Where To Install New Applications

kah22

I've just bought a Dell Laptop it has a 500 GB Hard Drive and came pre-partitioned as follows OS (C; ) and Local Disk (D; ) the C Drive occupying 58.5 GB and the C Drive accounting for 397 GB. Windows 7 came installed

All the Programs and junk that came with the computer were installed on the C; Drive. in either Program Files or Program Files (x86). I've since added one or two to these e.g. Virus Software, Firefox, Thunderbird, and that's about it. I've created a My Documents on the D; Drive and all data is now saved automatically there by default.

My problem is with installing new Programs or Applications. Where is the best place to install them - C; Drive or D; Drive.

There is a massive amount of space on the D; Drive yet all the pre-installed programs came installed on C; Drive.

Of the 58.5 GB available on the C; Drive only 35 GB of that remain free and with the size of programs these days it is not difficult to see that running out very quickly. Where do I install?

If the answer is D; Drive do I have to set it up in any particular way e.g. create a Program Files and a Program Files (x86) Folder as I have on the C; Drive.

I want to spend a little time now getting the structure right so two months or so down the road I'll not be kicking myself for just diving straight in.

Many thanks from a confused oldie.

Kevin

yomamasflavour

kah22 wrote: »

I've just bought a Dell Laptop it has a 500 GB Hard Drive and came pre-partitioned as follows OS (C; ) and Local Disk (D; ) the C Drive occupying 58.5 GB and the C Drive accounting for 397 GB. Windows 7 came installed

All the Programs and junk that came with the computer were installed on the C; Drive. in either Program Files or Program Files (x86). I've since added one or two to these e.g. Virus Software, Firefox, Thunderbird, and that's about it. I've created a My Documents on the D; Drive and all data is now saved automatically there by default.

My problem is with installing new Programs or Applications. Where is the best place to install them - C; Drive or D; Drive.

There is a massive amount of space on the D; Drive yet all the pre-installed programs came installed on C; Drive.

Of the 58.5 GB available on the C; Drive only 35 GB of that remain free and with the size of programs these days it is not difficult to see that running out very quickly. Where do I install?

If the answer is D; Drive do I have to set it up in any particular way e.g. create a Program Files and a Program Files (x86) Folder as I have on the C; Drive.

I want to spend a little time now getting the structure right so two months or so down the road I'll not be kicking myself for just diving straight in.

Many thanks from a confused oldie.

Kevin

Most if not all programs, will automatically choose the 'Program Files (x86)' folder in the C partition (unless you choose elsewhere).

The idea behind your hard drive being split into two partitions (C,D) is that it's supposedly faster if
1 - You keep the Operating System files and program files at the start of the disk, which is the faster part, which is your C partition
2 - You put your media files (videos, pictures, documents etc. - things not used frequently) at the midde of the disk, which is the slower part, which is your D partition

In reality there's little benefit of this setup, it makes things more complicated and causes issues with space (as you pointed out - only 35GB left) and either way laptop hard drives are slow anyway.

Personally I'd delete the D partition and then extend C to take in the now free space. So you'd end up with a 500GB C partition and no D partition. (I can tell you how to, if you need a hand with this)

At least this way you don't have folders all over the place, and can install programs as you wish without running out of space.


If you wish to keep it as is, then I wouldn't advise setting up duplicate folders on the D partition, it just makes things complicated.
By the way - You can install programs into any folder on any partition that you wish.

bette

I would have thought that you put all your work files on the D drive in the event of a need to reformat/reinstall of the OS and programs. An external hard drive is recommended for backups of your work!

spider guardian

even if you keep programs on the D partition they will be (in most cases) useless if you have to reformat the C drive. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference where you keep your programs but I would certainly keep all files on the D partition, makes recovery easier if you have to reformat C. maybe start to save programs on the D partition if you run out of space on C? whatever you choose make sure you back up to an external drive!

ShooterSF

Your programs are installed on C with your OS as a wipe will require you to reinstall them while your data (video music documents etc)go on the D drive as you want to keep them if you have to reinstall.

Also if you ever chose to dual-boot it will be beneficial as you can add a third partition and have 1 OS on one 1 on another and 1 to hold data shared between them.

As for the size, if you find yourself running out of space on C heres a guide to resizing your partitions just remember to back up first. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/

corkcomp

based on the stats given I would keep installing on the C drive for now.. i wouldnt worry until you hit 10gb and you wont use 15gb that easily installing programs (ones that dont have a data store)

Voodu Child

You can increase the size of the C partition if you want (and shrink the D parition obviously). Its probably a good idea, just to allow for future apps, restore points, defragging space etc. If you're installing any games you'll run out of that free space in no time.

You can do it to a limited degree in Windows (right click 'my computer' and go to Manage > Disk management) but normally I boot off a Linux CD and use gparted.

Either way you should do a disk cleanup and defrag first, and of course backup all important data.