How do I separate Windows from programs...

[Fly Boy]

I partitioned my hard drive and I wanted the Windows files to be on the D: partition and the C: drive to be for everything else... This is a new concept for me because on my previous drive I didn't bother to even partition. So how to I make Windows do it's thing automatically and download/install programs and such on the C: drive instead of the D: drive?

[Wintermane]

Well rather then do a very complicated way what I did was simply click on the install path each time and changed the letter... worked for me.

[BobbinThreadbare]

Is this what you're looking for?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933700

[cheesyking]

Personally I wouldn't bother separating the program files out.

As that MS KB says changing the registry setting for "Program files" can break things and manually changing the installation path can be a bit of a pain + not all software even supports it (bad programmers have been known to hard code "C:\Program FIles" into their software)

Anyway if your plan is to keep all your installed software through a reinstall (by formatting C:\ and reinstalling while leaving D:\ alone) then keep in mind that your programs won't actually be installed after this, you'll just have a bunch of files on another drive. Most programs put settings in your registry and sometimes shared files in places like system32 etc and you'll loose all that when windows gets wiped. Certainly some software is fine with you doing this kind of thing (EG not a problem for Steam games) but plenty isn't.

Separating data makes a lot of sense though.

[roont]

yah, seperating windows and program files won't give you much benefit. As mentioned when most programs are installed they tie to the operating system anyways, so any programs you have installed, if windows is wiped, will also need to be reinstalled. It's a better idea to partition so that OS and programs are on C (this also simplifies install as you dont need to change any drive letters) and keep all your data files, downloads, music etc on another partition D.

[canoli]

So picking up on the OP's idea - I just partitioned my blank SSD into 3 volumes - I put Win7Pro on C:\ and now I've got a "Programs" drive and a "Scratch" drive - both empty right now.

I definitely don't want to start pointing installation files all over the place. And esp on 64-bit with its two Program Files directories...(the x86 one, the standard one)... it's too complicated trying to keep track.

So is there a use for my "Programs" partition? Why the hell did I make this thing in the first place?

Thank goodness I can just extend my OS partition and keep the 3rd one as originally intended - I know how to use that one! ...jeez...

[Flying Fox]

So picking up on the OP's idea - I just partitioned my blank SSD into 3 volumes - I put Win7Pro on C:\ and now I've got a "Programs" drive and a "Scratch" drive - both empty right now.

I definitely don't want to start pointing installation files all over the place. And esp on 64-bit with its two Program Files directories...(the x86 one, the standard one)... it's too complicated trying to keep track.

So is there a use for my "Programs" partition? Why the hell did I make this thing in the first place?

Thank goodness I can just extend my OS partition and keep the 3rd one as originally intended - I know how to use that one! ...jeez...

Given that on any reinstall, those partitions should not need to be kept (most apps you need to reinstall anyways), I say partitioning is not a good idea at all. On a magnetic disk at least you are playing the outer tracks game and on an SSD the seek/transfer time is consistent across different sectors. Not sure why you picked up on the OP's idea. Nowadays partitioning is really for easier data management, but I suppose you have a magnetic disk already for that? So it is already on another partition.

[canoli]

yeah, thanks FF - I meant "continuing with his train of thought" - not that I wanted to implement his strategy.

I've always partitioned my mechanical drives for the reasons you stated - faster access on the outer partitions and easier organization. But with an SSD I'm realizing there's a whole new set of ideas. I'll probably post a new thread for a few questions I have - seems we're all still learning what the best practices are for SSDs - google "write-caching" or "cluster size" and there's a fair amount of conflicting opinions and very little (if any) benchmarks to support a particular strategy.

Anyway I ended up deleting the Programs partition and now I have an OS/Apps drive and a Scratch drive. I understand there's no speed benefit to a separate partition on an SSD but the apps I use prefer a separate partition (or better yet a sep drive) for scratch space, otherwise it uses the boot drive. There's prob not much difference since my scratch disk is the same physical disk as my boot/apps disk but it looks cleaner. Eventually I'll hook up another SSD for fast scratch access. Hopefully I won't need it all that often - 12G of RAM now and 24G once I install CS5 should keep the Adobe apps happy...I hope.

Thanks again for your reply Fox - I appreciate it!