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SeagullSteve

SeagullSteve

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Steve
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So I've got my new pc, which has as 120gb SDD. The SDD I'll use just for the program files and I'll put all my data onto the 2nd drive. So my question is how do I get the c:\users directory to be d:\users. I need to somehow link the two. I know how to do it on a UNIX system but not on Windows :( any ideas?
 
There may be a way but I wouldn't do it. Too many programs expect it to be in the default location. I have had a 120Gb SSD for nearly a year now and still have 50Gb free. I just keep all pictures etc on hard drives and don't use 'my pictures', 'my videos' etc.

I just add the folders on the hard drive to favourites in explorer for easy access.
 
With unix I can create a link from C:\users to d:\users. I were to to cd to c:\users I'd be looking at d:\users. Hope that makes sense.
 
You could just right click in say 'my pictures' and create a 'new shortcut' to your hard drive location. That will give you an easy route to where you want to save when a program defaults to 'my pictures'

An auto redirect of users even if it can be done some way is bound to cause problems I'd have thought.
 
Maybe that's the way. If I copy c:\users to d:\users, delete c:\users and then create a shortcut from the c: drive.
 
Take an image backup before you start messing with any of this!

The users directory is so linked into windows I'd expect things to go pear shaped fast if you try it. hope I'm wrong.

Edit also have a google search on the subject. There is loads of stuff out there. I read some of it when I got my SSD. Too many things to go wrong for my liking.
 
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It's a completly fresh build - if it goes wrong I'll just start again.

This is why I hate windows, nothing is easy. It's a doddle on unix.

But I'll google before I try.
 
You do it by telling the registry that new accounts should be made in a new location, make a new temporary account, log into it, delete your old one and then create a new account same as the old one. You can then delete temporary account and continue from there. The new acvcount will be properly linked to the second drive (I know, as I've done it here).

Can't for the life of me find the link that explains what you change though
 
neil_g said:
just right click documents, music etc and specify a new location.
Click to expand...
There are problems with doing this though - you need to also move hidden system folders such as AppData. Without doing those, the original drive keeps filling. The registry method points you at the new drive properly. Any new accounts are created there and it is seamless...

This is the link to change drives: http://forums.pcpitstop.com/index.p...-user-account-on-a-separate-drive-then-vista/

Let's say you have a user A currently on C:\Users follow the above guide and after you have done that create a user called A-temp with admin rights. Log in as A-temp, delete user A (this will delete all their files, so best done when you have a fresh install). Now re-create user A. This will create the account on the new drive location. This is 100% seamless and means your profile directory and all associated files (e.g. AppData which can grow) are on the other drive.
 
appdata etc shouldnt ever contain a lot of data, hell if i can run a 60gb SSD as my OS and ive never cleared down anything in the other user folders im sure 120gb can handle a couple of temporary files ;) (in fact my appdata is currently 2gb with no management from me)

as long as youre not letting outlook build an offline data file for gb's of email.. lol
 
incidentally for the OP, the biggest saving will probably be the hibernate file (especially if you have a large amount of RAM). even though you disable the file for SSD use itll still sit on the OS drive and youll need to remove it manually, google is your friend.
 
neil_g said:
appdata etc shouldnt ever contain a lot of data, hell if i can run a 60gb SSD as my OS and ive never cleared down anything in the other user folders im sure 120gb can handle a couple of temporary files ;) (in fact my appdata is currently 2gb with no management from me)
Click to expand...
This is my user directory:

Code: 
Andy@BUSTER /cygdrive/g/Users/Andy
$ du -s -h *
11G     AppData
45K     Contacts
4.0K    Desktop
8.0G    Documents
479M    Downloads
17M     Dropbox
56K     Favorites
25K     Links
18M     Music
4.0M    NTUSER.DAT
73G     Pics
281M    Pictures
1.0K    Saved Games
11K     Searches
0       SendTo
0       Start Menu
0       Templates
4.0K    Tracing
1.0K    Videos
1.5M    ntuser.dat.LOG1
1.0K    ntuser.ini
80K     wacom

The point being that if you do it "properly" you don't need to care what the system is doing as it will all be on the new drive.
 
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ouch 11gb? whats using that though? something isnt tidying up after itself very well.

i do see what youre saying, if youre going to be using programs you cannot control working directories from if necessary then yeah move the whole lot. if you just want to do it for the sake of keeping docs on a 2nd drive to save some drive space then either method will suit.
 
5.4G Local\Temp

At a guess, it will limit Temp data to a % of the drive size.

The advantage of moving the whole thing is that everything installs correctly to the new drive. For example, Dropbox goes in %USERPROFILE%\Dropbox If you have moved your complete profile, it will go in the new place. If you haven't, it will go back on the system drive. Downloads is another example - if you don't clean it up, all of a sudden you can be using an awful lot of SSD...
 
You can make a hard disk a folder on another drive, but its easier not to. When you create the partition, don't assign it a letter instead you can mount it as a folder.

I wouldn't do this for program files though, just create a program files folder on the 2nd drive and install all software there.
 
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