SSD OS(win7 proffesional) + HDD Data + HDD Backup setup

batmanw7 · 06 Mar 2012

Obviously the Users and ProgramData folders can't bother you if you don't look at them. Have a look to see how much space they occupy and consider that most of the temporary files used by programs are stored in there. This might change your opinion(if it doesn't, please let me know).

I follow the studies... but this does not mean I should completely ignore optimizing the system, right? I am sure Windows will work just fine completely out of the box with no customization whatsoever, but this also does not mean that it's default configuration is even close to optimal...

PS. On my XP, Documents & Settings has 6 GB, while on my desktop I have stored only 0.13GB). The difference is... Windows knows what. Definitively nothing that I put there.

ignatzatsonic · 06 Mar 2012

ProgramData folder: 447 Megabytes

Users folder: 1.24 Gigabytes

What's to worry about there?

My SSD has 27 GB occupied of 80 GB total. That moves around a bit, but has never been above 30 GB.

Re "optimization": you have to decide how much of what you read and see recommended is worthwhile rather than insignificant or deleterious. And you have to have some way of quantifying and documenting the improvement provided by the tweak.

I'm certainly not anti-optimization. If I found something worthwhile, I'd likely do it. I've turned off hibernation and somewhat restricted System Restore, both in the interest of saving space. I periodically do a disk cleanup with CCleaner. But that's about it.

You can also move your browser cache to another drive if you think that is problematic. I see mixed opinions on how worthwhile that is also.

gregrocker · 06 Mar 2012

You can move the User folders to data drives. This will keep your backup image smaller for the OS/Programs so that it can be reimaged if necessary and the data is current and waiting in its partition elsewhere. You may need to use Macrium or another imaging program that offers more flexibility if Win7 backup imaging starts requiring you to include the data drives in the image since it deems them to hold System folders, however. User Folders - Change Default Location

For this and other reasons, I find it much easier to put your data in folders of your choosing on the data drive , then rightlick on each to link it to the relevant Library - Include a Folder - Windows 7 Forum.

whs · 06 Mar 2012

If you make a fresh installation, you are best off to stay away from tweaks. There are only 3 things I have done on my 6 SSDs:

1. Deleted the hiberfile. The command is powercfg -h off
2. Reduced the pagefile to 2GB
3. Created new folders for Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos on the HDD. Then I INCLUDED those into the corresponding libraries (just right click on the folders). I leave the default folders where they are and move all user data to the HDD.

And don't worry about the lifetime of the SSD. My oldest 4 year old SSD has a lifetime until 2022 left. If the device is not defective out of the box, it will be more rugged than a HDD. It may lose a little bit of R/W speed over time, but you will not notice that because the OS gets the performance boost from the extremely short access times - not from R/W.

The 2 things that are important are:

1. The SSD has to be aligned. If you do a fresh install, the installer will do that automatically.
2. It should run in AHCI mode. Set AHCI - first in Win7 and then in the BIOS. IDE runs too, but a bit slower.