I have an SSD as my main Windows drive, with a 640GB 2.5" HDD, partitioned to store programs and user settings, and also to act as backup (it's the only thing I had lying around at the time of building my PC).

The task was to make the PC as fast as possible, while having an increased storage capacity available to store normal user data, and to assist in my small data recovery business.

The problem is that whenever I install a program, it installs to C:\Program Files [(x86 for the 32 bit programs]\, although I have changed the environment variables. This wouldn't normally be an issue, however every installation program points its shortcut to my 640GB HDD.

The root layout of both drives:

To clarify:

• Program files get installed to C:\
• Program shortcuts are always pointed to Z:\, my 640GB HDD

Modifying the relevant environment variables doesn't do anything, I looked at this, but however it only talks about modifying the registry and environment variables, which I have already done so.

I install to the Z:\ drive if the installation program lets me change the installation path, but however the installation programs sometimes don't let me change this.

Is there a way that I can force every program to install to the relevant location on Z:\? Perhaps I'm missing something here?

Edit: Found this program; would it be appropriate to use in my case? I would be able to move the entire Program Files (and its x86 version) to Z:\, without impacting on the performance.