C and D drives? I'm just curious. How many of you have a C drive for OS and programs and a D drive for data? Someone suggested that to me years ago, and it's been very convenient. With...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I'm just curious. How many of you have a C drive for OS and programs and a D drive for data? Someone suggested that to me years ago, and it's been very convenient. With all my data on a separate drive, I can easily move it from one computer to another. Backing up all that data is easy, too.

banjoboy Loc: Austin, TX

I’ve been doing this for years. Started by partitioning the main drive, but later added a second HD. Where it gets weird is moving the Windows Pictures, Documents, etc. libraries to the new drive.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Thought about doing that, never did.
C:\ is a 2Tb less than half full.
Yes, it would be much more convenient for backing up (just say D:\) and moving if necessary.
But I'll be some software packages default storage to C:\

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

banjoboy wrote:

I’ve been doing this for years. Started by partitioning the main drive, but later added a second HD. Where it gets weird is moving the Windows Pictures, Documents, etc. libraries to the new drive.

Yes, I know what you mean about those Windows folders, but I ignore them. On my D drive, I have My Files, My Pictures, My Music. Unfortunately, some files from various programs insist on going into the folders on the C drive, so I let them stay there. I figure if the program wants them, it will know where to find them.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Longshadow wrote:

Thought about doing that, never did.
C:\ is a 2Tb less than half full.
Yes, it would be much more convenient for backing up (just say D:\) and moving if necessary.
But I'll be some software packages default storage to C:\

When your computer has a nice, large SSD for C, it's hard to justify not using it.

rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

jerryc41 wrote:

I'm just curious. How many of you have a C drive for OS and programs and a D drive for data? Someone suggested that to me years ago, and it's been very convenient. With all my data on a separate drive, I can easily move it from one computer to another. Backing up all that data is easy, too.

Also! -- if, as you should be, you're using an SSD plus spinner, the C: drive can be very much smaller, saving a lot of money, and not affecting performance at all!!! The C:, then, never needs to be bigger than 500 GB. That's what I'm using, currently at 29.19% capacity - with a LOT of software!

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City

BebuLamar

I started out with 1 1TB HHD. I added a 1TB HHD so I moved the data there. I recently replaced the OS drive with a 2TB SSD so I am tempting to move the data back to the C drive. I think the 2TB is good enough for everything until I have to buy new computer. I had my computer for 9 years and it was 3 year old when I bought it.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

banjoboy wrote:

I’ve been doing this for years. Started by partitioning the main drive, but later added a second HD. Where it gets weird is moving the Windows Pictures, Documents, etc. libraries to the new drive.

Yea, I hate that Windows second guesses (defaults to) certain directories.
Sometimes I'll download/save something, then I have to go find it....... and move it...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rlv567 wrote:

Also! -- if, as you should be, you're using an SSD plus spinner, the C: drive can be very much smaller, saving a lot of money, and not affecting performance at all!!! The C:, then, never needs to be bigger than 500 GB. That's what I'm using, currently at 29.19% capacity - with a LOT of software!

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City

I replaced the 500GB M.2 (six years old) with a 1TB. I don't like watching how full it is and wondering if I should install another program. The new one is presumably a better performer.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

I go further:
64 GB of RAM
C SSD drive for apps and OS = 512 GB I have a 1 TB to replace it as it is nearly full of mostly Photography apps but procrastination...
D drive for data, music, documents etc. = 1 TB
P drive for photos and videos = 6 TB
E drive(external) for back-ups = 12 TB

And several smaller externals that my files etc. outgrew that I use for archive files and second back-ups of files and images.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

robertjerl wrote:

I go further:
64 GB of RAM
C SSD drive for apps and OS = 512 GB I have a 1 TB to replace it as it is nearly full of mostly Photography apps but procrastination...
D drive for data, music, documents etc. = 1 TB
P drive for photos and videos = 6 TB
E drive(external) for back-ups = 12 TB

And several smaller externals that my files etc. outgrew that I use for archive files and second back-ups of files and images.

Good organization. For some reason, I don't want to put more than one HDD into the case. Too much heat, maybe? The case has lots of fans, so that wouldn't be a problem, I'm sure. I have external drives with specific files on them, though.

BebuLamar

At one time I had several HD in the computer. All have different OS. I can boot to an OS by going into the bios and choose the boot drive.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

jerryc41 wrote:

Good organization. For some reason, I don't want to put more than one HDD into the case. Too much heat, maybe? The case has lots of fans, so that wouldn't be a problem, I'm sure. I have external drives with specific files on them, though.

My desktop is a 2011 iBuyPower top end full tower gamer* that I rebuilt the insides to an i9 + new drives in 2019. So it has enough fans to sound like a prop airliner on takeoff when they all spin up to max speed. But that hasn't happened in a couple of years since I put a small AC to augment the central air outlet in the family room where my desk and computers are located.

*When I checked prices, the dedicated graphic arts/photo computers with the same specs cost more than a gamer that could run 3D games in real time, so I bought the gamer and added a graphic arts/photo monitor. Same thing with my newest laptop, a gamer with identical specs and it cost less. Shows which market has the best sales volume pricing. A lot more gaming geeks than photo fanatics.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

robertjerl wrote:

My desktop is a 2011 iBuyPower top end full tower ... (show quote)

When I build Big Red in 2016, I looked through the cases available. I made the mistake of selecting "Large." It is definitely large. I should have looked at the dimensions. It doesn't fit into the space in my computer desk.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

jerryc41 wrote:

When your computer has a nice, large SSD for C, it's hard to justify not using it.

Write wear's?

My laptop has a bunch of programs on it, with the system uses less than 100Gb, which right now includes less than 2Gb of "data". A 512 Gb SSD, about 415 Gb free.
Even though I have room for photos, I'll peruse and get what I want from the desktop via WIFI.
(The room the desktop is in is not that far, and I really don't need them when I'm traveling. If I did need them, I'd put them on one of my 1Tb externals.)