Install Windows 10 clean on SSD drive but without assigning a drive letter like a factory install

[johnsepu]

When I got my Sony Vaio the OS was on the SSD drive but it was hidden, ie. no drive letter assigned. So the C drive was my primary drive where the Windows folders lived and all my files too. It originally came with Windows 8 which I upgraded to 8.1, then 10, the 10 Anniversary. Consequently it was very slow. So I decided to download Windows 10 and do a clean install onto the SDD drive which worked fine. The computer is much faster now.

However, the SDD drive is now the C drive and is running out of space because the Windows folders are in there. I can't figure out how to install Windows 10 to the SDD and make it a bootable hidden drive with the Windows folders on the HDD (C drive) like it was when I got it. I can already see that I will quickly run out of space on the SDD drive unless I start installing programs to the HDD (currently the D drive).

Disk Management doesn't seem to be able to accomplish help. And my Google searches are unproductive. Maybe I'm not using the correct terminology or maybe I selected the wrong option during Setup. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Again, I want it to be like it was when I got it from the factory... IE. the OS/boot drive was the hidden SDD (no drive letter) and the Windows folders were on the HDD (C drive). Thanks for any insight you can give.

 

[Colif]

what i think you will find you had was a cache drive. Laptop makers matched a small ssd to a hdd as a cache. windows should be on the hdd and the ssd should be hidden (as you said)

you would need to install win 10 on the hdd in RAID and then run intel rapid storage technology software to link the ssd to the hdd

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248828/how_to_setup_intel_smart_response_ssd_caching_technology.html

 

[johnsepu]

Hey Colif.... thanks for the speedy reply. I read the linked article you provided and decided to give it a try. Ran into a roadblock when I went in the BIOS to change the SATA to RAID. There's no option anywhere to change that. I did some research and found that other Vaio users have experienced the same thing. Any ideas?

Right now I've got about 5.36GB of free space on the SSD drive so I thought I might keep the install as is and move the Users folder to the D drive. I'll install new programs to the D drive as well, but I guess that with Windows Updates I'll eventually run out of space on the SDD drive. What do you think? Is that a viable stopgap measure until I can figure out the BIOS thing?

what i think you will find you had was a cache drive. Laptop makers matched a small ssd to a hdd as a cache. windows should be on the hdd and the ssd should be hidden (as you said)

you would need to install win 10 on the hdd in RAID and then run intel rapid storage technology software to link the ssd to the hdd

http://www.pcworld.com/article/248828/how_to_setup_intel_smart_response_ssd_caching_technology.html

 

[Colif]

how big is the ssd?

i don't think you can move users folder itself to D but you can relocate the library folders and onedrive folders, that should help a little. really depends on size of ssd as if its only 32gb you going to have problems updating windows - there are people around who run win 10 on 32gb but that is only as they have no choice. If its smaller than 32gb, don't even try - I see some vaio with 22gb which isn't going to work.

did you see this: https://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/reconfiguring-the-raid-configuration-on-a-vaio-desktop

 

[johnsepu]

That's what I figured as well. Guess that's what I'll be doing next weekend!

I tried doing what you first suggested but was unable to change the SATA configuration in the BIOS on my laptop. It doesn't offer that as an option. I posted a message on the Sony site to see if anyone has an idea of how to get that done. Thanks for your input!

 

[johnsepu]

No I didn't see that link. I'll check it out now. I was thinking I might have to flash the BIOS to get the RAID config option available to me.

My SSD is about 22GB and I'm down to 3.94GB right now so I'm going to have to do this over the weekend. If I can't get the BIOS to allow me to setup the RAID config so I can use the SSD as cache then I may just have to settle on a regular HDD installation with using the SSD. :-|

THanks for your help!

how big is the ssd?

i don't think you can move users folder itself to D but you can relocate the library folders and onedrive folders, that should help a little. really depends on size of ssd as if its only 32gb you going to have problems updating windows - there are people around who run win 10 on 32gb but that is only as they have no choice. If its smaller than 32gb, don't even try - I see some vaio with 22gb which isn't going to work.

did you see this: https://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/reconfiguring-the-raid-configuration-on-a-vaio-desktop

 

[Colif]

save up, buy a new SSD which is bigger and replace both - though its funny, new memory solution by intel is cache drives again but they run faster than ssd do - need new PC to use them though.