benefits of having OS on a SSD?

[EarthDog]

You'd better rethink that. Regardless of where you install the program it's presence will necessarily be recorded in the Windows registry and so will the program settings. If the Windows registry doesn't have information about the installed program then Windows doesn't know it's there. It's just like it's not even installed.

Exactly...BUT it depends on the program. If it writes in the registry and you blow your OS out of the water and start from scratch (not an image with the registry entries still in there), it will not find the program on the other drive without reinstalling in some capacity. I say in some capacity because sometimes you just point it to the path, it figures it out, and the installation is more of a verification than anything.