Moving Program Files?

Captain_France · July 25, 2015

Hey guys. Just had a new build and im now using an SSD as my boot drive. Should i move Program Files off the SSD to one of the other HDD?

If i should how do i go about doing that?

Altecice · July 25, 2015

Nope. Just create a new set of program files (a folder named as such) and when you are installing things make sure to change the drive letter off you SSD. Good to go!

GoodBytes · July 25, 2015

You cannot move Program Files (well you can, but your looking at a mess of issues).

When you install a program, click on "Custom" or "Advanced", and the setup will ask you where you want to install the software. From there you can pick your own drive and path. There is no issue doing this.

In my case, I have C:\ (Windows), D:\ (programs, games, steam), E:\ (personal data).

C:\ and D:\ are on the same drive (I made 2 partition), they are my SSD. I made it this way, mostly for Steam, and when I do a dual boot of 2x Windows, like I did with Windows 8 and Windows 10, I can install my programs at the same location, and avoid duplicated files, saving space. And once Windows 10 is released, I'll delete my Windows 10 Preview partition, go to my Windows 8, and do the upgrade. Saves me time.

I have a specific setup as you can see, but my point being is that you can do what I said, where you can define path. I have been doing this setup since like what? Windows 2000. Never had a problem with any game or software. And I did it with a variety of configuration, such as an HDD for each, back in the old days where we had only 80GB drives.

Windows is very robust at doing this was my point from the above.

But to answer your question better. If you have a 120GB SSD or more, you should be fine installing your programs on your SSD (C:\). Installing your programs on your SSD is what will make your programs take advantage of your SSD. They will start/load quicker and respond better.

Keep your personal files (which is usually what takes the most if we ignore games) and games, on your HDD. They don't benefit from an SSD. Well games do, but that depends on your size of your SSD, number of games, and if you are comfortable re-downloading or re-installing games you don't play for a long while and removed. In my case, I am fine with a 250GB with games.