I plan on getting a Intel 320 40GB SSD to install my main 64bit OS and a few applications on it. The majority of other applications and games will be on the D drive containing the 150GB Velociraptor. My question and main concern is installing a 32 bit and 64 bit applications such as Adobe Photoshop or other 3D applications such as Maya in 64bit version on the D drive. Do I need to create a separate installation folder such as "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)" for the 32 bit and the 64bit applications or could I install both into one particular installation folder? Do they need to be separated? Will it let you create a "Program Files (x86)" on the D drive? Will updating be a problem if you install stuff on the D drive? Have anyone try this method and ran into any particular problem? I just want to make sure if this method won't cause any problem. If there are big conflicts I might have to cash out and get a 160GB SSD. I have read up a bit on Symbolic Links. I was wondering if I should install everything normally in "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)" on the C drive and then move them onto the D drive and symbolic link them. Would that be a better way? Thanks!
I had one of those 40GB Intel SDD, honestly for me is soon turned out 40GB is insufficient when using Windows 7, Office 2010, Adobe CS5 and Visual Studio 2010. Programs like CS5 etc can be installed on another (regular) drive, but you loose the speed gain for which you probably are thinking to buy the SSD for. Biggest issue in my case was the continuously growing 'Users' directory and not to forget the hidden ProgramData folder, if you redirect (junction) these to another drive you will notice a impact on your systems speed. Junctions (Symbolic Links) did seem to work, although i experienced issues when trying to install IE9 and a few other updates. I recently replaced mine with a 128GB Crucial SSD, i currently have 60GB used (1 month old installation) and the system really fly's.
it is a good idea to have the separate folders... some apps tend to install 32-bit libraries in identical named folders even though you installed a 64-bit app... I can only imagine that if you don't set it up this way, they will clobber each other
FreeStyler's remark on 40GB being insufficient is a very good point. Regarding the Program Files folder - personally I don't use it at all. I prefer having a separate one (you should have it on your SSD) i.e. APPS and have all applications installed under there. It is a good measure of knowing / keeping track of what you have installed over time. Some programs install multiple items and after a while you might not know what's what. Not all apps offer the choice for choosing the installation path (i.e. Belarc ), but most of them do. Other (minor) advantages of having a separate APPS folder is that you can specify so that you keep it under 8 chars (DOS) and no spaces (certain apps require that). Unfortunately you don't have much control on what goes into the ProgramData & Users folders Performance-wise you may also want to experiment with moving your pagefile to your other physical drive; you could notice an improvement under heavy load. That of course depends on other factors as well i.e. how much RAM you got and therefore how often the system has to resort to your virtual memory...
I guess it depends on the software whether a single folder for both x86 and x64 apps will work. I don't know how the "Common Files" folder in Program Files is used exactly, but I imagine it could cause problems if x64 and x86 libraries got mixed up in there. Using an unattend setting you can set up Windows to put "ProgramData" and "Users" on a different partition, that will free up space on the system partition as well.
Thanks so you can actually move these Folders? Since I can't post links yet I found that you could move the ProgramData" and "Users" to D drive. But there might be problem when Windows try to updates or do fixes. Still searching for "Common Files" and x64 complication if there is one.
Another thing I want to ask is it best to install the OS, applications, games on the HDD first and create a backup image and put it on the SSD so you don't go through so many cycle of rebooting, copying and reading?
But keep in mind, whenever you do that you will notice a immediate speed drop of your systems perfomance! When the user profile is stored on another drive as you SDD you will hardly notice a difference in speed as the user profile stored on another (slow) drive will impact your overall systems performance noticeably, seriously 40GB is insufficient simply go for a bigger SSD Please take this advice...i hate to have to say 'I told you so'
Alright thanks guys. I decided to go with the Intel X-25M 160GB. Was about to go with the Intel 320 80GB and a 150 Veliceraptor for games but the 34nm on the X-25M is more stable and reliable. It was good at least to know there is way around moving your folders to another drive but technically I'm not that experience to experiment.