How to use multiple hard drives in HP laptop?

[Abdulla4496]

So my HP Omen laptop comes with a windows "C" drive (SSD) and a data "D" drive (1TB HDD). I was just confused as to how I can load all of my programs onto the HDD while keeping the operating system alone on the SDD (as I undestand that's how they're supposed to be used). I tried moving the "program files" from the C drive onto the D drive but it won't work. Is there a simpler/more efficient way of handling the way data is stored?

[WAWood]

Abdulla4496

Hello;

Allow me to welcome you to the HP forums!

When a PC has this SSD + HDD combination, they can actually be used in two very different ways:

1) Hybrid "drive" -- the SSD serves entirely as a filesystem "cache" to speed up the operation of the PC.  This can NOT be altered and any attempt to mess with it will trash the entire filesystem, rendering the PC useless.

2) Fast OS "drive" + large "data" drive -- the two drives each have their own filesystem, with the OS and applications being resident on the SSD, and large user/data files present on the HDD.

If yours is the second, do NOT move your apps to the HDD.  This will seriously slow down the loading of apps and you will see a difference in the real-time performance of the PC.

[Abdulla4496]

Thanks for the response. I am unsure of which type my laptop is equipped with but I believe it is the second option since I can see both drives and their capacities in the file explorer. If it is the second, then how do I take advantage of this data HDD for file storage?

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

Good question ...

When you DO install SOME apps, they provide you an option as to WHERE to do the installation.

What that usually means is that if you select the "data" drive, while the app itself and is installed to the "OS" drive, the data files associated with the app, especially in the situation of Game installs, are written to the "data" drive.  In this way, the accumulation of saved games does not fill up the "OS" drive.

Same is often true of apps like MS Office -- where the files you create are actually created on, and saved to, the "data" drive.

The apps themselves can not actually be installed entirely to the "data" drive because some of the components have to be installed with the OS components on the "OS" drive.

Also, when you do downloads from the Internet, the Browsers have the option of setting the default folder to whichever drive you want.  If you set it to your "data" drive, that prevents downloads from accumulating on your "OS" drive.

Finally, if you are running out of room on your "OS" drive, you can do the following to recover some space:

1) In the Start area, or Search area, enter "disk clean"

2) That will show an icon for Disk Cleanup

3) Right-click on that and select Run as Admininstrator

4) When a Window opens with a bunch of check boxes, check them all and click OK

5) That will remove redundant and obsolete files

Good Luck

[brglast]

Well it's great that now I have a problem, I have to research how to use the multiple drives, it should have come to me set up correctly,  Unfortunaltely I expected the PC to know where to store the data., unfortunately everything defaults to C which is the smaller cache drive and now that it is full, I tried moving my files to the D drive, but that has not seemed to work.  I am very frustrated that I have not been able to use my expensive new laptop.  Trying to get help is nearly impossible, I want to speak to someone who can walk me through the solution, or even better, take back this machine and I will buy a MAC for all future needs. 

[KimmieT1209]

Did you ever get someone to walk you through this? I'm experiencing the same issue. I didn't realize it was using the SSD card and it being a 'gaming' laptop - I thought it would be automatic as well. Since the price.

Thanks

Kim

[lokii_35]

Haha, highly doubtful, I switched to a double SSD internal drive, and my BIOS was incorrectly formatted, they said it shouldn't be and that was the last time I heard anything back from them, (Call and complain if it's still warrantied they'll help you right away,{1-800-474-6836}. DON'T let the warranty lasp or you'll be 100% S.O.L and treated like an End of Life cycle user) or you can pay that 100$ one time one use fee for smart friend I hear they're much better than than the actual Tech's. Or your local Bestbuy's Geek squad, they always have at least 1 guy who is able to fix your issues.