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General discussion

WIn 7 on SSD

by volvogirl Jan 15, 2011 4:12PM PST

Hi, Anyone up late tonight? My husband just had Fry's put together all the parts he bought there, case, motherboard etc. It's got a 1T HD and a 64gb SSD, 12gz,i7 processor, etc. Sorry don't know all the parts. We installed Win7 on the SSD which is the C: drive. Took us a while tofigure out to initialize the 1T WD drive. We made it into 2 parts E: & F:

Now how do we go about installing programs on the E: drive instead of C? I know everything wants to be installed on C. And E: is blank no program folder. Should we make a program folder on E:? Will Win7 work ok if the programs are on another drive? C: has all the regular folders like a programs and programs64 etc. Do we need to set the same folders up on E:? Or when we installed Win7 was there a setting to tell it to use E for programs, etc.? Except E was not available or initialized then. What's the plan of attack? Just custom install everything to E:? As individual folders or make a program folder on E?

Discussion is locked

13 Posts
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Oh it's W7 Home Premium 64
by volvogirl Jan 15, 2011 5:04PM PST

I hope you don't need any other info. Did we do right by first installing Windows 7 to the SSD C: drive? Then activating and initializing the HD? It's a removeable SSD, plugs into the top of the case. AT least we got our montior finally working and Win7 installed. We're learning a lot. We were pretty worried when the WD 1T HD didn't show up in My Computer. It was in the Device Manager but without a drive letter and size but said it was working properly. Fry's told my husand haveing the OS on the SSD would make it boot in like 10 seconds. We'll see.

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IMHO you have done right with the install
by lacsr Jan 15, 2011 9:30PM PST

Make sure Win 7 knows the WD is available. It should show in my computer. Did that get solved? That part has to work before any programs can be installed. If that is OK, now, then just be diligent to make the programs use E: for the residing placing instead of C:
Some may not let you make that choice.

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Re: Win 7 on SSD
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jan 16, 2011 3:43AM PST

That's just what I did with my new Windows 7 PC. Works nicely. But finding everything (sell, nog everything, but most things) on another drive than c: takes getting used to. Using "libraries" helps.

Most, but not all, programs can be installed on another drive, like e:. If the install program suggests c:\program files\foldername, just change c: to e: and it will go fine. Be sure, however, to install everything you run at boot (like antivirus and firewall) in the c: for the full speed effect.

Kees

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What about user docs?
by volvogirl Jan 16, 2011 4:50AM PST

Thanks Kees. How or can I change the location of the library and user fav, docs, downloads, etc. to E? I sure don't want to fill up my 64gb SSD C drive. It's already half way w/ windows. THis is our first Win7 so need to learn the differences. The Library seems to be a replacement for Windows Exployer. Can I MOVE parts of windows to E:? I did install NOD32 to E, guess I should uninstall it and put in on C?

Thanks again.

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Re: eset
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jan 16, 2011 7:17AM PST

Yes, that's better on c:-drive (for fast boot).

Kees

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Please explain
by volvogirl Jan 16, 2011 4:51AM PST

Using "libraries" helps.

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Just a few quick links
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jan 16, 2011 7:28AM PST
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-7-libraries-%E2%80%93-and-why-you-want-them/
and
http://www.techsupportalert.com/how_to_move_my_documents.htm

The Documents library, for example, can contain many folders on many drives. If you use that, there's less need to know the drive letter and type it.
Same for Program Files, I think (but I didn't try yet). You have two Program Files folders, one on the c: and one on the e:. If you put both in a new Programs library, you can search a program in that library and Windows will search on both disks.

For downloads, most browsers have an option to specify the default download folder. Snd, for most of us, it's only a temporary storage. You move downloaded music to a music folder, downloaded programs to a backup folder, etcetera. So it doesn't really care where it is located. But a HDD is fast enough for it. No real need to do it on the SSD.

And so you'll manage to get a lot of things from the c:-drive without noticing too much of it. It takes more thought, and more work, but it gives you a fast boot indeed.
How big is your SSD? Mine is 64 GB. I started thinking about 40 GB, but the sales person advised a bigger one, because Windows still puts a lot of things on the c:-drive. And the next one from Kingston was 64 GB. Should suffice, I expect.

Kees
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Thanks for the links
by volvogirl Jan 16, 2011 8:46AM PST

The one on libraries I'll have to study. Yes as I said in my first post we have a 64gb SSD. Now I d/l Belarc (I always do that right away). Saved it to a new folder on E: called E Downloads but when I installed it, it went right to C and didn't let me change it. So I uninstalled it. I don't use it much so I think I will just install it everytime and then uninstall it each time.

We stressed out after installing Win7 and didn't see the 1T WD HD. My husband got on his laptop and looked up Western Digital and got the instructions and somehow we managed to find the spot to activate and initalize it and made it into two parts E & F drives 50/50.

Boy when I plugged in the printer it took less than 1 sec to be ready! I blinked and missed it. Took a while to get the monitor plugged in right. Had to find a different cable but wow. A year ago he bought a fancy LG W2286 monitor. There are all kinds of speaker connections like 5 or 6. Also he got a D-Link Wireless USB adapter.

NOW I WANT WIN7 TOO! LOVE IT!

Thanks for all the help.

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Read and do this
by samkh Jan 16, 2011 1:41PM PST
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Don't know about that
by volvogirl Jan 16, 2011 2:02PM PST

I only have Win7 on my C: Drive a 64gb SSD and it already has 24gb on it.

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One more question
by volvogirl Jan 17, 2011 3:42AM PST

Ok so I've got this 64gb SSD C:. Why does it only say 55gb in Computer properties? Now it's up to 34gb used. I think yesterday it was 24gb filled. Basically it's only Windows 7 stuff. Is it all the windows updates I've been installing?

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Butting in
by Bob__B Jan 17, 2011 5:49AM PST

Grab a copy of Ccleaner.....use google.

Use the analyze button.

You might find there is a boot load of stuff you can toss.

Yes windows updates create temp files.

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Re: cleaning
by Kees_B Forum moderator Jan 17, 2011 5:55AM PST

Using the Disc Cleanup Wizard to remove all but the last system restore point and possibly volume shadow copies tend to free a lot of space (it's in the second tab of the wizard (more options, or advanced). It's possible ccleaner does the same.

No need to worry yet.

Kees

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