Windows 7: data onto D drive ?

hi
I am new to Windows 7 and have it installed on an SSD (C)
I would like to keep all data on the HDD (D)
not sure how to set this up ?
appreciate any advise
thanks larry

If you want, you can save your data folders to your HDD and then go into Windows Explorer. Right click on each folder and then highlight the "Add to Library" menu. Once that is open it will show you a list of the Libraries in Windows and you can add the folder to it. The contents will remain on your HDD, but you can then access them on your C partition.

You can save anything you want on the other hard drive, just copy and paste.

You should store backups of everything there anyway. All your program installers, music, iso`s etc. Everything you want to keep.

As stated you can Place any data you like on the D drive. You can also move the Documents folder to the D drive. As far as the built in file structure of saving everything to the "User" folder you don't have to do that, you can save it anywhere you like. I haven't save any document, music or image file to the C drive in 20 years through 5 different versions of Windows. My Main hard drive has 2 partitions, C & D, C is for the OS and related files and D is for programs and the Documents folder. All other data is stored on E, G or J drives which are separate physical HDD. F is a small partition on the same drive that has the G partition and J is a drive I added and didn't feel like switching around my DVD drive letters.

There is nothing written in stone that says you have to save anything to the C drive. Even though MS has set up Windows to default to saving everything to C.

Here is a tutorial that will show you how to move them. User Folders - Change Default Location

We've found issues with moving default location of user Folders. I recommend as suggested copying the Active User folders to HDD, then rightclicking each to add it to related Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forums.

Leave C in each library so you can see if any files are written to it and easily drag them over to D in the Library window.

I've been using the relocated default user folders for over a month now, no problems whatsoever. What are the known issues with this Greg? Do you have a link?

There are several threads from a period about a year or more ago where Users came back after relocating shell User folders to complain they couldn't image only their C drive - because the User folders are System files so will force inclusion of the data partition in any image. This defeats the purpose of moving the data off C to make the image smaller.

There were also strange anomalys issues with running installers from Downloads folders that had been moved, for which none of the possible fixes (of Taking Ownership, etc) would work except moving the User folders back to C.

I noticed that the Move User Folders tutorial's author Brink was no longer advising it so followed his lead to instead link to Libraries for this purpose with no downside seen yet.

thanks everyone for ideas ...

There is nothing written in stone that says you have to save anything to the C drive. Even though MS has set up Windows to default to saving everything to C.[/QUOTE]

how do I set it up to save to another place / drive ?
thx

Several ways have been posted above. You can create folders on your data drive named documents, pictures, music and such, right click them and select include in library then select which library you want them in. They will appear when you open your documents, pictures or music folders on the C drive. You can give them whatever name suits you and include them in whatever library folder you like. Or, you can use the tutorial I posted in post #5. Some people do it both ways. There are pros and cons of each way. Although some say it can cause problems, I go by the tutorial and actually move mine. I've been doing that for several years without a problem. It is really a matter of how you would like them done. Either way is quite simple.