Minimising C: Activity

[Owl]

I have an idea, and I am coming to people hopefully a lot more knowledgable about Windows (Win7/64 in my case) to tell me how to carry it out. I could just about handle Win98...

Regular readers will know that I only protect C: under RollbackRX, because if a software install or whatever goes wrong that's where the problem will be and the last thing I want is to find I have old versions of working files and have to go fishing in mounted snapshots for them (long sentence - take a breath). The thing is though, there is still a lot of activity on C:, despite me putting "My Documents" on D:, because:

It's hard convincing Windows that My Documents really is on D:, so it defaults to My Documents on C:

Temporary Internet files and downloads end up on C:

The swap file is on C:, but I think RbRX takes care of that.

The registry changes a lot, but that MUST be protected.

Probably lots more I've not thought of.

All this activity uses up snapshot space - as far as RbRX is concerned it needs to be recorded so a temporary file gets preserved just like any other.

What's the answer? Is there a way to tell Windows to default to D: (or a dedicated partition perhaps) for all this extraneous disk activity? Or maybe tell RbRX to ignore specific directory branches in C:? Or a bit of both?

Detailed instructions gratefully received.

[Froggie]

Hi Owl! The LINK below outlines how to move the "My Documents" folder area under Window 7... and it should apply to any other folder in that grouping (Videos, Music, Pictures, Downloads, etc.)

Windows 7 - Moving My Documents

Internet Explorer's "temporary files" (includes the browser cache) may be changed using the "Internet Option" function of your browser or network by using the GENERAL TAB and selecting "Settings" under browsing history.

Of course the SWAP, REGISTRY and other system files ($MFT <Master File Table>) will always be changing, and Rollback's active snapshot with it.

There's not a whole lot you can do...

[Owl]

Thanks - that's a start anyway.

[nexstar]

Hi Owl, you can move the swap file as well if you want to. I do this on most of my setups to save space and cut down on accessing the system drive.

You will want to do this with Rollback uninstalled.

Not sure what OS you are using but on Windows 7:

First select 'Start' and then right-click 'Computer' and select 'Properties'.

Then select 'Advanced System Settings' and select the 'Settings' button in the 'Performance' section.

Select the ''Advanced' tab and then the 'Change' button in 'Virtual memory'.

Uncheck the 'Automatically managed' option and you are then able to configure which drive(s) the paging file resides on and how big it is.

To be honest, I tend to make it a fixed size of 4GB to cut rule out it causing defragmentation but you may prefer to allow the system to manage the size.

On your system drive just select 'No paging file' and press 'Set'.

You will need to reboot for the changes to take effect.

Graham

[nexstar]

.....also, if you don't use/need hibernation mode then you can turn that off using the instructions/wizard here. The hiberfile.sys file is then removed from the system drive saving on imaging time and space.

Once again, this needs to be enabled/disabled with RB uninstalled.

Graham

[Owl]

You're right, I don't use Hibernate, only Sleep. However, I think if the battery runs low while in Sleep doesn't it automatically wake up and make a last ditch effort to hibernate?

[nexstar]

Yes, you're right (I wasn't sure if you were on a desktop or laptop). If there's any chance of losing stuff then it's not worth disabling hibernation.

Graham

[carfal]

Owl, I can help you with relocating your Temporary internet files.

I had this same issue where i would select my drive D: only to find that it was still set at the original location. (very fustrating )

If you can beleive this, the simple fix was to run IE as administrator (right click and select "Run as administrator").

Then from within this IE window goto your internet options located in the menu bar and change the location again. Close IE and log off Windows. Log back on and Bob's your uncle.

[Owl]

Sounds good!