how to put users' private data on separate partition in Windows 7

Question

I am going to install Windows 7 on a machine in some days time. I wanted to know if it is easy to separate the OS data from users' data (/users in Windows 7, I believe) on separate partition during or after installation.

I hope it will be as seamless as with "/home" on Unix or Linux, but I have never tried it with Windows before.

My main motivation is to be able to do re-installs of the OS without having to worry too much about recovering the users' data from backups (saves some hours). Also, I have personally favor this separation, coming from Linux background.

All inputs and experiences regarding this are welcome.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Using sysprep is the easiest way to create user profiles in a different location. All the other, unofficial ways, such as messing around with junctions and copying or moving files around, gave me "The User Profile Service failed the logon. User profile cannot be loaded." profile error.

• Windows 8:

  • How to Relocate User Profiles to another Partition or Disk in Windows 8:

    http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4275-user-profiles-relocate-another-partition-disk.html

• Windows 7:

  • How to Create User Accounts on another Partition or Disk During Windows 7 Installation:

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/124198-user-profiles-create-move-during-windows-7-installation.html

Answer 2

Similar thread at What's the best way to move c:\users to d:\users under vista/W7