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How do you keep OS partition small when using SSD?
- Thread starter theinv
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Simplest way is to just limit what you have installed to the OS drive. If possible, install large or infrequently used apps to a storage drive. You can also use symbolic links to install programs to the SSD and then move them off to a storage drive with a symbolic link pointing to the new location. Couple of threads here about using them.
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I install games (including the Steam application) onto my D:\ to keep my OS drive (120GB SSD) relatively clean. I only install applications when I need to use them. I think right now my OS partition is standing at about 58GB used.
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For my Win7 install I relocated all the default Library locations to a normal HD so that I get the benefits of using them without the files taking up space on my SSD.
I take a small performance hit when the OS has to go for the files, but it's worth it for the space I save and how little a hit I take.
I take a small performance hit when the OS has to go for the files, but it's worth it for the space I save and how little a hit I take.
[LYL]Homer
Supreme [H]ardness
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When my wife and I each outgrew our 80gb X25-M drives I bought her a 120gb Sandforce SSD and put the two Intels in RAID 0 for myself (each of our pc's are backed up daily to WHS).
The only thing I don't install on my SSD is games - those go in a dir on an HDD (D:\games\). With that in place my Win7 + hiberfil + pagefile + apps is in the 30-40GB range.
Generally I have specific places for my data. All of my photography workflow isn't in "My Photos", for instance, it's in D:\work\photo\...\...\... Same with my film scanning, downloads/torrents, etc...
The "My Documents" hierarchy can be easily relocated with a right-click method in Win7 and Vista, I believe. This will help keep trash off of the OS partition.
Generally I have specific places for my data. All of my photography workflow isn't in "My Photos", for instance, it's in D:\work\photo\...\...\... Same with my film scanning, downloads/torrents, etc...
The "My Documents" hierarchy can be easily relocated with a right-click method in Win7 and Vista, I believe. This will help keep trash off of the OS partition.
I have a 60gig vertex, and I have Win 7 pro, TF2, BFBC2, Killing Floors installed along with some various apps and have 20 gb free. Anything I need to store; pictures, music, videos, etc, goes to my USB harddrive which I use maybe once a month if that. I am going to get 120gb SSD probably this month during black friday and put my 60gb in my laptop, so I can install WoW, L4D2, CoDBO, and anything else that I need to. I dont find space that much of a problem on a 60gb other than the fact that some games are 20gb by themselves. 120gb total should be enough for me for a few years honestly imo.
Good reminder. If you don't hibernate your computer, turn off hibernation and hybrid sleep to get rid of the hiberfil and save yourself a couple of gigs.
Even if you do hibernate you should turn off hybrid sleep with an SSD. Hybrid sleep mode will always write the hiberfile, even if you only told the PC to sleep. If you use sleep this is a lot of extra writes to the SSD. I have sleep and hibernate both enabled but hybrid sleep disabled and it only writes the hiberfile when going into hibernate.
Most of the "tweak guides" have all kinds of goofy recommendations.
InvisiBill
2[H]4U
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I made the thread How to install your system to SSD and seamlessly move apps to HDD to save space a while back. It's a little complex, because I was basing it on mounting the HDD as a subfolder under your C: (on the SSD).
If you want to simplify it, try this:
If you have a large app that you don't want on the SSD:
If you have a big install that you want on the HDD immediately, simply create the new D:\AppName\ first and create the C:\Program Files\AppName\ link before installing. Install to C:\Program Files\AppName\ as you normally would, since it's now redirected to the HDD. I do this with my Steam directory, so all those games end up on the HDD by default. For the games I play a lot that I want on the SSD, I can create a C:\SSD_Files\Game\ and create a link to that in D:\Steam. So C:\Program Files\Steam on the SSD links to D:\Steam on the HDD, and D:\Steam\Game on the HDD links back to C:\SSD_Files\Game\ on the SSD, but it's still accessible via C:\Program Files\Steam\Game so everything looks completely normal to Steam.
This will allow you to install everything on the SSD by default for speed, then easily move them to the HDD without having to reinstall or anything. And if you change your mind and want to move it back to the SSD, that's another quick fix.
Another tip is to get enough RAM for what you need to do and make your pagefile as small as possible. Even Microsoft's suggestions for sizing a pagefile haven't really been updated. Win7 might be better, but older versions would simply use a fixed multiplier of your RAM as the size, but you actually don't need as big a pagefile if you have more RAM. Unless you use a program that specifically requires a lot of pagefile space, you can probably drop this down to 1GB or less, possibly even disabling it. Check out the How Big Should I Make the Paging File? section of http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx.
While most people can't afford enough SSD to hold all their files and therefore need to compromise, keep in mind that everything you move off your SSD is losing that speed advantage. You don't need to store your downloaded ISOs on the SSD, but moving your entire profile to HDD means that all those little temp files and such are now being accessed at HDD speeds rather than SSD (and those are the small random files where SSDs are best and HDDs are worst).
If you want to simplify it, try this:
- Install only the SSD in your PC.
- Install Windows normally.
- Install the HDD in the PC.
If you have a large app that you don't want on the SSD:
- Install the app normally to C:\Program Files\AppName\.
- Move the AppName folder from C:\Program Files\ to D:\.
- Create a link in C:\Program Files\ pointing to D:\AppName\.
If you have a big install that you want on the HDD immediately, simply create the new D:\AppName\ first and create the C:\Program Files\AppName\ link before installing. Install to C:\Program Files\AppName\ as you normally would, since it's now redirected to the HDD. I do this with my Steam directory, so all those games end up on the HDD by default. For the games I play a lot that I want on the SSD, I can create a C:\SSD_Files\Game\ and create a link to that in D:\Steam. So C:\Program Files\Steam on the SSD links to D:\Steam on the HDD, and D:\Steam\Game on the HDD links back to C:\SSD_Files\Game\ on the SSD, but it's still accessible via C:\Program Files\Steam\Game so everything looks completely normal to Steam.
This will allow you to install everything on the SSD by default for speed, then easily move them to the HDD without having to reinstall or anything. And if you change your mind and want to move it back to the SSD, that's another quick fix.
Another tip is to get enough RAM for what you need to do and make your pagefile as small as possible. Even Microsoft's suggestions for sizing a pagefile haven't really been updated. Win7 might be better, but older versions would simply use a fixed multiplier of your RAM as the size, but you actually don't need as big a pagefile if you have more RAM. Unless you use a program that specifically requires a lot of pagefile space, you can probably drop this down to 1GB or less, possibly even disabling it. Check out the How Big Should I Make the Paging File? section of http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx.
While most people can't afford enough SSD to hold all their files and therefore need to compromise, keep in mind that everything you move off your SSD is losing that speed advantage. You don't need to store your downloaded ISOs on the SSD, but moving your entire profile to HDD means that all those little temp files and such are now being accessed at HDD speeds rather than SSD (and those are the small random files where SSDs are best and HDDs are worst).
I think when I tried just disabling Hybrid sleep, it didn't remove the hibernate file itself, and it was only after I disabled hibernate that I got rid of it. Either way - good point.
Excellent, fact-based arguments and resources. Thank you.
I never claimed that disabling Hybrid Sleep would remove the hiberfile - that wasn't my intention at all.
I'll state it again:
Hybrid Sleep means that every time the computer sleeps (not hibernates) it ALSO writes the hiberfile "just in case" there's a power failure. I have sleep and hibernate both enabled and actively used on my system depending on the circumstances. With hybrid sleep enabled every time you put it into S1/S3 sleep it will also write the RAM-sized (4GB in my case) hiberfile even if you have no intention of using it. On an HDD that's just an annoying delay before entering sleep. On an SSD that's an extra upto 4GB of writes (or more) whenever the PC goes to sleep.
With hybrid sleep disabled, hibernation may still be enabled and used (and the hiberfile will still exist) but it is NOT written when you use S1/S3 sleep. It is only written when hibernate is activated.
That's great and all, but the intent of my original post was to tell him how to get rid of the hibernate file to save disk space.