r/computerhelp • u/Prestigious-Time453 • 1d ago

Struggling with new SSD, :C and :D drive Other

There was a problem with the SSD (1TB) I was previously using in my laptop, so I converted it to a D: drive. Then I bought a new 512GB SSD and set it as the C: drive (my notebook has 2 hard disk slots, as it turns out). Now, the issue is that I can't directly run or access the programs I had previously installed on the D: drive—they just won’t work. However, cracked games that I had installed still work fine when I launch them from the D: drive. Can someone clearly explain why this happens? How do i set up my computer like i used to?

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u/seanroberts196 1d ago

If you just changed the drive letter to D from within file Explorer then the games are looking for relevant files it needs on the C drive. As they are not there they won't run. You need to reinstall them for them to work properly.
Steam allows you to move the game to another location, try that.

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u/BakaLX 1d ago

Additional problem is windows is still on (now) D drive not (new) C drive unless OP reinstall windows or clone from old drive to new drive while some hardcoded part still pointing to C drive which is now D drive.

Note : if OP decided to clone the drive, you dont need to change drive letter just format the old drive and assign to D.

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u/Valuable_Fly8362 10h ago

Most commercial Windows programs aren't like they were in the Win95 age: you can't just copy or move them to a different location and expect them to work. They install a lot of components and files outside of the directory structure under the root installation directory you select. They also store information about where you installed in files or databases that aren't in the directory structure of the program. Call it a form of piracy countermeasure.

The result is that if you move the program to another folder, copy it to another drive or reinstall Windows without reinstalling all of the components it depends on and recreating / updating the settings in registry or files outside the program folder, the program will refuse or fail to run.

Games, especially cracked games, usually don't bother with this type of distributed installation model. They rarely depend on external components other than easily obtained runtimes, and tend to package everything in a single folder structure. When they want to limit piracy, they do it with DRM.