SSD and HDD setup

Just purchased my first SSD, a crucial m4 128gb, and I had a few questions about how to set it up. I will be using the SSD as my main drive with windows on it, as well as some adobe software and a few games, and intend to use my 750gb HDD to store things like my music, photos, videos, less frequently used programs and games, etc.

Once I install windows and whatever programs I want on the SDD, how can I get programs to automatically install to my secondary drive? I'm also curious about any other adjustments I should make to help manage data distribution between the SSD and the HDD.

Thanks for any input!

 

Acrosis or another disc image software tool or you can try and migrate. NO transfer solution is without issues. NONE. I usually just reinstall programs and transfer saved profiles and data manually. Takes an extra hour upfront and usually saves several hours of clean up later. But you can get step by step info on that on youtube if you need it. You can try cloning via an external dock if you have one too. I like this option better than image & transfer solutions personally. Especially if you've backed up everything critical(which you should do regardless). You'll have to go to raid 1, be sure to remember that before you start. The option can be found in the bios options. Sounds like you know that but there it is. True you could spend the next month making a 128 SSD work well with a 750GB 7500 in raid 0 but I'd let some insane shut in take that trophy.

 

Just install the programs manually to which ever HDD
believe me 128GB M4 is quite a lot.....i have it as my primary OS drive, and the 750GB partitioned into 2 sections, one for another OS (currently) win 8, and the rest for proggies and documents., and with my optimum installation (minus games which i never install on the primary drive anyways, and keeping the documents away from the pri/SSD drive) amd i have used all in all 32GB no more.......this is a bog-standard installation

secondly...i do understand it's annoying to do a fresh installation, but believe me, you will enjoy the xperience... installation will be a breeze as opposed to
HDD, and you will know for a fact your SSD is fully optimized...

The SSD Optimization Guide - The SSD Review

use the ^ guide for optimization

 

Great guide. I learned a few things. Nice post man +1

 

Thanks for all the suggestions, you've offered some great advice! What i'm planning on doing basically is strip down my current drive to only what I want on my SSD. Basically transfer all data off to a different drive, delete programs and only leave behind the OS and the select programs I want on the SSD, then clone it to the SSD and then wipe the 750gb HD and transfer all the extra stuff back.

Any thoughts on that? Would it be more ideal for me to just do a clean OS install like recommended? Thanks again!!

 

I am not agree on 16.
It's unnecesary to check "High Performance Power Settings" to disable "hdd shutdown" besides that this changes settings like the cpu % usage, the graphics card power settings, ....

 

I put my HDD shutdown at 5mins battery and 10mins plugged in. It shuts down your HDD (when you're not using it) and leaves the SSD on, so your laptop produces no noise whatsoever -

The guide was awesome as well, thanks for posting it.

 

If you really want to do it right, I have a pdf file with a guide to installing windows on an SSD but making windows place your /Users and /ProgramData on the HDD instead of the default c: drive. This way you can store pictures, videos and documents using the My Documents feature withou cluttering up your SSD. If windows is already installed I also have the procedures for moving them, it's just not quite as clean.

 

Could you post this guide? I'd be very interested in keeping it for future use

 

^Ditto .

 

I will upload it when i get home tonight.

 

Ok, here it is.

Archive.7z

If you want to set up windows so that it installs your /User and /ProgramData folders to your HDD and not your SSD you can do that easily during a fresh install. Just follow the .pdf in the archive linked above. There is an .xml file in the archive as well, if you are installing Win7HomePremium x64 & your SSD is c:/ and your HDD is d:/ the the xml is ready to go. If not, the pdf tells you how to edit it.

NOTE: there is a good chance that your DVD/BluRay is d:/ and your HDD is e:/, verify before using the xml "as is".

If you are not doing a fresh install, the .txt file in the archive has a string in it that must be run in a cmd window opened with admin rights. This will kick windows back into thinking you are installing windows for the first time and you begin at the top of page 4 after the computer restarts itself from the cmd line.

NOTE: If you are not doing this from a fresh install, it's going to ask you to create a new user on the computer and it cannot be the same user name you already have. Just use a new username like Temp, let it finish and then delete Temp after the whole process is done. It's much cleaner to do from a fresh install.

I take no credit for the information contained in the pdf. I found it over on sevenforums, but I do stand by the fact that it works pefectly (on a fresh install). It's been going great on my machine for about a month now.

The original author is Kari over on sevenforums. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link to an external forum, so just do a search for the title of the pdf and choose the link that goes to sevenforums and you will be at the original discussion on the .pdf. There is a lot more information over there as well.
Have any questions, just let me know.