Windows OS and programs etc

[91Chris]

Hello. I was wondering if I was to install Windows on a small SSD, say 10GB or whatever the minimum requirement is. Then install all of my programs, tweaks, games etc on a separate SSD, could I then reinstall Windows and still have functioning programs etc? Or do all programs etc need reinstalling to work correctly? This is all assuming that the programs etc are compatible with whatever Windows OS I install.

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Cheers,

Chris.

[rashdanml]

Potentially, yes.

 

For starters, Windows needs about 20-30GB for a fresh install.

You can install programs to a secondary drive, HDD or SSD.

 

Re-installing Windows on the primary drive retains everything on the secondary. You should be able to simply run the program from the second drive and have the registry take care of itself. I've moved entire installations from my primary SSD to a secondary HDD (none of them were portable installs), and it fixed itself after launching the program. 

 

Portable installs would work without any issues, as they aren't tied to anything in the Windows registry. 

[Semper]

So long as Windows recognizes the drive, most programs should function normally. A few times, applications that have activation keys (namely, Adobe) have given me trouble, but a quick call to tech support fixes that.

Now, going from, say Windows 7 to XP is bound to create some problems. What exactly that would be (beyond compatibility) is beyond me, however, as I've never done so)

[91Chris]

Sweet thats sounds good guys.

Is doing what I propose a good idea then? I figured if I'm having problems with Windows and I need to do a fresh install, this would be ideal?

You see I install a lot of small tweaks and utilities that are all set up exactly how i want them. So to go through the process of reinstalling them all AND key in a load of different settings isn't something I want to do.

 

I was thinking of getting a small capacity SSD for the OS, then maybe 4 240GB SSD's in RAID0 for everything I install.

At the moment I have a 240GB SSD which contains the OS and all of my programs, then 2 HDD's in RAID0 for my games.

 

Someone talk me in or out of this, I'm unsure.

 

Cheers,

Chris.

[Semper]

I'd recommend no less than a 240gig SSD for your boot drive. with SSD's, the lowest capacity drives have poorer performance and shorter lifespans. I"m currently running my OS on a 128gig drive (512 died on me thanks to my own stupidity/carelessness), and there's a noticeable difference in performance. 

 

I'd say that yeah, it's a solid idea. you'll find that most people will have a boot SSD drive, then mechanical media drives for mass storage. Some day SSD's will be a decent enough price for mass storage (and oh, how I look forward to that day), however, it's not uncommon to see people do mass storage separate form their boot drive.

[LogicalDrm]

40Gb is minimum for Win7. I'm not sure if your plan to reinstall windows while programs are on another hdd would work. There might be problems with registery.

[91Chris]

That's what I thought. Since Windows apps aren't all self contained. Really unsure.