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    E1705 Reformat/Setup Q's

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by AJR9987, Jun 1, 2006.

  1. AJR9987

    AJR9987 Notebook Guru

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    I just got my E1705 last night, and immediately proceeded to reformat it. I repartitioned my hard drive into a C and E drive, C being for windows only, E for all programs and documents. My question is...how do I get windows to use E:\Program Files\ as my default location for installing programs?? I tried TweakUI, but it didnt work. Is there a registry hack or anything? Your help will be greatly appreciated!!
     
    AJR9987, Jun 1, 2006
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  2. schmoken

    schmoken Notebook Guru

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    I don't think you can. You just have to point the installer to that drive.
    I have the same setup. When the install prog brings up c:\program files\.... , I just change the C to D and it's good to go.
     
    schmoken, Jun 1, 2006
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  3. kegobeer

    kegobeer 1 hr late but moving fast

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    I never recommend installing programs to anywhere other than c:\program files. There is no benefit from doing such a thing, and there are a few applications that won't install or operate correctly if you try this.
     
    kegobeer, Jun 1, 2006
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  4. MarkMcK

    MarkMcK Notebook Evangelist

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    This falls into the 'if it were me' category....

    I'd keep your programs on C and put your 'data' on D.

    If you ever need to do a Windows reinstall, putting your programs on D doesn't do you much good as all the registry entries will be 'gone' during any reinstall of Windows and most of your programs will NOT function following your getting Windows working again.

    The 'configuration' adjustments you need to be performing are not during the installer, but by your tweaking the individual program's 'settings' as to default storage [open/save] locations etc.

    Some other applications to consider setting up this way and sometimes overlooked would be your email, address book, browser Favorites, calendar apps, etc. And fwiw I've put my temporary Internet files in its own partition to make it easier to 'clean' out and keep my 'C' less fragmented. But that's kind of a 'nice-to-do'....

    Mark
     
    MarkMcK, Jun 1, 2006
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  5. schmoken

    schmoken Notebook Guru

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    I guess it comes down to just whatever you're comfortable with.

    Our 3 machines here have the 'c' partition for the OS only. There are a few programs that don't give you a choice of installation location though.

    Don't know of any performance/stability issues either way, it's just the way it's always been here, YMMV.
     
    schmoken, Jun 1, 2006
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