install program on another drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter kenlo
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kenlo

If my C drive is getting full, will there be a problem
installing other programs such as Quickbook or Acrobats
to a 2nd hard drive?
 
No problem at all, when you run an installation program, it
will create a registry entry for installed programs, it
doesn't matter whether the program path is C:\Programs or
F:\programs. There will always be a little of the program
on your C:\ drive in the Windows registry, but the bilk of
the program file can be anywhere. The same goes for other
files types, Windows puts My Documents in the Windows
folders on C: by default, but if you have a second drive (or
partition) Windows XP makes it easy to move the My Documents
folder elsewhere with just a few clicks. Prior versions of
Windows needed TweakUI to do this.

Just remember, that if your OS crashes and you have to do a
clean install to fix the problem, you will still need to
reinstall the programs because the registry won't exist to
point to the programs on the other drive, which are now
orphaned.

I set my computer up to have programs and operating system
on C: and all other data and files on other partitions. If
I have some program that I want to experiment with, I will
install that on some partition other than C: so I can remove
it without too much conflict with space.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


message | If my C drive is getting full, will there be a problem
| installing other programs such as Quickbook or Acrobats
| to a 2nd hard drive?
 
In
kenlo said:
If my C drive is getting full, will there be a problem
installing other programs such as Quickbook or Acrobats
to a 2nd hard drive?
Click to expand...


No, no problem at all--whether or not your C: drive is getting
full. There's no requirement that applications be installed on
any particular drive.
 
If my C drive is getting full, will there be a problem
installing other programs such as Quickbook or Acrobats
to a 2nd hard drive?
Click to expand...

I agree with Jim about preserving free space on C: by installing programs
to a second partition or drive. I use this approach on my desktop. However,
this option will still require *some* free space on C: for the following:

- extraction of files to a temporary folder during the install. If the
installation program doesn't clean these up on its own, I leave these alone
until the system has been restarted at least once after the program
installation. At that point in time, any files that needed to be replaced
during the restart process are taken care of and there's no reason to hang
onto the temp files any longer. Typically these files show up in the user's
own Local Settings\Temp folder but on occasion, they will show up in
Windows\Temp.

- Common Files: Even when installing the bulk of the application to another
partition, there may some files that will be added to a subfolder under
C:\Program Files\Common Files

- Occasionally files will be added to other folders: Windows,
Windows\System, Windows\System32, various MS Installer folders to name a
few. The space required on disk will be small compared to the bulk of the
program but if needed, the program's setup will expect to find room to
place these files.

In other words, even if you start installing programs onto another
partition, you'll want to continue monitoring free space on C:. If it
starts getting to cramped, you might consider moving some of the programs
already installed on C:. Uninstall them and then run setup again,
redirecting the installation to a different partition.
 
Review the programs you already have on C: and see how many can easily be
moved. I would move programs that do not create document files and such.
Even if you only put new programs on the second drive, the fact that your C:
drive is nearly full will inhibit the operating of some utilities such as
the defragger. You should maintain a substantial free area on C: for
smoother operations.
 
Most programs allow you to install the program in C: and
have the data on another drive/partition. Some programs,
such as TurboTax do seem to force the data files into the
program folder, but a good program will default to place
your files in My Documents and XP allows you to move My
Documents (and all that it contains in sub-folders) to a
drive of your choice.

Defrag needs 15% free space in order to run.

In the days of "big" hard drives that were 500 MB, the
options were to archive files elsewhere, today our medium
sized drives are 80-120 GB and you can have partitions that
are huge by the standards of just a few years ago.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


| Review the programs you already have on C: and see how
many can easily be
| moved. I would move programs that do not create document
files and such.
| Even if you only put new programs on the second drive, the
fact that your C:
| drive is nearly full will inhibit the operating of some
utilities such as
| the defragger. You should maintain a substantial free
area on C: for
| smoother operations.
|
message
| | > If my C drive is getting full, will there be a problem
| > installing other programs such as Quickbook or Acrobats
| > to a 2nd hard drive?
|
|
 
Additional notes: I have used but do not recommend using an external drive
for program installations. They are fine for data. If you reinstall
programs to a new with a lot of data files associated with them, you may
have to re-associate the files with the new location of the program.
 
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