As @jamieh, 5 stars for problem definition … (you are presumably either an embattled user or an IT pro
AFAIK, it’s always done this, and I relocate the files onto my EVO 970 SSD from my sparse hard c: drive. Updates are not that often, so as long as you remember to do that; I’ve not found it too much of a hassle.
[I recently responded to @Trankonia on this Moving my Scaler 2 files ]
I agree entirely that logically the files should be located as specified in the preferences tab, but I personally would be happy for this to be put on the Dev’s next ‘big point’ change.