NZFF

I need some advice please. My 1TB HDD needs replacing and I thought I would get the technician to install a 250GB SSD and reinstall Win7, plus replacing the 1TB HDD.

This is probably like asking "how long is a piece of string" but how much space would I need to accommodate win7 and FSX, and all the many programs that can be added.?

Any comments from those who perhaps wish they had more storage space would be appreciated.

Well, I'm running a 280GB HDD on my laptop that only has Win 7 and FSX plus all my FS addons. I wish I had more right now. Only got 25GB free right now

I have only a 125GB SSD (only thing I could get at the time) .. 5 other HD's in the PC , the programs I run all run fine having a dedicate 500GB raptor for FSX and screens , and one 1TB for my artwork and work files and storage .. the others are all storage again.

I would doubt you would need anything like the graphics I do or storage .

I would go with the 250GB SSD for the OS and install FSX onto the 1TB Drive

Well on my Win7x64 Home Premium machine:
C:\ 200GB used, 715 free
C:\FS10 65GB
C:\ Windows 33.5GB
so there is another 100GB or so taken up by FS related stuff like FSXGlobal201 mesh and various developer tools, Anti-Virus and pictures plus sundry other software would make up the rest.
NB: Many people would consider this a small FS installation.

My FSX is only 53GB. I thought I was being greedy

Ian Warren wrote:

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Jan 9 2015,2:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I would go with the 250GB SSD for the OS and install FSX onto the 1TB Drive

Thanks. That is what I had in mind. I guess a 250GB SSD would not be big enough to house the OS and all the desired FSX programs.

Would FSX be much faster to access from the SSD.?

If you are wanting to instal FSX on the SSD then I would go for a 500Gb one. MY FSX folder is currently at 165Gb and I know people who have quite a bit more than that - sorry CN you're on the light weight size here - but then again you are probably much more selective in what you have installed. My big ones are some photoreal sceneries (and rather more aircraft than I actually need) both of which seem to eat into things pretty quickly.


My FSX is on a separate WD black 2Tb drive which seems up to the task though I'm sure that a SSD installation would be faster loading than miine.

scaber wrote:

QUOTE (scaber @ Jan 9 2015,2:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you are wanting to instal FSX on the SSD then I would go for a 500Gb one. MY FSX folder is currently at 165Gb and I know people who have quite a bit more than that - sorry CN you're on the light weight size here - but then again you are probably much more selective in what you have installed. My big ones are some photoreal sceneries (and rather more aircraft than I actually need) both of which seem to eat into things pretty quickly.


My FSX is on a separate WD black 2Tb drive which seems up to the task though I'm sure that a SSD installation would be faster loading than miine.

Unfortunately a 500GB SDD is quite expensive at present. As a matter of interest, have you partitioned your 2TB drive or do you not think this is of any benefit.?

I was fortunate to get a couple of 250 SSD's at a reasonable price.
Have win7 on one & FSX on the other.
Use a 500 GB hard drive for storage.
Boot up & load times are a lot faster.

rocky289 wrote:

QUOTE (rocky289 @ Jan 9 2015,3:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was fortunate to get a couple of 250 SSD's at a reasonable price.
Have win7 on one & FSX on the other.
Use a 500 GB hard drive for storage.
Boot up & load times are a lot faster.

That sounds ideal. Lucky you!!

I run a 250 GB SSD for my operating system, a 500 GB SSD for flightsim and a 1 TB HDD for everything else.
You can always put your FSX scenery on a different drive such as the 1 TB drive if you start filling up the 250 SSD.
The boot up times a quick but not much else is noticeable IMHO.

I have a 250GB (which is really 232GB, there are 1024 bits in a kilobyte not 1000) and I've got 23 left.
I run Win8.1, 20GB in my Programs folders, and my FSX folder is 66GB (this include Orbx Oz + NZ some airport and all of Godzone sub)

In fact on reviewing my SSD in WinDirStat I've found that in have 3 x 10.5GB package cache folder. 32.5GB!! After searching it seems they can be deleted but it means that you can't do a repair if you have problems with p3d in the future. That seems ok to me... that's taking up a lot of space. http://www.prepar3d.com/forum-5/topic/package-cache/

cowpatz wrote:

QUOTE (cowpatz @ Jan 9 2015,4:51 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The boot up times a quick but not much else is noticeable IMHO.

For me the loading time in FSX is far quicker.
Used to be up to 4 minutes, now 40 seconds..

Sorry by boot up I meant operating system and Flight sim...but that's it really.

Thanks ALL for the info' very helpful. Pat.

Pato wrote:

QUOTE (Pato @ Jan 9 2015,3:19 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unfortunately a 500GB SDD is quite expensive at present. As a matter of interest, have you partitioned your 2TB drive or do you not think this is of any benefit.?

Yes, I have partitioned the 2Tb into two partitions. Just make sure that you install FSX on the first partition for more rapid access times.

scaber wrote:

QUOTE (scaber @ Jan 9 2015,9:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I have partitioned the 2Tb into two partitions. Just make sure that you install FSX on the first partition for more rapid access times.

Thanks. Will do.

scaber wrote:

QUOTE (scaber @ Jan 9 2015,9:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I have partitioned the 2Tb into two partitions. Just make sure that you install FSX on the first partition for more rapid access times.

Why does putting FSX on the first partition make it any faster to access??

gdavies wrote:

QUOTE (gdavies @ Jan 17 2015,6:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why does putting FSX on the first partition make it any faster to access??

The read heads don't have to move so far to access the data after reading the index file to find where they are located. Not very significant for small number of file reads but with FSX where there are thousands of files being read that can start to add up a bit.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/255224/how_...erformance.html