W7 - Installing Programs On Second Hdd

[Scobalob]

I noticed the other day that my 100Gb C: (on my laptop) was about 95% full. Since then I have taken stuff off and reduced it to about 50% capacity. On here lives all the W7 OS. Everything works ok.

My second HDD - E: - is 1Tb and on here I've put all the programs I need without any problems at all. However, some programs, such as Google Earth have decided that their program belongs on the C: and has installed it there without giving me the option of installing it wherever. I know its not a very large program but I'd sooner have it installed on the E:.

Does anyone know how I can prevent this?

Thanks in advance.

[Buenchico]

Click your Start button
Type 'regedit' into the box
Double-click on regedit.
Double-click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Double-click on SOFTWARE
Double-click on Microsoft
Double-click on Windows
Double-click on Current Version
In the right-hand panel, right-click on ProgramFilesDir
Click Modify
Change C:\Program Files to E:\Program Files
Click OK
Close the Registry Editor
Restart your computer.

In future all programs will automatically be installed to drive E.

[VHG]

Don't manually update your registry like has been shown. This is risky and if you corrupt your registry it could totally stop Windows starting or working properly.

Do you really have two hard disks? Few laptops can hold two hard disks.

Could it be you have one hard disk divided into partitions?

[VHG]

100Gb should be plenty for Windows and all your programs.

It makes more sense to move all your personal files onto the 1TB drive, and leave Windows and all your programs on C.

It is possible in Windows 7 to change all your personal folders (Documents, Photos etc) so they are on another hard drive/partition.

[Buenchico]

>>>if you corrupt your registry it could totally stop Windows starting or working properly

Agreed - but that there's absolutely nothing in the procedure which I've outlined that could cause a fatal corruption to the registry. Simply changing a directory is an easy, routine procedure.

[mastercraft]

Buenchico, would the same procedure apply to my desk top/tower PC which is running on Vista? Two h/d's, and one is 95% free!

[Scobalob]

Hi All,
Thank you both for taking the time to reply.

VHG - yes I do have two hdd's. One of them is a 100Gb solid state drive so doesn't take up much room. The other is a standard sized 1Tb.

Buenchico - I thought for a few seconds about what VHG said and decided that if it all went wrong then I'd just have to re-instal W7 which isn't a drama these days so I delved into my registry...I found that I had two 'C:\Program Files' entries...so changed them both to E:. I uninstalled the problematic progs on the C: (Google Earth and Epsom Printer stuff) and reinstalled the Epsom - that came up on the on the E: ok. Google, however, has reinstalled itself on the C: and placed a directory on my E: to look out for the 'Crash Reports'. So that's a 50% success anyway.

Thank you both again for taking the time to reply.

[Buenchico]

I'm glad that you're getting somewhere close, Scobalob!

Mastercraft:
Simply take a look to see if Vista has the same registry entries. If you find that they're the same (as I suspect they will be) then my method should work just as well.

[mastercraft]

Thanks Buenchico, I shall give it a try.