setting up User to store on HDD with Windows on SSD

Gary said:

I had an old Zip Drive laying around and tried to install it an I got a pop up that it would be installed as Drive A: I never installed it and took it to a parts recycle program yesterday along with some other junk I had laying around.

Yup I do the same except I bring stuff like that to Best Buy at my local mall, easy and they recycle all kinds of stuff like that.

OldMike65 said:

Yup I do the same except I bring stuff like that to Best Buy at my local mall, easy and they recycle all kinds of stuff like that.

I did not know Best Buy does that, there is one closer to me than where I take this stuff. Best But will probably clean it up and re sell it..LOL

Gary said:

I did not know Best Buy does that, there is one closer to me than where I take this stuff. Best But will probably clean it up and re sell it..LOL

They have a limit on items think its up to 4 items per day......its posted on their web site Gary, check it out.

It appears you are spot on Kari. I changed the drive to H and tried changing paths to H from A. Seemed to work, but kept confusing Windows here and there. Windows 10 (on SSD) has been really slow loading, also. So, I am going to go with your plan and start over. A couple of questions or advice requests from you though.

Do I need to do a complete wipe of my HDD? If so, the last time I did that secure wipe, it took hours. Which wipe method do you recommend?

I have some PST files stored on it, can I copy those to my SSD temporarily or should i backup the entire system? I have a back up HDD that I can restore files from after the wipe.

Thanks again for your help!

Kari said:

One of cons with A and B drives is that Windows does not index them. This means that searching them takes longer, which is not good especially when user data, media, documents, pics and such will be stored on these drives.

If you change the drive letter to something else (partitions on HDD and SSD should have ID from range C to Z), it does not change the paths. Let's say you change that drive B: now to drive G:, your path to the Music would still be B:\Users\Fred\Music which would of course not work.

If it was me, I would start from scratch. Empty the drive, remove all paths made / created by my, give the drive a new ID, copy my data there and so on. Your decision: You might want to keep everything as it is, the data stored on drive B: which if you are and remain lucky just might work for you, not bring issues for you in the future.

I followed your instructions, however, when I hit Restore my files, it want to go the old drive A and not the drive H which I just formatted. Any thoughts?

okay, I will try to figure this out. Currently, I restored my backed up files (the ones from the formerly named A: drive) and they won't restore to the new H: drive. so, i chose not to include subfolders, but now they are all listed under the main user folders of Pictures, Documents, etc. It also added an A folder within the User folder on drive H. I am still trying to get through the Start and Search bar not working issue now. I am a bit overwelmed as you can see. thanks for your patience. I used the Windows 7 back up.

I did the second method of your Sysprep using the windows 10 ISO file on my dvd drive D, doing the notepad with drive H as the destination drive that was quick formatted with nothing on it, and changing the "Windows Pro" to Windows. I got a pop up box that said basically it didn't work and to see a log of some sorts. Not sure what I did wrong. Any suggestions? I did have to create two new Users and they work fine with regards to the Windows start and menu box working again.