SSD / HDD Combo Help

T

The_Law

Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
842
I apologize in advance, as I am sure this has been asked before, but I am just not having any luck finding what I need with the search function.

I recently purchased a new laptop with a 160gb SSD and a 250gb HDD. Out of the box, everything is saved to the SSD and the HDD is completely blank. Is there a way to easily transfer everything to the HDD? I want the SSD to retain the OS (Windows 7 Pro) and frequently used programs, but would like everything else on the HDD. At only 160gb, I will fill that SSD up pretty quickly if I don't offload as much as possible. This may be as simple as just dragging and dropping, but I want to make sure I am not missing something (like when I click on "My Pictures" in the start menu, I want it to take me to the HDD where all the pics will actually be saved).

Also, there is a recovery partition (because HP is too cheap to just send a damn disc) on the SSD that takes up about 12gb by itself. Can I transfer that to the HDD?

I am clueless in all aspects of life, so please respond the way you would to a small child. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Are you on Windows 7? If you're on Win 7 just right click the My pictures folder, properties, Location, Move.

In regards to that recovery partition your best bet is to image the drive onto another drive or CD using Acronis or something.
 
soulesschild said:
Are you on Windows 7? If you're on Win 7 just right click the My pictures folder, properties, Location, Move.
Click to expand...

I think it's been this way since XP.

You'll need to do that with every folder under your username folder. You'll find them all at C:\Users\[Your Username]\... Lots of programs like to keep data in your Username\My Documents folder.
 
Windows 7 has a backup feature via the start menu. There are also programs out there that will create a copy of everything and send it somewhere else. A good one I used to use on XP was ShadowCOPy, just do a little research on cloners.

I'm trying to figure out why you would want to move anything at all? The SSD is WAY faster than your HDD i'm sure. I would use the HDD for data files like music and movies and of course use the SSD for your OS and programs. Which I'm sure is why HP set it up this way because the average user would do this as well.
 
peanutskeeter said:
I'm trying to figure out why you would want to move anything at all? The SSD is WAY faster than your HDD i'm sure. I would use the HDD for data files like music and movies and of course use the SSD for your OS and programs. Which I'm sure is why HP set it up this way because the average user would do this as well.
Click to expand...

Er, that's exactly what he's asking how to do.
 
Thanks for the responses all! I think I have a handle on where to start now. I am on Windows 7 Pro, so I think I should be able to figure it all out with the guidance above.

And DeathFromBelow is correct, I don't want to move my OS/programs to the HDD. I just want all the pictures, movies, music, documents, and recovery partition to go on the HDD. I was thinking about also moving some lesser used programs over to the HDD (such as a photo resizing software my wife uses on occasion). I want my SSD to be for the OS and Steam (and other not as fun, but just as important programs)! :)

The reason I want to move anything over is because the SSD just isn't big enough to hold all of my programs in addition to my media files (my wife has 9 trillion pictures of our toddler).
 
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