I'm not sure such a situation would be improved by having applications not on C.
If Windows can't be fixed by troubleshooting, you could:
1: Use System Restore.
2: Reset Windows.
3: Restore a previously made image of your system drive with an application such as Macrium.
4: Do a clean install.
Probably other choices.
Office 365 is the only software package I know that needs to be installed on C: drive. There are some instructions on Internet to change Office install location (an example), but I have found the registry hacks to be unreliable.
In my method, relocating the complete Users folder, all Office data files (AppData, Outlook mail profiles and files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and so on) will always be saved on secondary disk, never on C: drive.
Kari
If the secondary disk is a SSD then I fully agree. If not then I leave everything on the SSD, thus benefiting from the SSD performance which is why I bought it in the first place. Kari, I think you normally have multiple SSDs, right?
I currently have a 1TB SSD where everything is installed and two 2TB spinners, one for data that is not used on a regular basis, the other for Macrium backup of the SSD. Data from the one 2TB spinner is backed up over the network to another computer. The SSD is backed up locally to the 2nd 2TB spinner via Macrium.
I've restored the SSD many times, never a problem.
Eventually I'll add another 1TB SSD then I think I will split OS and data/programs, but not yet.
Thanks, I didn't know that. I was actually going to get microsoft 365. I guess I could still put it on my c: drive. I would just have to remember to move/copy all my saved files to the other drive.
Now that I know more, I think my plan is to have a small SSD (128GB) for Windows and apps, and a larger SSD (500GB) for all my data. Then I will have an external 2 bay HDD and back up my data and images to those two disks using Macrium. I will also have a backup cloned SSD (128GB) with a copy of Windows on it in case the SSD in my PC gets bricked.
I very strongly disagree!
As long as the operating system is on SSD, you'll notice no difference in using software, regardless if it is on SSD or HDD. Operating system is the key here; install Windows on SSD, then the software on HDD. That's my recommendation, in case you only have one SSD.
The same applies to Hyper-V virtual machines using differencing disks, Store the parent VHD on SSD, and child VHDs (software, user data) based on that parent on HDD, and you'll notice no performance difference compared to a VM with its VHDs on SSD.
Hyper-V - Use Differencing Disks
No. One small SSD to host OS, then a huge HDD for user data and software. For instance, my video editing application Cyberlink PowerDirector might take 0.2 milliseconds longer to start, than it would take when stored on SSD, but being retired, a few lost milliseconds a day do not really make any difference in my life.
Kari
@Kari, we can agree to disagree then. My 1TB SSD that I installed Win 10 and all software on has 650GB free.
I don't subscribe to the separation of OS and data as I don't see the necessity. I backup everything that needs to be backed up and run a program called MirrorFolder to backup critical data every 2 to 4 hours.
We disagree and that is fine, it's one of the things I like about Windows, that people can do things differently to suit there own preferences.
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