question for Win7 experts ;-)

Here is a somewhat technical question about Windows 7:
Does anyone know if Windows 7 will support relocation of C:\Program Files (and C:\Programfiles (x86) on the 64bit-version) to a different partition? I ask because this is not supported in Vista (relocating C:\Users and C:\ProgramData is supported, but not the ProgramFiles folder), and I'd really like to be able to do this.

Anybody here understands the filesystem layout of Windows 7 well enough to answer this?

 

My n00ishness tells me that, since 7 and Vista are almost exactly the same, if it isn't possible in Vista, it probably isn't possible in 7 either. But don't trust me, I'm no expert. And I'm not willing to try it out if it works either. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

There is a way, go to the 7th post down on this thread (i think), instructions there:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=174741

The registry entries are the same in windows 7, just checked!!!

 

Unfortunately this approach will break a number of features in Vista, in subtle or not-so-subtle ways. Believe me, I know, and I have tried really hard... I have worked with junction links and symbolic links to try and make Vista believe everything is as it should be, but that doesn't work either, because Windows doesn't fully understand these advanced filesystem constructs.

Bottomline is, Vista does not allow you to relocate these folders, period. On the other hand, there's good reason to want to do this, and no good reasons for Vista to disallow such a configuration, so I was hoping, agains all hope, perhaps, that Windows 7 will improve on this.

 

What's the good reason behind moving these directories?

 

You can have an OS-only partition. So say you have a 32GB SSD as your main drive (for fast booting and whatnot), and a 500GB secondary, you can just have windows on your SSD and it'll boot faster. All the programs get shoved into the 500GB secondary drive where you need more space and less speed (comparatively).

 

Yes, that is one of the reasons. Also, since your ProgramFilesDir tree does not change very often, the partition that holds your program files will not be subject to significant fragmentation. The OS partition, and the partition that holds C:\Users and C:\ProgramData, on the other hand, can be kept (relatively) small, and are much easier to defragment individually. Overall this allows for noticeably improved performance, and, in particular, maintaining good performance over time.

 

Hmm, couldn't you just link them with the mklink command?

 

hm.. i have 32gb ssd and have everything on it

and it's not good to move the programs folder as a reinstall of all apps have to be done on reinstall anyways.

it should be doable with hard links, though.. or mounting another volume in the folder. but this should be done offline somehow. i guess it won't even work in safemode.

 

just use defraggler and only defrag the actual fragmented files. and only defrag the whole directory say once every few months. very stable performance, and very quick defragmenting.

or use an ssd and forget about it

 

Nope; like I said above, I had tried that. If you do this, you'll break Windows Update, which uses hardlinks to update certain files in ProgramFilesDir. Since hardlinks cannot bridge volumes, this operation fails, and so will Windows Update...

 

Hardlinks are local filesystem constructs, and thus cannot span partitions. Mounting the volume via reparse points (=junction links) or symbolic links will break Windows Update on Vista, see my post above.

 

actually, hardlinks can span partitions. i've done it often enough.

 

If I'm not mistaken, hard links must be within the same partition as the original file, and they are limited to files (no hard links for directories). Soft links (ie: symlinks/junction links/reparse points) can span partitions. If you are creating a link that spans partitions, it's not a hard link. The easiest way to find out what you are creating is to get a hard link tool and try to create a link across partitions.

 

No, you are mistaken. You may be referring to reparse points, but not hardlinks. The latter cannot, by definition, cross partitions. A hardlink is essentially a second name for a file within the filesystem of the partition.

 

This is correct.

 

As an update, I spoke to somebody in the Windows 7 team at Microsoft, and it turns out that Windows 7 will not support relocating the Program Files folder(s). That's not really unexpected, given that Windows 7 is nothing but Windows 6.1 (Vista being Windows 6.0): A number of minor tweaks, but no substantial changes over Vista at all.

 

Thanks for the update.

 

Why is there a programdata program on my 2nd hard drive? It just has a Microsoft folder then a wer folder with report queue

Do I need this?

 

Hello Dave,

I have the exact same setup as you with the 2710p and Mtron SSD, however I am unable to install Win7. Just at the beginning at the setup it fails with a message 0xc0000001 and something about being unable to load selected entry.

Did you experience this problem? If so; how did you overcome it?

Regards,
GK