Windows And Programs On Separate Partitions, What About System Folders?

I plan to reinstall Windows on my M2 drive for the first time and keep Windows and installed Programs on separate partitions. The primary goal of doing so is that regular backups of the Windows partition will be smaller, allowing me to backup more frequently and keep a larger number of disk images at one time.

Another question related to this topic has popped up in my head. A question for those of you with experience doing this; how do you handle the existing programs and apps that come installed with Windows 10 that you plan to keep around? Do you go the extra step of moving the Users, Program Files, Program Files (x86), ProgramData folders, and Windows Apps to your programs partition, or do you keep that stuff on the Windows partition?

I'm not sure how much space I will save moving these folders to the programs partition. I've read about a few ways to transfer that stuff to another drive and have Windows still work, but I've also read it can be a real pain and prone to some major hiccups when a Windows update comes through. I'm not sure how important this step would be. Do you guys do this?

 

There isn't any point at all in moving programs or any system folders to a separate partition unless you include that partition in your system image. I completely go along with your aim of reducing both the space and time required to image your system but the way to do so is to move all of your personal files to a separate partition, i.e. Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos, Downloads and any other of your personal folders you want to protect, such as Favorites or Contacts.

 

These are all folders found inside the "X:\Users\%userprofile%\" folder in a Windows installation. I always considered these system folders, given that other clear system folders reside inside there like AppData and that Windows puts some information in these folders by default, like game saves.

Is it possible to relocate the Users folder entirely, including AppData without any complications? Or would AppData cause complications?

 

In a standard Windows installation your personal folders are in C:\Users\Documents, Music etc. The Properties of each of these folders has a Location tab and inside that is a Move button which can be used to relocate the folder to your chosen destination and that is the correct way to do so. However your use of X as drive letter indicates that yours is not a standard installation, as X is normally used to house Windows commands in a RAM drive after booting to a PE environment, so I am reluctant to take this further without more clarification.

After moving your personal folders to a data partition you will be free to adopt a different backup solution for them, as imaging is not suitable.

 

Whoops, I apologize for the confusion. I have Windows on my C drive, but was trying to be general, so I used X. I didn't think twice about it at the time but now that you've explained what X would actually be used for, I realize I made a mistake.

I have had a lot of bad trouble with losing files over the last ten years. I've had numerous hard drive failures (all major brand drives with good reviews at the time), accidents I've caused, and a few mishaps involving children. I know that I need to be backing up my data regularly, and this approach for a Windows drive definitely seems viable.

Although if something were to happen to the much larger regular data storage drive, I would be in an equally tough situation. I continue to try and think of what is crucial and needs to be backed up and what can be let go. Although, concerning programs installed on Windows, they seem like they are equally as important as Windows if some sort of deletion/drive event were to take place.

I think the answer here is just a lot more hard drives, which I can purchase over time, but can't buy all at once for obvious reasons. Perhaps the answer is to just keep images of the Windows partition and an exact duplicate of the primary data drive. Should one fail I will have another to fall back on. Having to come up with the money for another hard drive is a much more desirable problem to face than data loss.

Still, I'm thinking critically about what makes sense to keep and what makes sense to move off the drive. I like the idea of more Windows drive images being viable. So as long as it makes sense to move it off drive, I'm ready to learn how.

 

What a refreshing change it is to be being asked for advice on both system imaging and data backup. Mostly any efforts we make here to advise fall on deaf ears - until users lose their system or files of course! I can only talk to my own experience, in which I have never, ever lost a system or important data in at least 20 years, drive and system failures included. plodr on this forum is another devotee of this approach.

I use Macrium Reflect once a month to image each system, it's simply the best. For me a typical Win 10 system image compresses to 30-32GB after having first moved all my personal folders to my data drive. I usually keep the last three, having no time for old backups - more trouble than they are worth. Restoring an image is less than 20 minutes, even on an old slow laptop, and much quicker on my main PC and has never failed. Complete answer to malware as well as system problems. For data backups I mainly use WinRAR but there is a huge software choice available. Most backups go to my NAS but I use USB drives as well so as to minimise risk of data loss.

You sound pretty knowlegeable but ask if you'd like more detail.