Hi! I'm getting a new computer at the end of the week. I'm not a gamer, but the price is great for this computer.
AMD RYZEN 5 7600X
MSI PRO PRO A620M-E AM5
500GB HP EX900 m.2 Solid State Drive, NVME PCI-Express 3.0
16 gb dr5 memory
500 gb SATA Drive
Thermaltake 500W ultra quiet ATX Power Supply
Thermalright Peerless Assassin CPU cooler
I'm going to put the OS, Windows 10, on the SSD using a USB stick. I assume I'll have to go into the BIOS to designate that drive for the install. How do I activate and format the SATA drive? I'm planning to use the SATA drive to store most of the files. How do I set that up? I know that most installs of programs are put into the Program Files directory. Do I install the programs on the SATA drive, and if so, do I have to create a directory and point the install to that directory? How do I put directories and files on the hard drive? Is there sone program that will set up somethibn\\ng similar to windows explorer to put the directories and files in? Any and all responses will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
1. I can't speak to air cooling as I've used water cooling since 2011 or so.
2. You mention 1/2 TB for each SSD and SATA HDD - another comment about going all SSD is a good idea. 1 TB SSD - even if it were 2.5 inch SATA rather than NVME - is a better way than mixing the drives. 0.5 TB SATA HDD seems odd anyway given the 4TB size is nearly give away priced. I have both types but then the HDD was much bigger and used to store a lot of DVD's I was ripping with MakeMKV (200+ DVDs including multiple disk sets). That's a good use for HDD, raw size when speed isn't important (I was not a creator, just ripping). I'd say go SSD otherwise. I've had an SSD since that 2011 timeframe, never regretted it, but I've also always had a much bigger HDD for media (few thousand CD collection as well).
3. 16 G RAM is good, 500W PS is enough since you aren't gaming (I do SW development and no gaming).
4. Allow Windows to configure the installation folders, and that includes Program Files. If you ever get a 2nd SSD I'd suggest moving all data possible there, but that is a bit more "complicated" - and while it isn't technically "complicated" it involves a bunch of folders in various places. In short, you right click on something like your music folder (documents is more complicated in that it deals with more complex profile folders most of which are hidden) - then select properties and then "location". If you have another folder - already manually created, It will then move all the files and your "music" or whatever will be there from now on and the neat folder icon will go to the new location. The reason it's handy to have a data drive is that if you ever need to re-install windows, the data doesn't change and you don't have to move it off your old C: drive (I use D: for all data).
Regedit at Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders will show where all those special folders are. It's not for the faint of heart, and I strongly recommend you don't do it - but music, pictures, video are all safe to move. Stick with the 3 and you'll be okay - back them up to an external drive before you change locations.
5. Don't bother putting programs any place other than default. If you are installing things that started out on Unix/Linux, things that want to be on C:\something but not C:\Program Files (or program files 86 for 32 bit software) they will often be something like an older programming language or other tool. Just do what it says, but I wish all software followed the Microsoft standards as it's much easier that way (and it doesn't require all manner of stuff in the path).
6. If you ever have to re-install windows, and I've had an older Samsung nVME drive fail (it would work for a few days and fail - replacing it did not fail again), do yourself one more favor if you have an external drive of a few hundred GB you aren't using : keep a copy of everything you will install if your boot drive fails, and that includes downloads of browsers (use several, one for each Gmail account to deal with logins), and various utilities nearly everyone has like Notepad++ or 7Zip or VLC or whatever. Even if you want a clean install just to have a "clean" no junk you no longer need or use) it's so much easier to use your backup of your "downloads" folder or wherever you first put all those things. You can, once backed up, remove them from Downloads. The fact that some will be way out of date isn't a problem - most software will update itself (browsers and the things I mentioned). Your anti-virus and office suite installer as well (whether paid or free).
Those recommendations in the end are simple and I hope you enjoy the new system. Just don't over-think things (ex: moving all special folders and installation locations). Simple is better.
One last tip: check out this video as JayzTwoCents shows how to install windows - if you have to do it yourself and avoid the local account and other hassles. He talks about what to do in what order, a bit over 20 minutes of great advice. "What to do AFTER you build your PC... Updated for 2023" which means if you put together the hardware yourself, but it might fit your post as well:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhHtHMQygzE
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