New Win 10 Build - HD config question

[mojoroc]

I am in the process of building my next rig, and had decided on the following configuration of storage:
SSD1 (128G): OS (Win 10)
SSD2 (1T): All program & games... yes I do have a TON of programs and games
HD1 (2T): Data & Projects
HD2 (2T): Preview & Exports

I use Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premier a lot, and try to abide by their storage recommendations as much as possible for maximum performance.

However, from what I have read on various forums so far, getting Win 10 to play nice with Programs and User data on DIFFERENT drives than the OS seems to be a royal pain... has anyone here been able to get a setup similar to mine working well with Win 10? If so, how? Please be as detailed as possible.

NOTE: some of the things I have read so far seems to indicate that:
■ A lot of programs will always want to install to the OS drive
■ Windows updates can fail of the Programs folder is on a different drive (not sure how that happens??)
■ MKLINK seems to be a potential work-around - I generally understand this concept (the Program & User data "appears" to be on the OS drive, but in reality are stored on another drive... can it cause issues though??)
■ If at all possible, I really would prefer not to manually update the registry

 

[USAFRet]

Programs, absolutely no issue. At all.
/User/ folder? Do NOT move that to elsewhere.

Ignore the mklink concept. Yes, that can cause issues.

For your Libraries (doc/music/video), easy.
See this Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html


My current system is 8.1, but configured similar to yours. Getting ready to move it to 10, with absolutely no worries about whether it will work properly.
This will be the 4th system in the house to go to Win10
Applications can be installed on any drive.
Libraries can be moved to any drive
/User/ folder, leave it where it is.

 

[USAFRet]

For your applications: Most things want to install on the C drive. But almost all can be changed, during the install process. Choose Custom or Advanced, and you tell it where to install.

If you have not purchased this yet, I'd recommend a 250GB drive instead of that 128GB. Much better price v size ratio.
And you can install quite a few applications on it, as well as the OS.

 

[mojoroc]

Programs, absolutely no issue. At all.
/User/ folder? Do NOT move that to elsewhere.

Ignore the mklink concept. Yes, that can cause issues.

For your Libraries (doc/music/video), easy.
See this Win 8.1 & 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2024314/windows-redirecting-folders-drives.html


My current system is 8.1, but configured similar to yours. Getting ready to move it to 10, with absolutely no worries about whether it will work properly.
This will be the 4th system in the house to go to Win10
Applications can be installed on any drive.
Libraries can be moved to any drive
/User/ folder, leave it where it is.

Thanks for the super fast reply! How do I go about moving the Program Files & Program Files (x86) folders?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the super fast reply! How do I go about moving the Program Files & Program Files (x86) folders?

You don't.
Simply create a new folder on the second drive. Call it MyProgs.
Use that as a target for when you install things.

Applications do not have to be installed to something called "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)"

So, you would end up with something like this:
D:/MyProgrs/Lightroom
D:/MyProgs/Adobe/Premier
etc...

Again...applications do NOT have to live in "Program Files". Leave the originals where they are.

 

[mojoroc]

Gotcha... I will have to revisit my Adobe CC to ensure I get a chance to specify a different installation location (I think it defaulted to the OS drive on my current machine, but I may have missed the step where I could have told it otherwise). I guess the only think left that will likely still require some MKLINK work is the Outlook .ost files when I get to that stage - it was unavoidable even on my current machine =(