A Windows 7 Build with SSD, but a New Way

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SlipperyDuck

Some more thought - and well, a better way.

1. Install Windows 7 on SSD RAID-0 [success]
2. Boot into recovery mode off DVD, select command prompt
3. robocopy /copyall /mir /xj c:\users d:\users (D is my magnetic drive RAID-0)
4. rmdir /s /q c:\users (delete the users folder on the SSD)
5. mklink /J c:\Users d:\Users (create an NTFS hard link (junction) pointing c:\Users to the D drive
6. Restart and enjoy lack of massive writes.

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Yeah - rush mode explaination of what i did.

1. Install Windows 7 on my SSD

2. Now that Windows 7 is installed all on the SSD, I boot off the Windows 7 DVD and go to REPAIR mode. Select my Windows 7 installation [coz thats what you will be presented with] and it will then present you with the set of repair options, one of them being the Command prompt.

3. Now the idea behind this is that the C:\Users folder is where all the user profiles, temp files, log files, application specific files, user specific registry and all horrbily write condusive files are located, this includes your Internet browser cache and writing of every click you make resides. So this is the #1 problem folder for SSD drives since it goes absolutely ballistic with writing small files and small changes to this folder all the time.
So what I do next from the command prompt is to do an exact mirror copy of this folder onto the Magnetic drive, where writing has no wear on the disk.
Robocopy is the tool to use for this, robocopy is a built in Windows7 tool that copies with extreme intelligence, I won't go into the details, just know that it's the best for this job.
This command:
robocopy /copyall /mir /xj c:\users d:\users

/copyall - - Guess what, it will copy everything, hidden, system, secured, normally-unmoveable.
/mir --- MIRROR, this option makes sure that the source and destinations are mirror copies as in they are EXACTLY the same, security and files attributes and all that jazz
/xj -- this just means don't follow junctions points, if it did we'd have a problem as we'd be copying things from all over without proper destinations, that would be bad.
c:\Users -- this is the folder with all the heavy writing in windows 7
d:\Users -- Tells robocopy to create a folder call Users on my D drive and copy all the stuff there.

So that's it, robocopy then goes off and begins copying like crazy, since we've booted off the DVD, no files will be locked, so there will be no problems with copying everything to the new drive.

4. Next up, what we do is to actually completely DELETE the c:\Users folder, don't worry we’ve made an exact copy on the D drive now, so c:\Users should no longer exist. To DELETE it, we use the rmdir command at the command prompt.

rmdir /s /q c:\Users

rmdir -- remove directory
/s -- this means this directory and all sub-directories that are contained within it.
/q -- quiet mode, this basically means don't prompt for files that are protected or hidden or system etc, just answer yes to the "Are you sure you want to delete" questions, then don't tell my about it, just do it.
c:\Users -- well, this is the directory we want to remove.

5. At this point, c:\Users does not exists, the system would fail to boot since it requires the Users folder for settings and User registry information.
We've move c:\Users --> d:\Users from the steps above.
NOW WE TRICK THE SYSTEM!!!
basically what we will do next is create an NTFS Junction, which is a fancy way of saying to the System that c:\Users IS ACTUALLY d:\Users without anyone
or anything having to really think about it.
mklink is the tool to do this (make link)

mklink /J c:\Users d:\Users

/J -- Make a junction, this is like pegging a stick in the ground for the hard drive, telling it that that folder is on this drive, when it is actually on another drive.
c:\Users -- this is the Folder that it will now create, *NOTE you do not actually create this folder, the mklink tool will automagically create it.
d:\USers -- this is what this link is urm, linked to. Whenever the system now tries to read or write to c:\Users and/or any of it's sub-folders, it's actually doing
it on the d:\Users folder

6. Any thats all folks. We're done! All we need to do is reboot and fogedabowdit.
From this point on, all the heavy hitting SSD life-span killing writes are on the magnetic drive, your performance is not affected, since these are small writes
and small reads, the BULK of the data sits on the SSD which is where the speed is needed. You'd be hard pressed to see any sort of drop in performance by
making this change to the system. The big improvement is lack of writes, giving your investment into that expensive SSD a massive boost to it's longevity.


So if you've paid big bucks for and SSD and want your investment quite a lot longer, you'd do well to impliment the above.

It takes less than 5 minutes, it's really quick, and the benfits should not be underestimated.

kthxbai

Very nice Lee :)

Looks good Lee. I think I might give that a go.

I have one more TIP for SSD and temp files.

1. Open Explorer, navigate to your Magnetic drive, say "D" drive.

2. in the root folder create a folder called TEMP

3. Open the D:\TEMP folder by double clicking on it.

4. Now create another folder called SYSTEMTEMP

5. You may be wondering why, so lets find out shall we?
EXPLAIN: Another thing windows does, is write temporary files when installing software
Not only that, it uses the system and user temp folders for many other temporary tasks (some files copies even)
Now, we don't want these common writes on our SSDs either, now do we? So, we're gonna change that!
*Note this is a change to the system environment which requires a reboot to come into effect

6. Right-Click on "My Computer" choose PROPERTIES
On the Left Pane of the [>Control Panel > System] Window, CLICK on "Advanced system settings"

7. This will open up the good old [System Properties] box
There are several tabs at the top, click the third one named "Advanced"
and on the "Advanced" tab look near the bottom and click on "Environment Variables"

8. You will note TWO things in this pane.
User Variables and System Variables
If we look at User variables you will see two references of interest; TEMP and TMP
Currently under User, it will show something like %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp
Now if you did the previous move of the c:\Users folder, then hey-presto, your UserTemp
is now already on the D: drive
** The System TEMP is not!
Under the System Variables, scroll down until you see TEMP and TMP
Though I cannot confirm right now, it probably says something like %SYSTEM%\temp or C:\Windows\Temp
Double Click on TEMP and type in D:\TEMP\SYSTEMTEMP then click OK (<--the folder we created in Steps 2->4)
Do the same to TMP then click OK (yes it's fine to have them in the same place)

9. All done, reboot and the temp files will now also be moved off your SSD

Cool. I am with the remapping now. I did the Temp move trick but didn't realise there was a SYSTEMTEMP one to do as well.
Thanks Duck, we shall follow in your digital footprints.
I see they are up to 480GB now...
NAG recommends the Plextor M3 256GB.
Anyone had good/bad experiences with SSD's lately?

I've never had a problem, not yet @ least.

If you're looking for a new SSD, I'd go with either the Corsair Force GT or the OCZ Vertex III. Both use Sandforce controllers, I'd go for a 120GB capacity. Or, if you can live without TRIM, get 2x60GB drives and RAID 0 them for ultimate speed!!

How interesting.. I am reinstalling my OS onto my brand new OCZ Vertex III SSD tomorrow actually and will give this a shot.

I want my SSD to last forever and a day and bought it for that purpose.

Seems very easy from the guide. Will let you know if I break anything.

Just for more info, I'll never have to worry about anything EVER again regarding keeping this tidy? Like installing stuff and MyDocuments and and and?

Upon further inspection, I may not be able to do this. Checkkit out yo.

- I currently have 2 magentic drives, a 320GB and a 1TB.
- My OS is currently installed on the 320GB.
- I will be reinstalling Win7 to a new 120GB SSD drive this eve.
- I am not ready to wipe the old 320GB drive as I am never sure which files I forgot to backup.
- I will eventually wipe the 320GB and keep this as the drive where I install any non-critical games/applications and the 1TB will stay as a storage drive.
- I do not want to create the "D:\Users" to the 320GB if I am going to wipe the device in the future.

Is there a workaround for me? And would doing just "the second bit" (http://www.grrr.co.za/forum/index.ph...37.0;msg=46714) help without doing the whole "Users" folder move?

YO I AM TRYING TO LEN THEES THINGZ. Very confuzzling to us non-genius-nabs.

You could always use the E:\ drive instead (if thats the name of your 1Tb drive)

Substitute all the D:\yadayada with E:\yadayada and you'll be fine.