Adding a new drive to C:

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OldGeek

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#293705 9-Feb-2022 14:32

I have a PC running W10 Home with a 500gig SSD (C Drive). This is being used by my 13yo grandson as a gaming machine. I have installed another SSD (240 gigs) which I had available. I was hoping to use the Storage space feature to effectively use both drives as C:. However I can create a storage space on the 240 gig SSD but cannot add the 500 gig drive to it.

Is there a simple way to do this? This is my first attempt at using storage spaces.

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jamesrt

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#2864132 9-Feb-2022 14:58

From: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/storage-spaces-in-windows-b6c8b540-b8d8-fb8a-e7ab-4a75ba11f9f2#WindowsVersion=Windows_10

What do I need to create a storage space?

You need at least two extra drives (in addition to the drive where Windows is installed).

To me, that suggests you're not going to be able to do this with the C: drive.

(And that makes sense too, as it's done in software; and otherwise Windows would need to be able to boot from a Storage Space before loading the drivers for Storage Space...)

timmmay

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#2864135 9-Feb-2022 15:03

Storage Spaces is for data drives not the boot drive. Plus Microsoft is disabling that feature making it difficult to create new storage spaces. I have 2x 4TB ReFS formmated drives in a storage spaces mirror which work fine, a bit slower than they would otherwise.

wellygary

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#2864136 9-Feb-2022 15:03

Pretty sure that the Windows System Disk cannot be part of a storage space

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/storage-spaces-in-windows-b6c8b540-b8d8-fb8a-e7ab-4a75ba11f9f2#WindowsVersion=Windows_11

"What do I need to create a storage space?

You need at least two extra drives (in addition to the drive where Windows is installed). These drives can be internal or external hard drives, or solid state drives. You can use a variety of types of drives with Storage Spaces, including USB, SATA, and SAS drives."

Storage spaces is a software Raid, if you have the boot drive included on the raid "disk" the raid software has to boot before it can read the system files...

But in reality the Windows system needs to boot before it can then run the software raid.. hence the incompatibility with putting the system disk into the storage pool

OldGeek

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#2864139 9-Feb-2022 15:19

Thanks for the feedback folks. I cannot do what I hoped. Other options will be explored.

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Jase2985

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#2864206 9-Feb-2022 17:25

im not sure why you dont just direct new games etc to be installed on the new drive?

MaxineN

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#2864211 9-Feb-2022 17:35

There IS a way around it and that is through symbolic linking to a folder on the source drive(C:\) to the target drive(D:\), giant disclaimer. Some applications and games hate this.

https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/

YMMV. I've gotten this to work just fine for shader cache files that were being built on another NVME drive instead of the DRAMless slow SSD(where it was installed) that would get choked up on every update(MW2019 I am looking at you), however the same has not worked for Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War(this just writes every time to appdata every time, regardless of what you do).

It's not clean but it's kind of what you want to do.

E.G of a symbolic link.

C:\Games2 (target destination, basically a shortcut but it will still be C:\Games2\)

D:\Games (where the files will actually be stored)

I do absolutely recommend NOT doing this but this is an option.

Ramblings from a mysterious lady who's into tech. Warning I may often create zingers.

1101

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#2865265 11-Feb-2022 11:01

Youre just creating future possible headaches . I wouldnt bother trying , for the sake of 256Gb
Keep it simple , as you will be the person one trying to fix things if it glitches .

You can move user folders to the other drive , Desktop, mydocs , mypictures etc.
That can free up space , if alot of photos, downloads, movies etc .
Can also move the pagefile to the other drive (clutching at straws ).

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OldGeek

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#2865389 11-Feb-2022 13:14

Just a status update.

The motherboard is a Gigabyte H510M S2H which has an onboard M2 connector (with the 500 Gig drive that is C drive) and 4 SATA connectors (I have mounted a spare 240 gig drive I had and it is now D drive). The bulk of storage use is in the c:\program files(x86) (271 gigs) and c:\program files (61 gigs) folders. I have moved the pagefile to D:

I am looking at the following options:

1. Replace the M2 drive with a larger capacity drive. However there is just 1 M2 connector, so difficult to clone the old to new drives. Perhaps I need an external enclosure that will allow an M2 device to connect via USB for the purpose of cloning. The attraction of this is that core configuration of everything remains unchanged. Performance differences can only arise if the new drive has performance characteristics that are slower than the existing one. I dont know enough yet about M2 hardware but I do know enough to recognise this trap.

2. Identify games that use the most storage and investigate game configuration settings that might allow a drive to be used that is not C: and move that storage to D:. However any SATA drive has reduced I/O speed compared to M2 so this would only be considered if option 1 is not practical or affordable.

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Jase2985

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#2865524 11-Feb-2022 15:19

you would likely not even notice any different in gaming preformance on a SATA SSD vs a M.2 one. there have been blind tests which have proven this.

If your willing to spend money on a bigger M.2 drive, i would put that toward an even bigger SATA SSD. then just start installing all new games on that. you can move the likes of a steam library quiet easily.

fe31nz

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#2866735 11-Feb-2022 23:46

OldGeek:

1. Replace the M2 drive with a larger capacity drive. However there is just 1 M2 connector, so difficult to clone the old to new drives. Perhaps I need an external enclosure that will allow an M2 device to connect via USB for the purpose of cloning. The attraction of this is that core configuration of everything remains unchanged. Performance differences can only arise if the new drive has performance characteristics that are slower than the existing one. I dont know enough yet about M2 hardware but I do know enough to recognise this trap.

An M.2 M key slot used for NVMe SSDs is just a PCIe x4 slot in a different form factor. If the PC has a spare PCIe x4 or bigger slot, you can easily get a PCIe to M.2 board to change the form factor and allow you to install a second M.2 drive. I started using M.2 NVMe SSDs before my motherboards had M.2 slots, so I have several of these from different manufacturers and they are all very simple - usually no active components. They all work well, and I have used them for copying from one M.2 device to another several times. Unlike external M.2 enclosures which are usually USB 3.x of some sort, the copying is at full PCIe bus speeds (dramatically fast). Here are a couple of examples:

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/computers/components/other-pci-cards/listing/3465352302

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/ADPORC2109/Orico-M2-NVME-to-PCIe30-X4-Dual-Slots-Expansion-Ca

Getting a new M.2 drive that is much larger and will be compatible with the old one is not likely a problem these days. You might find that you can not get one that is as slow as your existing one though, if it is more that a couple of years old. It you let us know what M.2 drive you have now and what motherboard it is working in, I am sure we can help with that if necessary.