Any issues with spanning from SSD to HDD?

Russinating · 23 Apr 2018 at 16:27

All our PCs run W10 on a 250GB Samsung SSD and then have one or two larger 3/4TB HDDs for files.

I want to trial running Google Drive File Stream exclusively - we currently have to use this and Backup & Sync - but a nuance of the software, at least for the moment, is that all files synced are stored to C:\ (hidden as G:\). Clearly this isn't suitable given the small size of SSDs!

Would there be any problem with spanning from the SSD to the HDD? Obviously the initial OS install will sit on the SSD, but will regular defragging do a good enough job of keeping updates to the OS etc on the SSD as well?

Any other issues this might cause? Everything is backed up in the cloud and it takes me about 30 minutes to get a blank install up to a fully-featured install so I'm not worried about formatting the SSD removing other/all data, just performance.

TIA!

Edit: Hmmm, seems it may not even be possible to span the OS HDD?

t31os · 23 Apr 2018 at 16:51

Don't personally use it, but a quick Google suggests you can change the drive letter it uses.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/7644837?hl=en

Russinating · 23 Apr 2018 at 16:56

Oh my lord. That's new. Thank you!

seagate_surfer · 23 Apr 2018 at 20:39

Glad you got an answer. You also want to be wary of defragging when it comes to SSD, as by their nature, SSD's don't really benefit from it the way HDDs do, and it can make your SSD flash cells wear down quicker. Check out our Knowledge Base article:

How to get the most out of Solid State Drives in Windows

PiKe · 23 Apr 2018 at 20:56

Another way would be to use a symlink.

mrbazmondo · 24 Apr 2018 at 12:50

Run "Computer Management", select "Disk Management", right click on your G: disk and chose "Change Drive Letters and Paths". Press Add, set a mountpoint on an empty folder on C:, e.g. create the folder C:\disks\g then pick that. The contents of your G: drive will now be accessible on G: and C:\disks\g