Set up 2.0TB HDD & 256 SSD: Winds 10 Dell Inspiron 10th Gen i7 1065G7

MEAW51 said:

I saw a recurring warning to carefully set up the proper management of the 2.0TB HDD & 256GB SSD drives from the very beginning

I agree. Leaving it until later just means that you'll have lots more data to have to shuffle about and you might make a mistake or have a glitch that is difficult to get out of.

MEAW51 said:

From the outset, assign the SSD to programs and the HDD to data, documents,photos, music, films etc

I agree. Whilst there are other schemes, I believe the best one is to use the SSD for the OS & applications and the HDD for your own files.
You need to make some decisions before starting and you need to think through how these decisions affect your intended backup scheme.

1 Depending on how you use the Maps application you might also want to shift its map files off the SSD or at least into a separate partition on the SSD. Deciding now keeps everything simple. There are two benefits but they might not apply to you.
1.1 I have Maps of most of Europe and they add up to something like 5GB. I don't like adding 5GB every week to every system image in my backups so I have Maps data on a drive of its own so I can image & restore it separately every few months when one of the Maps gets updated.
1.2 I have 3 computers and I reduce my data download needs by updating just one Maps drive then imaging it & restoring it to the other computers. Arguably, I don't need to do this anymore but I used to have just 3GB a month data allowance from my ISP so measures such as this used to be essential for me.

2 You might find that some particular applications require such a large amount of storage that they affect your overall plans. If that is relevant to you then say what they will be because there might well be somebody here who knows about your intended applications and can provide specific advice about them.
- I think this might apply to the specialist professional applications to which you allude.
- This often applies to games.

3 You can create a folder structure of your own on the HDD and just start using it. No grand schemes are required. No OS alterations are required. You might consider using a similar folder structure to what you have had on your apple thing. It is common to have the following folders but they can be named & arranged however you want: Documents, Music, Videos, Pictures. You will probably also want to create a Desktop folder [see #6 below]. You can also divide Documents into subfolders for your main lines of effort and each of these can be further subdivided. Just by way of example & nothing more, my own Documents folder is divided into: Business, Personal, Common, Suppliers, InfoSys

4 You can augment that by opening each one of your applications and saving a test file to your Documents folder then opening a test file from that folder. Doing this makes most applications look there first in the future and that saves messing about browsing around the folders.

5 You can augment that by checking the Options / Preferences within each of you applications to see if a default folder can be nominated there as well.

6 You can augment that by 'relocating' the Desktop user folder [that has been created by Windows] to your HDD. This is by default in C:\Users\[YourUserName]\Desktop but the system can be told to use the folder you have created on your HDD instead. There is a tutorial here that can walk you through the whole procedure.

7 You can augment that by 'relocating' other user folders [that have been created by Windows] such as the Documents, Music, Videos, Pictures to your HDD. These are by default in C:\Users\[YourUserName]\Documents etc but the system can be told to use the folders you have created on your HDD instead. There are tutorials here that can walk you through the whole procedure for each one. Not everybody bothers with this step and some think that it conveys no benefit.

MEAW51 said:

They all warned that this was ... nor easy with Windows 10

I disagree. Once you decide what you need to do you will find it all logical and it will all be very easy. Your only difficulty will be reaching your decision but people here will be only too glad to help.

MEAW51 said:

One mentioned getting great help from TenForums.com.

What clever people they are.

MEAW51 said:

I am, of course, also planning a robust & comprehensive approach to backing up.

How very, very wise of you.
Your disk usage decisions will influence your backup scheme decisions
.
In general, I would suggest making system images of your OS drive, separate images of your Maps drive [if applicable] and whatever file backup utility takes your fancy for backups of your own files on the HDD.

System imaging
Macrium Reflect is often recommended in this forum for making system images. Other utilities are available but this one is so commonplace that you can get plenty of help for it.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForumsTutorials
Macrium Software Macrium Reflect Free
Macrium USB - TenForums
Macrium Reflect KnowledgeBase - user guide [version-independent link]

It can make bootable system images. This facility is called viBoot and it requires Win10 Pro.
Macrium viBoot - Macrium KB
Macrium viBoot - Create Virtual Machine using Macrium Image - TenForumsTutorials

Whatever file backup utility takes your fancy
You can use a built-in facility called File history [if its name has changed recently one of the others will correct me] that creates a backup on another disk every time you change one of your own files.
You can use a backup utility provided by a professional software publisher.
You can cobble together your own procedure for backing up your own files - they are, when all is said & done, just a set of file copies.


Denis

MEAW51 said:

I admit to being the hunt and peck type who learns mostly from diving in and making mistakes, and, if lucky, learning by correcting them. If kind folks here have any advice on how to efficiently proceed, it would be greatly appreciated. I would love to get up and running in my tentative new PC World with as little stress as possible.

Yeah--put Windows and all apps on the SSD; data on the HDD. Resist temptations to get cute and modify that.

Let's see if I can hit a few things off the top of my head and in no particular order--I assume you have little/no experience with the Win 10 interface:

1: Decide on a system backup plan; typically using Macrium imaging; possibly augmented by a separate unrelated data backup plan---likely to an external.

2: Decide on anti-virus/anti-malware; most commonly built in Windows Defender, possibly augmented by Malwarebytes free or paid.

3: Immerse yourself in Win 10 "settings", which contains 14 major subdivisions, with hundreds of subdivisions and switches underneath. Pay particular attention to Update and Security, System, and Privacy. You can easily spend a day on the first review of "settings". Locate and run "storage sense" periodically (found under "system" and then "storage").

4: download and install something like HWInfo, to get a grip on your hardware (CPU, memory, power, fans, temperatures, etc)

5: familiarize yourself with the far left icon on the taskbar ("start"). This is where you can find and open your applications and also access settings. Of course, you can also make taskbar shortcuts to the most frequently used for quicker access.

6: examine "Windows Disk Management" as soon as possible after purchase---which will reveal your drives, partitions, occupied space, remaining space, etc.

@MEAW51 -

Hi.

I'm surprised that Dell would still be using a 256GB SSD in their laptops! I wouldn't settle for less than a 1 TB SSD and no HDD.
Then again, you have to be careful of places like Costco and such, as they cut corners to bring in the product at an attractive price point.

Have you tried pricing/configuring a similar system at the Dell website, just to compare?
You might do better for just a few more dollars and Costco will gladly take back the one coming.

FWIW.

My own Dell Inspiron 17 is 3 years old now and came with a 128GB "SSD" [actually an M.2 card] and 1TB HDD.

Meaw51,

You wrote "SSD" and that surprised Compumind. I would expect you to find that the "SSD" is actually described as an "M.2 card", which is less surprising.
- An M.2 card is just another solid state storage technology. You don't necessarily have to be at all interested.
- Dell don't sell Inspiron 17s in the UK any more so I cannot take a look at any current specs.
- CostCo do not exist in the UK so I do not know the worth of their 4 year warranty.

Denis

Oh, it was the size. I thought he was just picking up on the terminology the OP used.

Dell has offered the Inspiron 17s in several configurations including
- a larger SSD
- a combination of a smaller SSD & a large HDD

I chose the combination just as the OP did. I'd need a >1TB SSD if I was going for just a single disk.

Denis

Mark,

MEAW51 said:

... I invested in a brand new Dell Inspiron 17 Laptop ... due Wednesday, May 27 ...

So you are now busy playing with your new toy conducting essential on-receipt checks?

I won't interupt you unless you ask. Do remember that I also have a Dell Inspiron 17 [from 2016]. Mine is a 7779, meaning that
- Mine has a combination of SSD [M.2 card] and HDD like yours
- Mine has a touchscreen {you have not mentioned whether yours does or not}.

Best of luck,
Denis