Two Hard Drives: 1 For O/S, 1 For Files/Programs?

I'm formatting my hard drive and reinstalling Vista. However, I have another 40GB hard drive lying around and I would like to install Vista on that hard drive, and have all programs and files installed to my other hard drive. I just want to do this so I can, and can easily install/reinstall O/S's without deleting all my files, hopefully, and to have extra space, since I'm finally running out.

Anyways, how do I go about having all of my main folders such as Administrator(documents,music,pictures), Program Files, and the sort be on the second hard drive making that drive default?

I've tried once before on a laptop with XP w/ a 5GB partition for the O/S, but when I try to install something, it would say that there is not enough space since it is trying to install to the O/S partition, but this time w/ 2 separate HDDs. Would I have to change the directory of programs every time I install something to the second hard drive? And if so, how would I do this if Program Files is on the O/S hard drive?Two Hard Drives: 1 For O/S, 1 For Files/Programs?
First reformat and install vista, then just plugin the new HD and it will appear so then you can change your default program files folder. gogle howTwo Hard Drives: 1 For O/S, 1 For Files/Programs?
is the second hard drive external or internal ?
make sure you have the power to run both. I have burn out a many slave HDD's by lack o power.



I have a 16gb solid state drive running my OS(Vista Business) and 250gb western digital HDD.
Install OS the regular way on a drive then you can go to Disk Management and mount the second drive as a folder name say 'temp'. Now copy all your files including the hidden files to 'temp'. Now go to Disk Management again and rename the second disk folder as 'Program Files'. Now you have two disks one holding all your files except ';Program Files';. Another disk doesn't have drive but mounted on ';Program Files';
You are looking for a major confusion on the OS.Install the OS and all your programs to a single partition (it can't be more that 40GB) and use the second drive for your personal files, but a 40GB drive is tiny for today's needs
I agree with what you want to do (I dod it with desktop systms all the time), but you need to not battle with software regarding where it want to be installed. Some apps requires that their support files be in the same physical drive or partition as the OS, so you might never get around any of that.



As far as your Administrator account, that is always going to be under Documents and Settings with the other user profiles. I would leave them there.



You will also have to have a Program Files directory on the system drive, but you can add one on the second drive, and install anything you like there. Again, Windows will require that directory on the system drive. Trying to dick with the way Windows installs itself is not worth the frustration.



I would advise you make a copy of the ';documents and settings'; folder on the send drive, just to have a backup, since that's where the user profiles are installed.
Actually, having your OS on one drive, and your programs on another makes sense. Assuming you're starting fresh, which is good, install the OS on the smaller drive (just make sure it has enough space for it!), and then when you install any program that's made worth a lick, it will usually prompt you on where to install it. This is where you have to stay sharp. Normally, it will pop up a window saying it wants to install to C:\Program Files\Program... You want to change this to the letter that your second drive has, like D:\Program Files\Program. Just keep the same naming convention, and just change the letter of the drive.
I don't know if it's possible to move the Documents, Pictures, etc. defaults because those reside in the account name folder on the Users folder on the OS drive and are a Windows feature. You can, however, make your own folders on the storage drive and just put your files there yourself, and place shortcuts to those folders wherever necessary.



When installing programs, in most cases, you can change the default directory to a different one. What I've done and what you can do is make another Program Files folder on the storage drive and install various programs there instead.
What you are looking to do is a great idea. There are 3 aspects to your question:

1) Running out of space on the windows drive



Your solution of having a dedicated drive for windows will probably help as long as you have enough space left after installing windows.



2) Files such as your documents, music, pictures on the second drive should also work in case you need to reinstall your os.



3) Programs need to be reinstalled: Using the second drive for program files will help saving on the disk space on the os drive. But, if you need to install a different OS it may not save you the trouble of reinstalling all the software since software more likely than not do things such as copy files to your windows folder, write registry entries. These things will be wiped away when you reinstall the OS and you will probably need to reinstall the software. I say this about any reasonably complicated software and not simple stuff which may only need a few files to run.