Partition Size on 2nd HDD used for Image Files of OS/App Partition?

Ciara said:

oldtraveler said:

ignatzatsonic said:

In other words, I personally NEVER download anything to C. Always to D.

Sometimes an application will choose to download something to somewhere in C:\Users, but I never put anything on C other than the OS and installed applications.

I have found that 99% of the applications (programs) that I install can be done on Drive D and still will run fine from C. The advantage here is to keep the size of C minimized and thus easier to image.

Thats what I do C:\ partition is just Win7 and all applications are installed on my second hard drive first partition D:\ ... works very well :)

Well, I was originally going to store ALL APPS on 2nd partition of SDD(recall I have a 2nd 1TB HDD for data) distinct from OS partition. However, I was disabused of this strategy after reading numerous posts that one should keep OS and Apps on same partition since apps are installed in the registry and, in the majority of cases, need to be reinstalled if and when the OS is reinstalled via image. Now I'm confused again!?! Apps are MS Office, Autocad, Illustrator, Photoshop, Sketchup, photo editing app, utility apps such as anti-virus, malware as well as firefox browswer I plan to run from ramdisk...not a ton of apps.

I will plan to save downloads to data disk. For me, downloads are mainly programs (firefox, anti-virus, utilities, etc.)

Well, think of it this way... if you install your apps on the C: drive and it crashes you have to reinstall them. If you install your apps on the D: drive and the C: drive crashes, you still have to reinstall them because the registry on C: got blown away. From a speed point of view, usually your OS disk is the fastest (at least it makes the most sense for it to be), so why would you want to put the programs on a slower disk? It seems like a disservice. Or, if you have two equally speedy drives for both the OS and data, by installing programs onto a separate drive that still require the main drives data (registry) you are introducing two factors of failure rather than one. None of these situations seem to offer a benefit other than saving space on the OS drive, which if that is the case then you probably should have bought a larger drive for the OS and applications.

Personally I install all apps on the same drive as the OS drive. I have yet to see or hear of any benefit to installing them on a separate partition or drive for programs that utilize the registry.

FliGi7 said:

Personally I install all apps on the same drive as the OS drive. I have yet to see or hear of any benefit to installing them on a separate partition or drive for programs that utilize the registry.

I read this over and over. This is what I'm going to do. And I don't know which of the Apps I use are invasive (i.e. modify or need access to Registry)....I'm pretty sure MS Office does, not sure about Autocad, Illustrator, Photoshop and utility apps.

One last question. Since I have a 2 disk system, should I create an 8GB partition on the 1TB HDD (for data only) as first partition (fastest) for a 2nd pagefile? Of course the pagefile will also be on the SDD in the OS/App partition. I've read this could speed things up or in some way optimize performance

Putting the pagefile separate of the SSD drive is a debatable topic. You have plenty of memory according to your specs so it really doesn't matter where it is as you won't be using it much at all. It would probably be a good idea to remove it from the SSD and just put it on the second hdd, since it will just take up space on your SSD.

Regardless, I'm not sure why you would need a second pagefile, unless you are referring to scratch space for use with photo and video editing programs.

ignatzatsonic said:

Not sure I am following you, but........

If you are referring to a garden variety download---an mp3, a new program you want to try, a video clip, a jpeg, then to me that is just more data. I have a downloads folder on my data drive and everything lands there.

The downloaded item is eventually re-routed elsewhere after I decide I am going to keep it, process it, edit it, delete it, or whatever.

In other words, I personally NEVER download anything to C. Always to D.

Sometimes an application will choose to download something to somewhere in C:\Users, but I never put anything on C other than the OS and installed applications.

To which disk/partition do you guys save Windows updates and other app updates? To the OS/apps partition or elsewhere? Such updates will install correctly even if the update file is saved to a 2nd hdd that stores data and images?

Not sure I am following you.

I don't "save" application updates. I install them.

They presumably install into C:\Program Files or C:\Windows with the rest of the program. I'm not sure how Windows handles all of that and don't concern myself with it.

There is an unavoidable bunch of stuff that lands in some subfolders of C:\Users\myusername, but I don't pay that any mind. Nor do I ever CHOOSE to download anything to that folder.

My C:\Users\myusername folder right now has 12,000 files occupying 3.4 gigs---in spite of the fact that I never choose to download ANYTHING there. Nearly all of that 3.4 gigs is in C:\users\myusername\appdata.

Sorry...I think I confused App Updates / Service Pak type files with "downloads" where one saves a zip/launch file that launches the programs. Basically, I don't trust my ability to keep the original OS directory, files and necessary subsequent updates clean and free of other shit that seems to fly out of the ether and into my system directories. I don't know enough to know what is legit/necessary versus what is bloat or, even worse, malicious. I thought some pre-planning re: partition strategy might help make this more manageable.