Windows 7 Moving my files to another hard drive

Stian Solberg

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Joined
Apr 23, 2012
I've had this laptop for a few months now and I got another hard drive called Data which is empty, my other hard drive called OS is where everything goes and i wondered if i can move games and other files to my Data hard drive without corrupting them. And if possible can i move a file called Program Files to my Data hard drive without causing any problems. My pc takes a long time to restart which i guess my OS decides. my OS got is 80gb of 238GB and my Data is 332gb big, with no files in it.

thanks in advance.
 
Hi, you can run your games from the data drive without issue, just re-install them to that drive. I would not move your program files though as this is integral to Windows and needs to stay within the os installation. If your machine is taking a while to start or restart then check whats starting up when you first boot. Type msconfig in the search box and then check under the start up tab. If you see something amiss then you can take steps to stop it starting up. Post back if you need further help with this...
 
I routinely use multiple logical drives and/or physical drives to segregate the OS from data files. That way the OS drive is cleaner and has less issues with fragmentation. Never move your Program Files, as noted, it is integral to the OS and where program executables get stored. It is generally a good plan to direct storage of any data files etc. to another drive if possible. Win7 like to use User/Name of User/etc. for downloads or libraries. If possible force all data storage to another physical drive or logical drive to it is easier to BU and less likely to get lost if the OS drive corrupts.
You didn't say if you routinely ran any registry and redundant cache files cleaners like CCleaner. This can bog down a computer very fast and give slow starts due to garbage in the registry that the OS has to sort through, Cleaning and compacting the registry is a good plan once a week as is run a file clean to delete temp and cache files from programs and internet usage.
Hope that helps.
 
This can bog down a computer very fast and give slow starts due to garbage in the registry that the OS has to sort through
This is not at all true and shows that you have no idea how the Windows 7 registry works. If you want to bring your system to a screeching halt, use a registry cleaner. That is the fastest way to get a crash. If it does not happen, you are just plain lucky.

Deleteting the temp files from time to time is a good idea though.
 
As far as I'm concerned, that is a load of crap. True, registry cleaners CAN be dangerous if you pick a cheap one, but why do so many companies make them, and why do reputable magazines test and recommend them if they are that bad. In all my years of computing, I've never had a computer crash due to a registry clean, and cleaning the registry definitely can make a PC with a lot of programs loaded run faster, and you don't have to take my word for that.
How to Clean Your Windows Registry and Speed Up Your PC | PCWorld
And yes, I do know how the registry works, why it was created, and how to edit it.
 
As you may not know, Scotty, we did endorse RegistryBooster here, until it was abruptly discontinued. I will be contacting a much more well known affiliate partner this morning that has provided a free and safe registry cleaner nearly everyone has used. Registry cleaners helped finance this site for years and keep it operating. It also put a meal on the table for me, and allowed me to provide some perks for our volunteers and members very rarely. I am therefore biased on the subject, or should be. But truly, I would only, as a consultant, recommend CCleaner to clients. Paid ones are fine, yes, but CCleaner is now financed by a networked version that runs over Active Directory. People are also willing to buy support for the program, and it looks like it helped Piriform build an office here in New York City. If the program was so bad, the entire world would not be using it.

As a tech, I knew a man who cleaned the registry himself - and performed the exact same actions on the file system as CCleaner. It was an utter embarrassment and ridiculousness watching this person do this for 20 minutes, walk away, and expect that anyone would be satisfied. Sadly, the client was ignorant of the activity taking place. I think registry cleaners get a bad deal because they are easy for developers to write - and sadly, once written, they often go to the dogs. Some proprietary code is floating around that companies are likely buying up or acquiring to do reg. cleaning apps for software companies.

But as always, backup, backup, backup. Try to avoid bundled applications that promise to do everything. If you get a registry cleaner, get a highly rated one like CCleaner or Eusing. If you want a program that preserves disk space, go with Raxco PerfectDisk: it is a family owned company. Diskeeper, in my view, continues to monetize on their success of selling defrag over to Microsoft for NT, but PerfectDisk has real innovation. I've never seen a computer really run any better with Diskeeper installed. Go and look at the quality anti-virus solutions and don't rely on bundled apps - again - like Norton Uninstall, to get rid of apps. Look at what pro's still rely on from time to time. Of course, I'm talking about Revo Uninstaller. Because we need to keep the site afloat, this year we decided to change our approach and affiliate ourselves with good companies with software that many of us use ourselves. I won't personally endorse any Uniblue product at this rate, or registry cleaners I haven't tested.

I've been using CCleaner, on occasion, for years, without difficulty. I have used it on XP systems that went unpatched since release time, on P4's with 128MB of RAM. That is when you see what a registry cleaner can do, when it is cleaning up 10,000 invalid entries off an IDE hard drive. There are good registry cleaners. Ironically, those against registry cleaners don't realize that Microsoft released one themselves, but abruptly discontinued it, back in 1999. The problem is registry cleaners, written poorly, under-developed, and marketed as scareware. They have color-coded threat levels and barometers like your computer is a time bomb about to explode. Those are the ones to avoid, and the type of software I do not want this website associated with.
 
I would like to see some data that a Windows 7 system (not an XP system) will run one iota faster after the registry was cleaned. I understand the 'dinner on the table' argument. But that does not make the cleaners more useful.
 
I would start with a counter argument that some claim it only speeds up the searching of the registry and no one actually does that. Well, on older systems that have a large registry - indeed, the person is not scanning the registry, but the system is. So when I tell you that I have seen the performance of a system majorly enhanced using a Pentium 4 with 128MB and nearly 10,000 invalid or repairable keys, I am being honest with you. Upon running that, Malwarebytes, and a slew of other repair software, the system was able to return to working order. Now this did not decrease the size of the system registry but it did make scans of the registry faster. It did not decrease the size of the hives, which would require registry defragmentation. I was doing this with old Dell Optiplex workstations that came in the slim and standard ATX form factor with P4 and limited RAM. Many of these systems had never been patched - ever, and were running out of disk space. Defragmentation of the registry after cleaning and repair did improve boot performance and the launch time of programs significantly. How far you want to take the argument - into whether 2nd generation i3, i5, and i7 procs need a registry cleaner/repair software - I don't know. I have no unwillingness to do it if the number of invalid/broken keys is suspected to be over 500. But again, when I perform this type of operation I also try to defragment the registry with Ace Utilities, which is actually different from reducing the size of the hives, which is quite dangerous. If a system is already hozed, to the point that it takes over 5 minutes to boot up and has never had any maintenance performed at all, I would have no problems running a pass on it with a registry cleaner to at least get it somewhat back together. This is the end of a process of uninstalling unnecessary apps, eliminating unwanted applications, deleting malware, etc. Of all these things, I would run a registry cleaner pass second to last before defragmentation of the drives, and if time allowed, the registry itself. Of course prior to doing anything like this, if possible, a backup is made. In cases where I just ran a CCleaner and the system was exceedingly slow due to major I/O and memory bottlenecks, I did see a major improvement. This was primarily because the registry itself was filled with absolute junk - literally thousands of invalid link referrals, invalid keys, and everything. Now if you buy a brand new computer off the rack, you're not going to notice that big of an improvement.
 
Mike, maybe on some vintage systems you would see an effect. But on my system where I have never reinstalled Win7 and never ran a reg cleaner I would not expect to see any difference. It still boots in 15 seconds and pages and programs come up instantly. It is an i7, 8GB of RAM and a Crucial M4. The same on my laptop with an i5, 6GB of RAM and an OCZ Vertex. I do, however, run CCleaner at times to get rid of the temp files because with Win7, Win8 and Ubuntu on the system, SSD space is precious.

Here is a short clip how fast my Win8 boots in vBox running on 1 core only. Note that I have automated the login with netplwiz. This is real time. Start Win8 in vBox1.wmv - YouTube
 
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Microsoft have this to say on the subject of Registry cleaners and Windows 7. (note I said Windows 7)

Are registry cleaners necessary?


The Windows‌ registry is a database that lists all of the configuration settings that determine how Windows looks and behaves. Sometimes, settings that are no longer needed will remain in the registry in case they're ever needed again. There's nothing unusual about this, and this data is small in size.

Some products available for free on the Internet suggest the registry needs regular maintenance or cleaning. Although a registry setting can become corrupt on occasion, in general, the registry is self-sufficient. If you decide to install a registry cleaner, be sure to research the product and only download and install programs from software publishers that you trust.




Warnings


Warnings

Some programs available for free on the Internet might contain spyware, adware, or viruses. Only download and install programs from software publishers that you trust. Even if you trust the website you download the program from, you need to also trust the publisher of the program. For more information, see When to trust a software publisher.


We strongly recommend that you only change values in the registry that you understand or have been instructed to change by a source you trust. Be sure to back up the registry before making any changes.

Reference:
Are registry cleaners necessary?
 
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