Which folders to move off of SSD?

[Interitus]

Grabbed my first SSD today, Intel 520 120gb.

Just wondering once I fresh install Win7..

Which folders should I move off to mechanical storage?

I will probably be using Firefox mainly for browsing, but I have a couple sites that "require" IE (I know, trust me I know).

Other than that, I can't think of any programs I'll really use that have scratch or temp folders. Maybe MS Office or Visual Studio? Can't remember if VS stores C++ temp files.

Any other newbie advice would be welcome

 

[cmdrdredd]

basic rule of thumb is move all "user" folders off the SSD to conserve space.

C : \Users\<user name> <---forgive me for the spacing because the forums interprets it as a smiley.

Windows 7 is smart enough to know you're copying it over and can find it. I didn't copy mine over as I don't really have space issues.

 

[thelastjuju]

Anything that takes more than a second to load on a standard HDD should be put on the SSD.

MS Office for instance already opens in about a milisecond, so there isn't much for the SSD to shine there. Applications like photoshop, that open at a snails pace on a standard HDD, will make your load times vanish into thin air on an SSD drive.

 

[Mark R]

Anything that you need regular access to, and takes time to load should be on SSD.

So, large CAD projects, 3D animations, video clips for editing, large programming projects, databases, complex documents in word/quark xpress, etc. are screaming to go on SSD.

Similarly, temporary files (both windows temp files) and application temp files (especially photoshop, video editing, etc.) are screaming out for SSD.

Things that generally don't need to go on SSD are things like applications (most of the program files directory could be moved to HDD). How many times do you load applications these days - you load an app once, it opens, and it stays open in the background for a few hours while you do some work or alt-tab to something else. If you save 5 seconds once every hour or so by moving the app to SSD, is that useful? And even if it is useful, is it worth the expense of SSD space?

Most stuff like MS office open pretty quickly anyway, so using SSD space for it is almost pointless. Photoshop benefits a bit from SSD loading, but once it's loaded, it's loaded. Adobe specifically advise photoshop users not to install photoshop to an SSD, because the SSD space is much more valuable for temp files and documents. And during use, it's access to temp files and documents that matters.

A similar argument can be made for games. Typically I play a game for an hour or 2, if it takes an extra 20 seconds to load - so what? This isn't a hard and fast rules - some fast-paced games with very large levels/worlds which need to load new data, may benefit from SSD, by reducing lag during in-game loading.

 

[Interitus]

Thanks for the different point of view.

Guess I thought about this all backwards, lol. I had always assumed I would want temp folders and folders that constantly changed to be off of the SSD to prevent excessive rewriting, but now that I think about it...

 

[erikvanvelzen]

HDD's are only good for sequential acces, meaning big files like movies and music. Put all apps on the SSD.

And don't worry about wearing out your SSD.

 

[JohnnyChuttz]

I followed this guide to cut down the big temp files that Windows Uses.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1156654/seans-windows-7-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

 

[vol7ron]

I'm thinking about getting a small 30GB SSD to use just for temp/scratch space. I never thought about doing that before, but that way your more volatile stuff still has the benefits of an SSD, but won't hurt your main SSDs lifespan. Good food for thought.

Also, if you're working on Windows, you will want to look into symbolic links and junctions: http://www.windows7home.net/how-to-create-symbolic-link-in-windows-7/

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm thinking about getting a small 30GB SSD to use just for temp/scratch space. I never thought about doing that before, but that way your more volatile stuff still has the benefits of an SSD, but won't hurt your main SSDs lifespan. Good food for thought.

Also, if you're working on Windows, you will want to look into symbolic links and junctions: http://www.windows7home.net/how-to-create-symbolic-link-in-windows-7/

Or just move certain user folders with the location tab.

http://thedocsworld.net/ssd-setup-and-optimizing/

I did it that way, and it worked fine. Seemed simpler.