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Resolved Question

SSD and Large drive are mixed up

Jun 4, 2019 5:08PM PDT

I have a just over 1 year old Dell Optiplex 7010 that I thought was using a 225 GB SSD for booting up and a 3 TB for storage and today I find that they were not set up correctly. They are swapped. The C drive which is the SSD has 176 GB used w/ 47.2 GB free space. The D drive has 50.9 used w/ 2.67 TB free space.

Is there any way to correct this problem without wiping both drives and starting over? I am dumping large amounts of files to my One Drive to maybe get more space on the C drive until I figure something out.

Discussion is locked

john a galt has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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If OneDrive is taking a lot of space, change it to D:
Jun 4, 2019 5:18PM PDT
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OneDrive is not the problem
Jun 4, 2019 6:00PM PDT

The storage problem is that all of the files that would normally be in the user folder are in the C drive. Lots of video, audio files, several executable files, trading platforms, it's all on the SSD instead of on the HDD.

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Almost every user folder and "Program Files"
Jun 4, 2019 6:09PM PDT

Can be directed to drive D:. Yes I understand that average Windows users don't know this but for each app and user we can put them where we want for the best performance.

Just this week we saw 1TB SSDs for about 100 so that's a fix too.

Sorry but I don't see the issue here unless it's one about learning more about Windows, Folder locations and how to move and being a bit more careful during app installs.

Now if you want to take a huge step down in performance, unplug the SSD and install Windows and apps on the remaining drive. Most folk won't because once they are up on SSD, moving back is painful.

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How do I direct files to D
Jun 4, 2019 6:38PM PDT

I am concerned that if I don't at least start putting new files on the D drive that the SSD is going to be maxed out. It is about 80% now. I definitely don't have any intention of using the HDD as my boot drive but I wonder if maybe it isn't already booting from D. I probably shroud check that first. Thanks for all the help and ideas.

Post was last edited on June 4, 2019 6:49 PM PDT

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You change as much as you wish.
Jun 4, 2019 6:58PM PDT

Here I wanted a similar same structure from C to D for Program Files so I created those folders and when I install I take the option to install to D when offered.

As to my user files I created the same Users folder and similar to what was in C:\Users and then my second Home folder there. When I save documents and such I get to save them where I want. Yes you could change the Users home folder but this is always your choice.

There are fine articles about redirecting the user home folder but you can find those easy enough.

Example: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+move+my+home+folder+to+drive+D%3A&gl=US

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Answer
This sounds correct to me.
Jun 4, 2019 5:17PM PDT

The most common setup is the SSD to be C and the bulk drive be the next drive letter. This means a little work for us to install what apps and bulk content we want on the other drive but again, this is the correct way for a mixed SSD and HDD system to be setup.

If you do swap the old HDD to be the drive C then you will move back a decade as to boot time and more.

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I see your point
Jun 4, 2019 5:37PM PDT

And you are right. I want the boot drive to be C but I don't want all of my storage and everything going to that drive and filling it up.

My question should really have been how do I redirect my storage to the HDD?