[Undeclared]

i am working with my computer and i want to basically change where windows saves data files. what i plan on doing is having just the base os load on one drive by itself. i am looking to get a ssd so i want as little of the os as possible on the drive. i know a decent bit bout working on computers but cant seem to find any good info on this. Any body done this and either has a good guide or could point me in the right direction? i know i will be editing the registry and i am ok with that. i am a computer tech myself but still learning.

 

[motoxer311]

What data files are you looking to relocate? SSD? Sorry it's been a while since I've done desktop support, I've been doing server stuff since 04..

 

[baldheadeddork]

SSD=Solid State Drive

What kind of data files do you want to move around, and what are you hoping to accomplish?

 

[Tripped1]

That is what I was trying to figure out.

If the aim is faster data access drive configuration is mroe important then where data is stored.

I'm not sure what data you are trying to migrate, do you mean the data of the OS itself, or data that you are working with.

 

[bush]

All Windows OSes needs all OS files on the same drive.

Your applications and other data can be loaded on any drive as long as it's properly formatted and assigned a drive letter.

 

[92blkSi]

^ just what I was going to say... you need all the windows system files on the same drive that windows is on. I suppose you could have some of the system file, but you would need to change all the reg entries and probablly sys/root paths in the files, now that i think about it, no.... i dont think you can even if you wanted to.

I have a SSD + 2 500GB drives on my home pc. I have windows Vista 64 pro on the SSD and I use the other 2 drives for file storage/applications. This is not hard to do at all.

Something else you can do is just partition your current HD with a seperate partition just for windows, and install all your other apps/files on the other partition. Keeps windows much cleaner, and saves a lot of your data should you ever need to reformat.

 

[Tripped1]

Oh you CAN manually change the registry paths.

The problem is that you will have a VERY hard time going table by table and getting all of the co-dependant DLLs ironed out.

This is the reason that techs like me start cussing when security starts "removing vulnerabilities" because they take out things willie-nillie without regaurd for co dependent processes and data files and end up wrecking your system.

Of course I get to iron out WHAT they messed up and get them to roll it out.

 

[gtramontelli]

Ctrl-alt-del?

 

[92blkSi]

lol..... "I deleted all my sys files that had win32 in the name because an internet popup toled me I had a virus called win32.... now my pc doesnt work..... "

that was my fav quote from a girl that used to work in my office....... tons of fun......

 

[beowulf2k]

i am working with my computer and i want to basically change where windows saves data files. what i plan on doing is having just the base os load on one drive by itself. i am looking to get a ssd so i want as little of the os as possible on the drive. i know a decent bit bout working on computers but cant seem to find any good info on this. Any body done this and either has a good guide or could point me in the right direction? i know i will be editing the registry and i am ok with that. i am a computer tech myself but still learning.

Another problem aside from what others are saying is that some files will ALWAYS be open to maintain function and trying to move or access that file will result in a "File access denied, file is currently in use" or "cyclic redundancy check error".

Now the way it sounds is like you want to route the "save as" directory and put it on a removable or seperate media and you can do that.

 

[92blkSi]

perhaps we need a better requirement doccument.....

 

[Undeclared]

thanks for all the replies.
i am very aware it will take a lot of work. i want all of the OS files that windows needs to run on one solid state and i just need to figure out what reg entries to edit so that windows points to another drive for installing programs, saving data, ect, non system essential stuff like that. I want to use the solid state for a boot drive and a few programs that i want to run faster. i currently have a pretty beastly rig and all that is holding me back now is the storage drives.

current system
AMD Phenom II 940 Black Edition Quad core
MSI K9N2 Diamond Mobo
EVGA GTX 260 superclocked
Ultra 1000watt PSU
Antec 1200 case
5 WD 500GB Hard drives
8GB DDR2 800 MHZ ram
Cooler Master V10
Windows 7 RC 64Bit

 

[Tripped1]

That is easy....just don't install anything else on the boot drive except the OS. It almost alwasy prompts you anyway.

There is a block in windows anyway that asks you where you want to install things by default and by no means does it have to be "my documents", otherwise the save as button is your friend.

 

[beowulf2k]

That is easy....just don't install anything else on the boot drive except the OS. It almost alwasy prompts you anyway.

There is a block in windows anyway that asks you where you want to install things by default and by no means does it have to be "my documents", otherwise the save as button is your friend.

YUP
Dont install on default c:-redirect to alternate "renamed" drive. I renamed my spare drives to "backup".

 

[mbodell]

a lot of programs will force themselves onto the c drive anyhow, so your efforts may be in vain anyhow.

If you just want to redirect things like you my docs folder to the other drive, that would be easier.

 

[92blkSi]

what programs force themselves onto your c drive that are not OS related?

just change the install path to one of your other drives

 

[92blkSi]

how I have it set up:
ASUS M2N
AMD X2 5400+
4 Gig DDR2 800 mhz
1 OCZ Vertex 60gb SSD
2 Seagate Momentus 500gb hard drives
2 BFG 9800 GTXs in SLI

I have Windows XP installed on the SSD Drive (C Drive).
Apps I install on 1 of the 500 gigs (D Drive)
Files/Docs/Media I install on the other 500 gig (F Drive)

its really not that complicated, when I save something, I select F, when I install something I select D. When I installed Windows, in installed it on C.......

 

[baldheadeddork]

I'm all for fucking around and learning how things don't work, but it's always good to keep this in mind...

 

[Tripped1]

I'm all for fucking around and learning how things don't work, but it's always good to keep this in mind...

I have that flowchart all over at work.

 

[Tripped1]

YUP
Dont install on default c:-redirect to alternate "renamed" drive. I renamed my spare drives to "backup".

Tell me about it.

I have a raid5 NAS that hold most of my data. My computer is just a 75gb raptor and a 800gb raid 0 I use for video encoding.

The OS and a like 3 programs I need to perform are the only things on my system drive.