Windows 7: I'm considering going back to my old hard drive

FuturDreamz · 20 Feb 2013

my 120GB ssd is getting really full, and I made the mistake of checking if there were any steam sales going. I can't afford a 256GB SSD, and hard drive useage is pretty balanced so there's nothing I can really take out without making my system less useful

I do have 30GB free now (before installing the other games), but my laptop's original hard drive is a lot bigger.

Review Acer Aspire V5-571G Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Should I do it? I can post a spacesniffer report if you want.

Kari · 20 Feb 2013

You could try to move the Users folder and everything in it to a secondary HDD: User Profiles - Create and Move During Windows 7 Installation

Relocating can also be done on existing system, it does not have to be done while installing.

Kari

NikDorado · 20 Feb 2013

hi, if you disable Windows hybernation feature and, if you have a lot of ram (4GB+), disable Windows paging file, you should save a lot of HDD space.

For example, i have 16 GB of RAM. Disabling the hybernation feature I saved 16 GB of SSD space and, disabling the paging file feature, I saved 12GB, for a total of new 28 GB free SSD space

A SSD is really faster than a common HHD, but it should always be used - in my opinion - with a hard disk as "archive".
If you need a lot of space and you can't afford a 256GB SSD, then you should replace the SSD with the original laptop's hard drive.

Emoclaw · 20 Feb 2013

If I were you I'd turn one of my SSDs external and use both, I cannot explain how, but god invented google for that reason.

M1GU31 · 20 Feb 2013

Take a look at this thread on steampowered forums. They have a method to have games installed on multiple drives.
Steam Users' Forums - View Single Post - If you use the built in Steam backup...

Take a look at #3 and it has links to differnt methods posted in blue that direct you to the threads explaining it on steam.

Also you can try this method with this app here. Haven't tried it myself yet but it's worth giving it a shot.
http://www.stefanjones.ca/steam/

kbrady1979 · 20 Feb 2013

I agree with relocating the "Users" folder to the mechanical HD as none of that data needs the speed of an SSD. The hibernation file is of course up to you..if you don't use it, then I would definitely disable it. Other than that, just regular maintenance to keep things clean like Disk Cleanup, etc should give you plenty of room. At one time I had Windows 7 Pro, a slew of programs and 5 or 6 full games on my SSD and only used about 80gb out of 119gb(128), but I have always had my Users folder mapped to my 2TB drive, hibernation disabled and the paging file set to something more reasonable.

AstaLaVista · 20 Feb 2013

Yep... +1 on what the majority here said!

FuturDreamz · 20 Feb 2013

This is a laptop. I use hibernation a lot and I can't really move my user folder to an external drive. I'll look into the steam backup and restore though

Kari · 20 Feb 2013

Not an external drive, another internal. I have a laptop, too, users located on secondary disk.

FuturDreamz · 20 Feb 2013

And where, pray tell, will i install a second hard drive? I'm not giving up my optical drive.

This is the review of my laptop. As you can see it does not support a second hard drive, and most laptops on the market don't either.
Review Acer Aspire V5-571G Notebook - NotebookCheck.net Reviews

Windows 7: I'm considering going back to my old hard drive

I'm considering going back to my old hard drive problems?