I’m presently trying to set up this new laptop to the way I’d like it, and would appreciate some advice from those who know.
Firstly, everything - Windows, all programmes and files, etc. are on the C: drive (SSD).
There is nothing at all on the larger D: drive (internal hard disc).
What would normally be placed on the D: drive?
Should I copy all my files on to it, in addition to them being on the C: drive for quicker access?
The other question (though I’m sure there may be many more!) is that things save automatically to a ‘quick access’ folder, which I never had before on my old computer. The same thing happens when I copy files to Dropbox for temporary backup. Word documents also seem to appear on a list which opens when I click the Word icon on the taskbar. I’m not sure whether this is the same thing or not. I then notice that sometimes a file that I’ve saved in my Documents folder has gone to this quick access folder and suddenly isn’t available in my usual Documents folder. How do I get things to save where I want to save them?!
The C: drive is usually just for your operating system and applications, the D: drive can then be used for documents and personal stuff, such as photos etc.
In Word, click Save As from the menu then select the folder where you want them to be
Thanks for your help, Bread.
If I do save all my files, documents, photos, etc. to the D: drive, won’t that make them slower to load? Perhaps it might be better to duplicate all that on both drives? There is plenty of room anyway.
I was thinking really about what would happen if one of the two drives turned its toes up.
Ha ha … I’m doing the same. I’ve just upgraded my MacBook so busy setting it all up… so much easier with cloud I can tell you and your stuff goes wherever you go. I can access all my stuff on my phone, other MacBook, iPad etc.
Thank you both.
I already copy files to both OneDrive and Dropbox on a temporary basis until I do an incremental backup to each of my external hard drives. Belt and braces!
Now I’ll get on with transferring all my files from C: to D:
Hopefully, I can just drag and drop.
I bought a computer a while back with the same set up I moved all the libraries to the D drive. It was really easy to do
The Libraries are now in D:\Libraries\
Documents
Picures
Videos
Music
are the main ones that I use but there is also “3D Objects” in the latest incarnation of WIN10
From memory it was an easy process, just find the library folders WIN 10 creates usually C:\Users\PROFILE NAME\Documents etc Where PROFILENAME is a 5 letter name based on the profile name you selected initially.
Right click on the library directory you want to move (they each have their own symbol) then Properties>Location> Move and give the new location. you will have to create the, say “Documents” folder then click select.
Repeat for each library folder. That is from memory but pretty right.
It takes longer to explain than do. Personally I keep the same layout on all my computers so it is easily to recreate from a back up when you buy a new one.
If there is a flaw with Windows it is that there is no environmental variable for the library folder(s) though of course you can create your own. Unfortunately the %userprofile% variable remains on the C: drive as does the AppData folder.
Just Google “Move WIN10 Library folders” there is plenty of information on how to do it.
I did the same, but dragged and dropped my four folders:
Documents
Music
Pictures
Videos
from the C: drive to the D: Drive.
No problem and quite quick.
I found that the original folders also remained on the C: drive, so perhaps I must have copied.
In a way, a good thing so that I could check that everything had gone across properly before deleting the ones on the C: drive.
Actually, I don’t know how, but an additional folder - Program Files - has also found its way across, though I didn’t move it. I contains only one file - ModifiableWindowsApps - which has 0 content size and I cannot either move it to C: or delete it.
I assume that is another flaw with Windows, as it seems to serve no purpose.
I am not sure that you have moved the library or merely copied the folder.
The problem is that some software uses the libraries as default folders for saving files and if you have merely copied the folders rather than changed the library location this software might still use the C: drive location.
Looking at a Windows explorer will tell by the folder symbol.
You don’t mention how big the two drives are, however, the SSD is going to be noticeably faster, compared to the hard drive, so I’d make the following suggestion.
If the SSD has the capacity. I’d put everything on it - as long as that didn’t use up more than, say, 75% of the SSD.
If you’re going with suggestion 1, then the HDD can become a very useful backup drive, so you would tell the Operating system to create a backup location, on it, and keep it up to date.
Should your SSD not have enough spare capacity, the Hard Drive will take your files and transactions may not suffer, speedwise, too much because the Engine (SSD+Processor) is getting & storing the stuff somewhat faster.
An external hard drive is slower, than all the above, because the data has to be dropped down to USB speeds to get it there and back.
On the subject of “The Cloud”, I am not a believer. Why would I pay for using a site, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, to store my stuff, when I can do it for nowt on a backup drive and/or my home systems. (Cloud storage works for very large users & the “boxes” are often abroad, near to the large users). Cloud is, often, only free up to a certain amount of data, after which you pay for everything, unless you get some other sort of deal.
Don’t agree with this, SSDs have limited read write cycles and are better used for files that are not varied much (such as Program and OS files) whereas a HDD drive are far more robust and quick enough for loading/saving the much smaller user files.
I can only judge by the comparisons (and personal experience).
Don’t forget that a hard drive has to search for bits of files, moving the read/write heads, which could be all over the surface, whilst an SSD works more like a memory card.
Was not, really, a problem once bigger Hard Drives became normal.
I wouldn’t have bothered to defrag a 550Gb HDD drive, for example, as there is plenty of space for my needs, without having to use things like Defrag to clean it up very often.
As for SSD, no to Defrag. (says the manufacturer).
No, I didn’t move ‘Progam Files’ either by copying or moving. Comparing it with the one which remains on C: which contains lots of different files, the one on D: contains only that ModifiableWindowsApps which contains nothing.
I haven’t quoted all the subsequent posts, but just to add that I was told earlier that the HDD and SSD will both load files quickly, and have found this to be the case.
The HDD is about twice as big as the SSD and, interestingly, is already named ‘Data’, so I assume it is normal to put the files there and programmes and Windows on C:
It’s working anyway.
Incidentally, I have never defragged the HDD (it didn’t have an SSD) on my old laptop anyway.
Anyway, I appreciate all the help you have both been kind enough to offer.
Just to drag this out a little further(!) I have found that Dropbox, which I found quick and easy to use, has now decided to change its interface.
It is now so much bigger, taking up most of the screen, but more importantly more clunky and awkward to use. I’d much rather go back to the earlier version, but I can find no means of doing so, or even contacting the Dropbox people to request that.
OneDrive has now got to be my preferential means of temporary backup for new files, though I’ve also been looking at Google Drive which also doesn’t seem as user friendly.
