Changing the Location of the Live TV Buffer

By default, Windows Media Center places the live TV buffer in the Recorded TV folder.  Depending on what physical drive you are using for Recorded TV, the path to the Recorded TV folder will vary.  If you are using the main OS drive, the default Recorded TV folder is C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\.  If you are using a secondary drive, the default path will be <drive letter>:\Recorded TV\.  In both cases, the live TV buffer will be stored in a hidden folder named TempRec.  To change the location of the Live TV buffer, you can create a symbolic link to a new location by following these steps:

1. Stop all eHome services if they are started.
2. Open an explorer window and navigate to the Recorded TV folder (by default, it is C:\Users\Public\Recorded TV\.  If you have changed the drive letter Windows Media Center uses for recording, the Recorded TV folder will be in the root of the drive).
3. Display hidden and system files and folders if they are not already visible.
4. Delete the TempRec folder.
5. Open a CMD window as an administrator.
6. Change directory to the Recorded TV folder.
7. Type the following command: mklink /d TempRec <new path> (replace <new path> with the path you want to use for the live TV buffer).  So to create change the buffer location to E:\Buffer\, type mklink /d TempRec E:\Buffer\
8. Restart the computer and WMC for the changes to take effect.  Windows Media Center will now use the new path to store the live TV buffer.

Important note about using a Solid State Drive (SSD) for the live TV buffer:  Solid State Drives have a finite lifespan that is directly related to the amount of data that is written to the drive.  Live TV buffering/recording requires writing significant amounts of data, far more than any other normal activity on a home theater PC. Using an SSD for the live TV buffer may significantly decrease the lifespan of the drive.  Additionally, there is no advantage to using an SSD for the live TV buffer instead of a hard drive unless you are already overworking your hard drive.  Before deciding to use an SSD for live TV buffering, evaluate how much data your drive is rated to write, and compare that to how much data is required to be written to sustain your TV viewing habits. 

If you would like to use a RAM drive for live TV buffering, please see here.