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Question

How do I move programs from SDD to internal HDD

Apr 9, 2016 9:37AM PDT

My pc has both a SSD and an internal HDD (plus external drives). My SDD space is full. What is the best solution? Do I try and move my programs from the SSD drive to the internal D drive (which has a lot of room)? Is there a way to do this that isn't too technical? Or is there a better solution. I use Windows 7. I have already performed diskcleanup. Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Answer
You can't move them.
Apr 9, 2016 9:47AM PDT

But you can uninstall them and on reinstall carefully watch for an option to change which drive it installs on.

Remember this is a frequently asked question. There are so many priors that I will keep it short.

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ditto, that's it.
Apr 9, 2016 10:10AM PDT

But there's something you can try that might work even better for you. Move all your "My ......." folder assignments to the HDD. Remember what folders they point to such as "My Folders" symlink may actually point to MyDocuments actual folder and My Photos symling may point to MyPictures or similar. You can reassign what folders those will forward to. That's what I did on my wife's computer when she needed more room. That's where most of the room ends up being used anyway.

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Answer
Ssd
Apr 10, 2016 7:31AM PDT

How big is your ssd?

If this is some small unit <128GB you'll be forever cleaning that thing.

Consider cloning the ssd to a 500GB unit.....that should be enough storage for most folks.

About 125 bucks with a cloning kit.

Then get rid of your ssd/hdd mix.

Sure makes backups a lot easier.

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For reference.
Apr 10, 2016 7:46AM PDT

Last month my son got his new laptop.

For 120 bucks we bought a 500GB SSD.
We already had the Aprcom USB 3.0 Clone Kit but that goes for under 30 bucks.)

A few months ago the 240GB that went in my wife's laptop as an upgrade was 70USD.

I did get an 120GB SSD but it was to do a last upgrade to a very old XP SP3 laptop at the office which is for legacy support. We wanted to eek out a little speed since testing time is expensive. It also answers the question (again) about SSD and XP (yes it's fine.)

Bottom line, don't get less than the 240GB SSDs unless you have a very good reason like ours.

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Yup
Apr 10, 2016 2:36PM PDT

With the price of a 500GB ssd in the 100 buck area...ample storage for most folks...it gets a little tough to fit in a hdd.

I'm using a old w7 machine...circa 2010...at the time ssd's were expensive.
So I fitted in a 'ready cache' unit.....about 40 bucks at the time.
It works....better than a hdd alone not as good as a ssd.

Now that prices have dropped I would not do that today.