Vista on 32GB SSD

I trying to set up my wife's computer such that I'll have her OS and favorite game (roughly 2-5 gigs) on her little 32GB SSD. She also has an old 250GB HDD that will be used for storage and overflow. Incidentally, it's a fresh install so I don't mind experimentation. I just finished installing Vista and the first round of updates and it shows she has 3GB of space left on the drive so I'm holding off on any other updates for now.

Simply put I'd like Windows to use the 250GB HDD for Program Files, storing backups, storing windows update cabs and so on, and save the SSD for just the frequently used files that benefit from going fast. Critically I'd like to change the default download, programfiles, music, etc folders so that the drive won't keep filling up when she forgets to save/install to a different location.

I'm sure this is a very common issue, but I've struggled to find a guide about it. Does anyone have any suggestions or able to point me in the right direction?

 

For your documents, music, pictures, etc just right click and drag them to your chosen location and select "Move here" in the resulting dialog. Your icons, context and start menu shortcuts will be redirected to the new location. Make sure your browser, download manager, etc are directed to the new Download folder location. I've never moved the Program Files folder so I'm not sure how well that would turn out. You could just make an Alternate Program Files folder on the HDD and direct the installers to it for any program you did not want on the SSD

 

I'm not sure of Vista default values but check both the Recycle Bin and System Restore and make sure their default settings aren't too high. If they each take 10% of the drive they could be costing 5gb. You can probably get away with less at least on Recycle Bin and 1gb on system restore should give you a few restore points.

 

Well I've made a little progress thanks to your posts and lots of research.

Here are the changes:
1. After installing Vista SP1 I ran VSP1CLN.exe from the WindowsWindows\System32 directory (this removed all the SP1 installation files, but meaning I can no longer uninstall SP1)
2. After installing Vista SP2 I ran Compcln.exe from the Windows\System32 directory (this removed all the SP2 installation files, but meaning I can no longer uninstall SP2)
3. I disabled hibernation by running powercfg.exe /hibernate off from an elevated command prompt
4. I shrunk the Recycle Bin storage to 500MB by right clicking the Recycle Bin, clicking Properties and choosing a Custom Size.
5. I relocated the user folders to my second HDD by going to the Start Menu, selecting my name at the top right, right clicking the data folders*, selecting Properties, then Location, then Move and choosing a location on the second hard drive. *I moved Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos - the rest are relatively small and benefit from the SSD speed.
6. I deleted the SoftwareDistribution folder from within the windows directory by opening an elevated command prompt, running net stop wuauserv, then rename c:\windows\SoftwareDistribution softwaredistribution.old, then net start wuauserv, rebooting, and deleting it
7. I disabled System Restore by navigating to System in the Control Panel, selecting System Protection, then unchecking my hard drive.
8. I disabled automatic updates having learned how huge and unnecessary many can be. In particular I strongly advise against installing KB955020. As utterly unbelievable as it sounds, you really will lose 3GB of usable space and only regain around 60MB if you later uninstall it! (I did regain the space via Step 9, but it's much better to never install it)
9. Finally I messed around with Winsxs - something a lot of MS techs warn against*

*I'm not writing a guide for step 9 because it's potentially very dangerous. My insurance was to backup all the files I removed, not to remove anything in use or I couldn't identify, and most importantly I am very prepared to reinstall Windows if I break it. So if anyone reading this decides to snip some space from that directory I suggest you only do it if you're prepared to fix the problems it may one day cause.

Currently I have the SSD at 13.4GB free of 29.8GB total. I suspect it will swell over time however, so I'll probably have to fiddle some more! Also I meant to make a note of how much space each step saved, but I forgot. Here are some rough numbers from my memory, but may not be totally accurate:
Step 1: ~400MB
Step 2: ~1500MB-2000MB
Step 3: ~3000MB
Step 4: 0MB (This just prevented accidentally filling the drive)
Step 5: ~200MB-400MB (This mostly just prevented accidentally filling the drive)
Step 6: 700MB (original was 850MB, automatically rebuilt to 150MB after reboot)
Step 7: ~2000MB
Step 8: 0MB (This just prevented accidentally filling the drive)
Step 9: 3000MB (up to 10,000MB more usable space here if I were more reckless)


I read about a lot of other parts of Vista you can remove, but my aim was to get Vista as small as possible without any noticeable losses to my wife - Ie I didn't want to remove WMP or leave her without fonts she might want. If anyone discovers any other tricks to free up space, please do post them!

 

Wow, you were serious about freeing up space. Nice work!

You've done everything I have read about and then some. I've bookmarked this thread for later reference. Thanks for the detailed post on the steps you took.