 10 will I be able to select that win 10 install on a larger SSD drive , currently the E drive, that Is already installed and empty. If so then will existing installed
programs (physically installed on my HDD F) that have data installed on c (e.g. in appdata) be able to "see " the new location of their data and work correctly? Or will the Wi 10 installation process re-name my E ssd to C?. Basically I would like win 10 installed
on the larger SSD and all the existing programs to work. My existing C SSD can be wiped.

 

I have no direct answer to your question regarding moving your non-critical programs but looking at your specs, I don't think non-critical programs will take up that much space on your 500GB SSD. My advise is to keep your OS and all your programs on the SSD as much as possible. But if there is an option during installation of any games or programs to locate a folder for installation, that's when you can take advantage of using the HDD without the headaches of relocating. But instead of a folder, create a 500GB partition with a default drive letter D on the HDD for those games/programs that you can easily back up.

Welcome to TenForums by the way! *Smile

 

I agree with Badrobot. The biggest reasons for moving stuff off of a modern SSD is because people purchase small capacity SSDs because they can't afford larger ones. 500GB should be fairly sufficient if you only move extremely large files such as full movies and huge games to the HDD.

 

I agree that you should have your OS and all programs on your SSD. Doing otherwise sort of defeats the purpose of having an SSD. You can install Games on the Hard drive and use your user files and folders there. That is what I do and make no registry changes. I don't believe it is possible to fill up a 500GB SSD with the OS and programs. It would depend on how much space is required for your User Folders (Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos). Those can take up a lot of space, depending on what you have.

 

In my case, I have all my library folder locations moved to the HDD.
I mean the folders are still on the SSD with the OS but they are more like shortcuts. The files go straight to the HDD.
Easier that way for me because I mess up a lot on my PC. If anything happens, I don't have to worry about moving out my data first before restoring image backup, etc. I can just restore right away.

 

If possible all applications should be on the SSD. With a 500 GB SSD that shouldn't be a problem unless you have a lot of very large applications. I have a 120 GB SSD that is less than half full. Some people have gone to such extreme measures in redirecting things away from the SSD that they lose much of the advantage of having one.

By default applications will install to the C:\Program Files" folder but most can be directed to a different drive or folder. Windows will have no issues with duplicate folder names on different drives, although some people might. But there is nothing special about the "Program files" folder name. You can make it any name you wish, but I would suggest having separate folders for 32 and 64 bit applications.

 

I found it humorous how it seems to be a trend that people buy SSDs to make their computers faster and then look for every way possible to not use them.

 

Mine is only a 256 GB M.2 SSD so I have to store my data away from it. But all programs are installed on it.

Here's my boot up clip from last year. Still the same boot up time today or maybe 1.5sec slower.



Another SSD boot up test. - YouTube

 

I definitely agree that if you have a small SSD you do what you can with it and it's better then just one big spinner.... but there have been a lot of threads on here by people who have wanted to move everything off the SSD except for the very basic Windows files. The usual reason given for moving everything they could off of it is to keep from writing to the SSD, not running out of space.

 

My user folders (Documents, Pictures, etc) are on a second drive. I just change the Location in Windows and point to those folders. It's more for the ease of not losing anything if I have to reinstall. That's all I move though. I don't see the need to move programs etc and complicate things doing it. On my laptop its a second SSD, on my desktop PC the second drive is a spinner. I use more storage on my desktop and the spinner was more economical at the time.

 

On mine I move user folders to another drive and Games because they are so large. Everything else is on the SSD. I move user folders mostly for security reasons. Like Alpha said, no loss if I mess up the OS, like I am subject to do. *Huh