Hard Disk Management

[theb52s]

I'm currently waiting for my new pc. Like many that buy from PC Specialist I have taken advice in these forums about the build. The advice I've taken was to have a small SSD purely for the operating system, a larger one for programs and games then a much larger HDD drive. I must admit to being slightly apprehensive about managing this but have been assured that it's not too much hassle.
Presumably there may be others in my situation so I wondered if it's worth having a thread with some resources to look at, advice, maybe first steps when in receipt of the new pc etc. ?
I could just be overthinking this and please let me know if I've missed a similar thread. 🙂

 

[SpyderTracks]

I'm currently waiting for my new pc. Like many that buy from PC Specialist I have taken advice in these forums about the build. The advice I've taken was to have a small SSD purely for the operating system, a larger one for programs and games then a much larger HDD drive. I must admit to being slightly apprehensive about managing this but have been assured that it's not too much hassle.
Presumably there may be others in my situation so I wondered if it's worth having a thread with some resources to look at, advice, maybe first steps when in receipt of the new pc etc. ?
I could just be overthinking this and please let me know if I've missed a similar thread. 🙂

All you have to do in the main is set your libraries.

When you first install windows, it defaults everything to your C drive where windows is installed, but you can change them to be on a folder or drive as you like as per this guide (it's the same for Windows 11)

How to use libraries on Windows 10

If you have files scattered across different locations, you can use libraries to organize and bring them together in a single view, and in this guide, we show you how on Windows 10.

www.windowscentral.com

Then for games, you install your games clients to the C drive as default (as all programs should be, not on another drive), but then within the games client, when you go to install a game, it will ask you where to install it. Here you just specify your dedicated game drive, and it will create a folder called "Steam Library" or whatever you want to call it and install all the games there. This is standard on any client.

You can also actually label the drives themselves to be more recognisable than the standard d:, e: etc

Rename Drive or Volume Label in Windows 11 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you different ways to rename a drive or volume label to what you want in Window 11. A volume label is the friendly name for a connected drive or volume. An internal drive will usually be assigned Local Disk as its volume label by default. A USB flash drive will usually...

www.elevenforum.com

There is a good batch of stickies on what to do with a new PC here which is worth looking through

General Guides

PCS generated general how to and first aid guides

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

So yours is likely to be:

Smaller OS drive and programs - c:

Larger Games SSD - d:

HDD for general storage: e:

 

[SpyderTracks]

I have added the above post to that what to do when you recieve your new PC stickie, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[theb52s]

Thanks, that's brilliant. So in the context of using photoshop or premiere elements, for example. They would be installed on the smaller SSD Drive, video raw photographs ready for editing, and current projects could go on the larger SSD Drive, and the finished products could then be stored on the HDD drive? I hope I'm understanding that correctly.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Thanks, that's brilliant. So in the context of using photoshop or premiere elements, for example. They would be installed on the smaller SSD Drive, video raw photographs ready for editing, and current projects could go on the larger SSD Drive, and the finished products could then be stored on the HDD drive? I hope I'm understanding that correctly.

That's about right, yes