Windows 7 - Move Users Directory To Another Drive

[Will Rickards]

So I'll be reinstalling windows 7 on my new ssd and then I want to move the users directory to my 1GB samsung drive. The way I currently have it setup is to just add the My Files directory on that drive to the library and set it as the default. But stuff still gets written to the Users folder on the C drive. So I want to move that and I think I'll try the symlink or hard link method.
Here are some links I found.
Move users folder to different drive - Microsoft Answers
Move Users Folder - Lifehacker

Any advice or thoughts welcome.
Especially any advice on any special steps needed for setting up the SSD.

 

[ddrueding]

I'm on my android and can't link at the moment, but check Mercutio's tools thread. I believe he has a link in there that does this.

 

[Mercutio]

You can specially configure a Windows install disk to point the users folder to a different drive. You could also create a symlink or a junction point in NTFS that points your stuff to where it needs to go, though I'm not 100% certain about whether Windows would be OK with doing that for a system folder like C:\Users.

I'd probably start with doing a symlink. As I recall, in order to make a junction point for C:\Documents and Settings, I had to do a bunch of unholy things in a Safe Mode Command Prompt session to get something that actually worked.

 

[Will Rickards]

Thanks, found that.
There are two methods used:
1. Change the registry ProfileList entry
2. Symlink the Folder.
This program appears to use the first method.
I was leaning toward the second method (explained in the lifehacker article).
But I think I was leaning that way because I wasn't going to reinstall windows 7.
But I've decided to do that anyway so maybe I'll use the first method.

 

[Howell]

Reinstalling and doing it at install time is the only method I'd be comfortable with.

 

[Will Rickards]

Yes, there are just so many little things tweaked here and there I didn't feel like reinstalling.
And what good are backups if you can't restore them?
But I'm looking at it like an opportunity to clean house.

 

[Howell]

You may consider converting your current install to a VM so you can refer to it while you are setting up your new one. I did this the last hardware change I made and actually have kept it around and still use it daily.

 

[Howell]

... And continue to be productive during the transition.

 

[Will Rickards]

All reinstalled with the Users folder on the D drive as welll as the ProgramData folder.
I used the answer file for the sysprep method in the first link I provided. I did have to remap some drive letters during the audit mode of the installation.
Ninite was great for installing a bunch of stuff at once.

But it doesn't seem faster. Maybe because my data is not on the SSD drive?
Maybe my machine was pretty darn fast already?

 

[time]

Faster than what? Windows on a spinning disk or Windows and user data on the SSD?

Should definitely be way faster than the former, starting with boot times.

Here's the results of a demo I gave someone on a more or less fresh Windows install on a i5 2400 with 8GB RAM.

BIOS POST: 15 secs
Windows on Samsung F3: 45 secs
Windows on Crucial M4: 15 secs

That's from Starting Windows to cessation of disk I/O.

The difference became wider after I installed an A/V package.

 

[Will Rickards]

Windows on samsung F3 1TB. I guess I should have timed some stuff before to use as the baseline.