I think it's something most SSD owners have experienced; shortage of disk space. Yesterday I've completely re-installed my pc and I wanted to move the ProgramData and Users folders to an other disk. Turns out this isn't very easy.. I had to search all over the Internet to find a decent solution - which I found, sort of.



I'll try to make a little guide here, in case anyone would have the same problem. But I'll warn you straight ahead; Microsoft doesn't support the movement of these folders and does not guaranty the functionality of updates. I have found that there isn't a problem, on my pc at least, but you're warned.







Users: This is the folder where every user's data is stored (documents, pictures, your ES save files,...)



ProgramData: This is a hidden folder where programs store additional data they require that isn't placed in their install folder ( = \program files\#program_name)



Both can get quite big (definitely ProgramData) and it is easy to run out of space on your SSD.

So, off we go. I'm starting with a fresh install is this guide.

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Do a conventional install: Insert you windows install disk into your computer and restart. The windows installer should load. Before you let windows install itself make sure the SSD gets formatted in this install wizard. Do not manually partition or format the drive, prior to installation. Windows 7 will do this, and must do this, because Windows needs to align the logical format with characteristics of the physical drive, and, also, Windows wants a small system partition for its own purposes.

Enter AUDIT mode: When the install has finished, you will be asked to give the main user and the PC a name - Don't. Press Crtl+Shift+F3 to enter the Audit mode where we will change the locations. The computer should restart and you will be Administrator in the Audit mode. This admin still has his files in C:\users and C:\ProgramData - but don't worry the profile gets deleted when you finish the install. When rebooted you will see this screen:

Just hit cancel.

Format other drives: If you wan't; now is the time to format the other drives.On the Start Menu, right-click on "Computer" and choose Manage from the context menu, to get to the Computer Management console. In the Computer Management console, under Storage/Disk Management, you will find the tools to change drive letters, partition, etc.

Unattended answer file: To change the folder locations you will need a minimal answer file. This is an .xml file with any name you wish. Here is the one I used.

If you want your folders on a different locations; simply open my .xml and edit D:\Gebruikers and D:\ProgramData into something else. !note: instead of USERS this xml uses GEBRUIKERS; which is Dutch for users! You might want to change that.

Changing locations and rebooting: Place the xml file somewhere you can easily access, such as: D:\unattend.xml

Now open command prompt (type cmd in the searchbar) and give the following command: cd c:\windows\system32\sysprep

Now give the following command: sysprep.exe /audit /reboot /unattend:D:\unattend.xml Change "D:\unattend.xml" to where you've stored the .xml file.

The computer will reboot.

Getting out of the AUDIT mode: instead of clicking cancel the previous time, choose reboot in the following screen - and hit "ok":

Finish your Windows installation: create a permanent username and giving the computer a name, etc. When you are finally up and running, go look at C:\ C:\Users should be gone. C:\ProgramData is probably still there, but it's normally hidden, so you won't see it, until you go into Folder Options and check Show Hidden Files and Folders. D:\Users and D:\ProgramData (hidden) should also exist.

Linking: Some programs are hard coded to use C:\users & ProgramData. Therefor we must "guide" ()them to the correct place. We open cmd (run as administrator) and type the following commands:

[CODE]mklink /J C:\Users D:\Users

mklink /J C:ProgramData D:\ProgramData

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That's it ! If everything went correctly you should have your Users and ProgramData maps on you D disk and links to them on your C SSD.





note that I also have linked C:\gebruikers to my D:\Gebruikers because I have A dutch install. If you use a different language then english you should always link c:\Users and the translated equivalent to D:\Users. ProgramData doesn't get translated.



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I hope this was clear enough and that someone might find this useful.

Or you could just do the following and avoid all of the hassle with mklink and such tools.



1. Move the pagefile away from your SSD.

2. Disable system recovery entirely. It is a breeding ground for vira and is very rarely of any use - you'd be better off re-installing if it ever came to that.

3. Right click every "type" folder in your user folder and change their location to another drive.







These quick changes alone has allowed me to retain around 30GB on my 59,5GB (Formatted) SSD for a couple of years.

But does that make every program use the new location? (AppData folder and documents from games, programs, etc)

adder wrote:
But does that make every program use the new location? (AppData folder and documents from games, programs, etc)

I never mentioned Appdata - and no it doesn't move anything relating to appdata, only the user folders (Movies, Music, Documents and so on)



My Appdata is only 3½GB large after 6 months of gaming use. So I really don't think it is such a big issue - especially not with the potential fallout of moving appdata (or program files - Yeah I tried that once...) around.

To bad you can't move appdata etc with your way. Would've been an awesome solution.

Hmm, I never had any problems with my SSD, I installed all my games, etc on the 2nd disk and all my Data is there too - only the normal programs are installed on the SSD. (Thank God, Steam now allows different install folders)



But thanks for the tut adder

Yeah; but all your games and programs still store info in c:\users:\AppData & C:\ProgramData

And apparently my ssd was to small for that; so I had to find a solution

adder wrote:
Yeah; but all your games and programs still store info in c:\users:\AppData & C:\ProgramData

And apparently my ssd was to small for that; so I had to find a solution

Hmm, quite a small SSD or much Data



Btw: have you ever run some clean-up with CCleaner? It helps with all kinds of issues and is free too (e.g. deletes unnecessary Data, etc)