changing the default install partition?

[slappy]

hi people! I'm running xp pro sp2 and have my hdd partitioned with two partitions - one for the os and one for my progs. I'm trying to install my printer prog (from manufacturers disk) and it only wants to install to my os partition. I want it on the other partition because it is like 600mb. Anyway to do this?

[Panama Red]

If you're not given an install location option I don't know how you can force the installation to another partition. You really gain nothing by installing programs to another partition because the programs install changes to the registry. Any OS partition failure renders the programs inoperative and would require their reinstallation. I used to do the same thing but now I just make the OS partition larger to accomodate the programs too. Keeping personal documents and files on a separate partition and backing them up is a good idea but separating programs from the OS is nonproductive.

[slappy]

Thanks Panama! Actually I have 2 hdd. One I keep my data and a backup of my os and the other I have my os and my progs. Just trying to keep everything organized but it is getting very hard to do.

[pillainp]

There is a way you could do this.

Open regedit.exe (Registry Editor), and navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion key.
Here, locate the ProgramFilesDir entry and change its value to reflect where you want programs to install. The default value is c:\Program Files, but you could change it to read, say d:\Programs.

As always, be careful messing with the registry and always make a backup before you edit anything, so that you have an escape route if anything goes wrong.

You could probably also add the required location in your Environmental Variables page (MyComputer>Properties>Environment Variables>System Variables).

[Digitalic]

I know it`s a popular method to organize OS, Progs, data, etc. on separate partitions and drives but like Panama I used to do the same thing and also found it non-productive. The idea is if the OS fails the data and such is preserved on another partition\drive. I`ve found in my experience that barring hardrive failure it`s still a simple matter to retrieve data such as e-mail, Word docs, MP3`s, etc, etc, etc from failed systems and re-install the OS no matter what partition\drive the data was on.

The key though I`ve found is no matter what method you use the only reliable way to safeguard data loss is to run scheduled backups.