My laptop is rapidly becoming obsolete, particularly when it comes to disk space :(.  I want to install my games on it, so I have something to do in class between classes, but I’m running out space.  So, I came up with an idea: Buy a 16GB USB Key, and put a bunch of games on that!  I keep my USB keys in my backpack, so they’re never too far away.  It sounded like the perfect solution, until I noticed that many programs can’t be installed on Removable Drives!

So, I came up with a simple workaround, once again using an awesome tool from Sysinternals :).  I used Junction to create a junction folder called “C:\Program Files\Games” which points to a “Games” folder on my USB Key.  The following command line does the trick (assuming F:\Games is the folder on the USB key, and it already exists):

junction.exe “C:\Program Files\Games” “F:\Games”

Seems to be working so far!  I just install the game into that folder, and all the files go to the USB Key.  Of course, its not quite the same as a portable app, since it will only run on the machine it was installed on, but it takes some of the burden off of my hard drive.  If my laptop supported SDHC, I’d probably use a 16GB SD card and just leave it plugged in to my laptop, but unfortunately, that’s not an option.