Okay folks, so here's one for you computer geeks out there.
My current setup is this: a Boot drive (SSD; C:\) and Data drive (7200RPM; E:\), Right now only my window 7 installation is on the SSD drive, but I have migrated and put junction points for the Page file, default users, program files, and program data directories, which are on the mechanical drive.
My boot time is about 14 seconds, however, my login time is upwards of 15-20 seconds(that is, from the moment I hit enter, before I can actually run a program)
As I'm planning on getting a new SATA3 SSD this week, I want to know if redirecting the users folders back onto the C:\ would cut my login time down, or if the lag is from the constraints of the mechanical drive having to load up all the start-up software? c.c
Most definitely yes. I actually have my page file, program files, user folders on my C drive which is an Intel X25-M 80GB.
I haven't experienced slowdown from putting the temp folder on the Data drive.
At the very least you want your paging file on the SSD. The paging file is essentially where all the most commonly used data is kept for your windows operating system. Putting that on your SSD will help boot performance, especially if you mke the paging file rather large as more data can be kept in a quicker to access spot. The minute your pc has to hit the mechanical disk you'll experience a slowdown.
question (coming from someone interested in computers but doesn't have alot of knowledge) - wouldn't it be faster if the Operating system and the User file be in the same location so on boot up it wouldn't have to search all the drives and leading to a faster boot time?
for me I have my operating system and user file on the same drive which is my C:/ drive and a slave drive for my data
Well I've had mixed results and it seems to be varying issue of whether I even -need- a pagefile, let alone one over 1 gig, considering I've got 16 gigs of DDR3 installed
My original reason for junctioning the user profiles was because my profile itself is 58 gigs (lots of music and por........other files) and my current SSD is only 29gigs . New one itself is 60, but regardless, if resetting the C:/users back onto my SSD and just shortcutting the larger data folders (ie: music 20gigs) onto my desktop o.O But if moving the profiles back to the SSD will speed up my login time I'll have to do that X)
You always need a page file, it is a requirment of the operating system. Windows needs to know where stuff is, and it keeps those locations in the paging file. More RAM might mean your RAM can hold more, but the page file keeps tabs on locations of other crucial entries as well.