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Small C Drive and Large D Drive: file management?

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CameraCarl

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I'm setting up a Windows 11 computer for my wife. The computer has a 250GB SSD C drive and a 1TB D drive installed. The operating system seems to want to put everything either in One Drive (which appears to be a limited space cloud storage area) or the C drive. By everything I mean photos, music, videos, etc. I finally figured out that I need to avoid OneDrive because I don't want to pay Microsoft to store stuff in the cloud, so I am fine there, but now I have the C drive full. I am not used to a computer where there is a tiny SSD and a large internal drive; I'm just used to a computer with one big internal drive. So my questions is: how best to manage the C drive and D drives? Do I limit the C drive to just files that are needed for computer operation and then force all the other files I create (documents, music downloads, photos, etc.) onto the D drive? And if so, how do I redirect all those files to D instead of C?
 
I have disabled OneDrive on my PCs.

Data files can be stored in regular directories (folders), or in Library folders (Document, Pictures, etc.) I manually keep most of my data files on a D: drive.

It is possible to move the Libraries to the D: drive. I haven't done it, I admit.
 
CameraCarl said:
I'm setting up a Windows 11 computer for my wife. The computer has a 250GB SSD C drive and a 1TB D drive installed. The operating system seems to want to put everything either in One Drive (which appears to be a limited space cloud storage area) or the C drive. By everything I mean photos, music, videos, etc. I finally figured out that I need to avoid OneDrive because I don't want to pay Microsoft to store stuff in the cloud, so I am fine there, but now I have the C drive full. I am not used to a computer where there is a tiny SSD and a large internal drive; I'm just used to a computer with one big internal drive. So my questions is: how best to manage the C drive and D drives? Do I limit the C drive to just files that are needed for computer operation and then force all the other files I create (documents, music downloads, photos, etc.) onto the D drive? And if so, how do I redirect all those files to D instead of C?
Click to expand...
With only a 250GB C drive (it seems funny to say that as I remember the day of 10 and the 20 megabyte hard drives) and 1TB D: drive, you want to restrict it to mostly program files. These are the ones you want the fastest loading. You can install apps into other drives at the time of installation, but probably not necessary unless you install a lot of apps.

You can move the default location for almost all applications, including the default download folder. In my experience, it is a one-off affair. Each time you see something wanting to store in the C: drive, you need to search to find out how to move that program's default folder.

For example, here is a link from "Moving the default download folder in windows 11"


It is a bit of a hassle but only necessary for things with a large amount of data. In particular, anything with photographs or video can fill a drive quickly. I can shoot about 600GB of photos in one day.
 
Thanks. The link is useful. I think I was able to redirect the downloads. Then I moved the key/large files, such as photos, music, videos from the C drive to the D drive. Now I need to work with it for a few days to see if everything is where I need it to be.
 
Same way as you for example handle external drives. Any tool allows you to browse to a location to save/load files. How you then organize this on that drive is up to you. I fail to see the problem TBH.
 
I think someone already pointed out how to change the downloads directory. Use the same process to move the:

desktop

downloads

documents

pictures

music

and especially, videos, if you shoot video, to locations on your D drive.

And be sure to match the download directory in your browser of choice.

If you use Lightroom, make sure the catalogs are also on the D drive.
 
CameraCarl said:
Thanks. The link is useful. I think I was able to redirect the downloads. Then I moved the key/large files, such as photos, music, videos from the C drive to the D drive. Now I need to work with it for a few days to see if everything is where I need it to be.
Click to expand...
There is an "all in one place" for the Windows 11 defaults (and a similar one for Windows 10 can be found). Below is a link to a step-by-step guide.

pureinfotech.com

How to change default save locations on Windows 11 - Pureinfotech

To change default saved locations on Windows 11, go to Settings > Storage > Where new content is saved and change the settings.
pureinfotech.com pureinfotech.com

I would leave all programs on the C: and then put most others on the D drive.

I would get an internal or external drive to back up the D drive. The good thing about this method is that you know D: only has data on it. You don't need to back up programs as they can be downloaded. I keep at least 3 backups of everything important as storage is so cheap these days.
 
256GB is like way too small for a Boot drive for windows.

Windows will always install files on C drive regardless of where you install the program.

My C: drive was a 512GB NVME M.2 I had about 200GB free on it. I had already installed the larger programs and most others to D: drive (spinning 1TB drive)

However I decided to buy a Samsung 970 Pro MVME m.2 1TB to replace my Boot drive.

And a Big Bonus was the speed increase especially on the write speed.

I created an image of my C: and restored to the 1TB and expanded the partition to the larger size. I now have 590GB free on Boot drive.

Used https://www.macrium.com/
 
Last edited:
Models By Day said:
256GB is like way too small for a Boot drive for windows.
Click to expand...
None of my four Win10 installs takes up more than 150GB. As mentioned above, all the data stores that can be moved (documents, downloads, etc) have been located elsewhere. This has the dual benefit of reducing the OS footprint as well as making backups less complex.

--
Sometimes I look at posts from people I've placed on my IGNORE list. When I do, I'm quickly reminded of why I chose to ignore them in the first place.
 
Last edited:
Ho72 said:
Models By Day said:
256GB is like way too small for a Boot drive for windows.
Click to expand...
None of my four Win10 installs takes up more than 150GB.
Click to expand...
+1
I only have Win10 and installed programs on my C drive. It uses less than 140GB.
Ho72 said:
As mentioned above, all the data stores that can be moved (documents, downloads, etc) have been located elsewhere. This has the dual benefit of reducing the OS footprint as well as making backups less complex.
Click to expand...
+1 again
All of my data is stored on the D drive. I backup the D drive more frequently because the data is unique to me. I only backup the C drive when I install a new program or when there have been sufficient Win10 updates to make reinstalling them a pain.
 
I have a 250gb. SATA SSD as my C Drive with about 120gb. free.

I did once read somewhere that if the drive starts to run out of free space, it will slow down but I've never seen it again anywhere and it's certainly not happening on here.

I am, however, considering replacing it, at some point with an M.2 PCle drive; not because I'm dissatisfied with what I've got but because (it's claimed) they're quicker and I just happen to have an appropriate gap on my motherboard!

The C Drive is home to the OS and all the programmes.

Everything else is on a 2tb. spinner.

Incidentally, that drive is the documents folder; there's no actual folder of that name. Organising sending everything to the 'downloads' folder on there was dead easy.

"It's good to be . . . . . . . . . Me!"
 
Last edited:
Models By Day said:
256GB is like way too small for a Boot drive for windows.

Windows will always install files on C drive regardless of where you install the program.

My C: drive was a 512GB NVME M.2 I had about 200GB free on it. I had already installed the larger programs and most others to D: drive (spinning 1TB drive)

However I decided to buy a Samsung 970 Pro MVME m.2 1TB to replace my Boot drive.

And a Big Bonus was the speed increase especially on the write speed.

I created an image of my C: and restored to the 1TB and expanded the partition to the larger size. I now have 590GB free on Boot drive.

Used https://www.macrium.com/
Click to expand...
There are a lot of factors that can fill up the c: drive. Some of which can be eliminated or moved someplace else. Some are a function of the DRAM size and virtual memory settings. For example, on my PC with 64GB of DDRAM there are

22.2 GB of System files

6.685 of "reserved storage"

68 GB of virtual memory (size is optional and a performance factor)

63.7GB of Hibernation file (I assume this could be eliminated or cuts to the DDRAM size)

14.8GB of system restore.

Total 176GB of system and reserve

I then have 102 GB of installed apps. So if I had a 250 GB C: drive, I would have to manage where I put things, but it could still be done (thankfully, I have a 4TB M.2 NVME SSD so I don't have to worry about it). They claim you can get Windows 11 running with a 32GB C: drive, but it probably would not be pretty. But most normal people could fit reasonably in 256GB.
 
BobKnDP said:
I have disabled OneDrive on my PCs.

Data files can be stored in regular directories (folders), or in Library folders (Document, Pictures, etc.) I manually keep most of my data files on a D: drive.

It is possible to move the Libraries to the D: drive. I haven't done it, I admit.
Click to expand...
A library isn't a folder in the traditional sense, it's a collection/merge of multiple paths. You can add a folder path to merge the library view at any time. Microsoft does this with the desktop library, it's the merger of a specific user on the computers desktop folder and the all users desktop folder.
 
CameraCarl said:
Thanks. The link is useful. I think I was able to redirect the downloads. Then I moved the key/large files, such as photos, music, videos from the C drive to the D drive. Now I need to work with it for a few days to see if everything is where I need it to be.
Click to expand...
My computer is up and running and all the files are where they need to be. More thanks to all for your help.
 
CameraCarl said:
I'm setting up a Windows 11 computer for my wife. The computer has a 250GB SSD C drive and a 1TB D drive installed. The operating system seems to want to put everything either in One Drive (which appears to be a limited space cloud storage area) or the C drive. By everything I mean photos, music, videos, etc. I finally figured out that I need to avoid OneDrive because I don't want to pay Microsoft to store stuff in the cloud, so I am fine there, but now I have the C drive full. I am not used to a computer where there is a tiny SSD and a large internal drive; I'm just used to a computer with one big internal drive. So my questions is: how best to manage the C drive and D drives? Do I limit the C drive to just files that are needed for computer operation and then force all the other files I create (documents, music downloads, photos, etc.) onto the D drive? And if so, how do I redirect all those files to D instead of C?
Click to expand...
What the heck does your wife have that takes 250GB already? You just set it up.

That should be plenty for W10 or W11.

I suggest running WinDirStat as a portable app, that is downloading it to and running it from a USB stick. Measure what files are hogging disk spec.

Then move 'em to D:
 
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CAcreeks said:
CameraCarl said:
I'm setting up a Windows 11 computer for my wife. The computer has a 250GB SSD C drive and a 1TB D drive installed. The operating system seems to want to put everything either in One Drive (which appears to be a limited space cloud storage area) or the C drive. By everything I mean photos, music, videos, etc. I finally figured out that I need to avoid OneDrive because I don't want to pay Microsoft to store stuff in the cloud, so I am fine there, but now I have the C drive full. I am not used to a computer where there is a tiny SSD and a large internal drive; I'm just used to a computer with one big internal drive. So my questions is: how best to manage the C drive and D drives? Do I limit the C drive to just files that are needed for computer operation and then force all the other files I create (documents, music downloads, photos, etc.) onto the D drive? And if so, how do I redirect all those files to D instead of C?
Click to expand...
What the heck does your wife have that takes 250GB already? You just set it up.

That should be plenty for W10 or W11.

I suggest running WinDirStat as a portable app, that is downloading it to and running it from a USB stick. Measure what files are hogging disk spec.

Then move 'em to D:
Click to expand...
Well, as I said above, Windows as configured out of the box has all photo, video, music, etc. files assigned to the C drive. Thus any of these files that I tried to transfer from the old computer automatically went to the C drive which quickly filled it up. It was only after looking at preferences that I saw this and, as I said in several prior posts, I then redirected all photo and music files to the D drive. If you are like me, you have far more than 256 GB of photo, music, video files, et. So that is what the heck she has that takes up space.
 
CameraCarl said:
CAcreeks said:
I suggest running WinDirStat as a portable app, that is downloading it to and running it from a USB stick. Measure what files are hogging disk spec. Then move 'em to D:
Click to expand...
Well, as I said above, Windows as configured out of the box has all photo, video, music, etc. files assigned to the C drive. Thus any of these files that I tried to transfer from the old computer automatically went to the C drive which quickly filled it up. It was only after looking at preferences that I saw this and, as I said in several prior posts, I then redirected all photo and music files to the D drive. If you are like me, you have far more than 256 GB of photo, music, video files, et. So that is what the heck she has that takes up space.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the answer. Makes sense that it's a transfer from a previous PC.

I did not know that Microsoft provided an automated upgrade/transfer application. (Or do they? can't find anything by Google search.)

Last time we set up a new laptop, we didn't know about it, if it exists. We copied the old C: drive to the secondary filesystem into a folder called OldHostname.
 
Last edited:
Models By Day said:
256GB is like way too small for a Boot drive for windows.
Click to expand...
That is nonsense.


One of my older computers (Acer laptop) has a 120Gb boot drive. Windows, Office 365 and a bunch of other stuff occupies about 70Gb..

There’s also a 2Tb internal HDD that has all my photos, office files etc., and there was no problems directing Windows apps to use the large HDD.
 
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