FSX on it's own HD

[Tuisong]

Hi,

Is it possible to install SFX and any related programmes on their own HD?

Is there any advantage in doing so?

I have Trackir and Triplehead2go, as well as sundry addon programmes.

As I'm a fiddler and usually make more mistakes than I have success' any help and advice will be greatly apperciated.

Cheers.

[toprob]

Yes, you can. You really need to think about what sort of advantage you want, though. A lot of FSX users keep addon scenery on a separate drive from FSX, which is meant to help a lot.
Although I don't have a specific drive for FSX, I do keep it on a separate drive from Windows etc (along with 'My Documents' folders). This allows me to set up a specific defrag routine for FSX. For me, defrag is the single most useful tool to keep FSX running well.

[creator2003]

Short answer yes i have mine "FSX"on F: drive and alot of software setup on the same under programs etc just like on C:,,just need a fast hard drive rpm etc but yes possible ..

i wouldnt put it on a usb storage drive though not recommended really

[Timmo]

Is it possible? yes I believe it is
Does it come with any gains?.....depends.

If placing it on a USB HD then you may be constrained by read/write speed through USB so I wouldn't recommend it. If you have another internal HD which is faster than the one which your windows installation sits on (i.e. IDE vs SATA or better rpm) then that could offer some gains. I intend to do this as a short term thing before I upgrade my computer properly (i.e. buy a fast SATA drive and install FSX onto that)

In the mean time, make sure your disk is well de-fragged and has a decent amount of free space (over 10-15%)

hehe look at that, three replies in 3 minutes!

[vatsim-aholic]

QUOTE (Tuisong @ Oct 11 2008, 10:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi,

Is it possible to install SFX and any related programmes on their own HD?

Is there any advantage in doing so?

I have Trackir and Triplehead2go, as well as sundry addon programmes.

As I'm a fiddler and usually make more mistakes than I have success' any help and advice will be greatly apperciated.

Cheers.

Yes indeed, I have spend many years loading FS installation and related programmes. Best performance and advise is to run each sim either FSX or FS9 on seperate bootable drives or separate bootable partions, this way you will not need to access other drives for infomation and give's the fastest responce and access times. The other plus is you can keep any other unrelated programmes and services that slow the PC up away from the bootable sim drive. As the others have said defrag, in fact I defrag, regcure and clean ID classes before and after each session.

[Tuisong]

Thank you all for taking time to reply, most helpful. And so quick too.

The HD I have spare is an internal 120gb Seagate barracuda sata, would this be big/fast enough? (c drive is 500GB Seagate barracuda 11 3.5 Sata 7200rpm 32mb cache )
I'm afraid I wouldn't know how to make it bootable though. I defrag every couple of weeks or so, but find the one included in Vista frustrating as it gives no indication of Progress. And I have been thinking of investing in Ultimate Defrag 2008. Would this be worth while?

Mark, you mentioned RegCure. I purchaced this programme, ran it and it destroyed my registary to such an extent that I had to have a clean install done, and now can't get FSX etc working as well as it was. That's why I'm keen to keep FSX separate ( I don't know if that will protect it ) and hopefully get some improvement. So I would be too frightened to run RegCure again. Call me chicken.

I have listed what my setup is and the FS related programmes in case anyone can spot anything that may be a problem and point me in the right direction, which I would appreciate.
I'm running Vista Ulimate 64 bit
intel 2.66ghz quad core chip
8gb Corsair PC2-6400 DDR2-800
Gigabyte X38-DS4 X38 + ICH9R LGA775 1600mhx FSB DDR2 CrossFireX Dual PCI-E 2.0 x16 IEEE1394 GLAN (what ever that is)
Gigabyte GeForce 8800gts 640mb

Triplehead2go
trackir
CH yoke, peddles & throttle quadrant

FSX Acceleration
Flight School
FSUIPC4 reg. version
FS Global 2008X
Combo scenery of NZ
Voice Buddy

not installed yet
FSGenesis V2
My Traffic X (though after reading the comments in the forum, not sure I will)

Hope I haven't raved on too much, I really appreciate any help.
Cheers, Roger

[vatsim-aholic]

Yes recure is not for the faint ha rted, you can roll back the backup's it makes before running or failing that restoring will put the registry files as they were before regcure had been run. I've used it now for over 3 years with no problem

Your system appears strong enough, but for the ultimate experience run FSX on one drive with nothing else on it, apart from your FSX addons. 150GB is small but ok if your running just FSX, don't create any partions with a drive that small.

If your interested in separate bootable drives, this is the KISS way of doing it!

So all you have to do is unplug your current C:drive from inside the case, install your other drive in another bay and plug into SATA2 on the MB. Turn on the computer and format the drive making sure you give it a drive letter later than C: then run Vista or XP operating system and install all the drivers just like building a PC from cratch. Now you just need to hook back up your old drive turn the PC on and to go into DOS and select with how you would like them to boot up. Not total sure of your MB but some boards require you to press Esc when booting up to enter the boot order option, in which case you select the one you want and press enter and thats about it.... A fresh install just for your sim and addons, you could still have some of your larger files and addons also installed on Operating system C: if you required.

One thing to make note of, you cannot install a program from your new drive which will be E: (because D: is allocated for the Rom drive and you had to select a number later than C) for the other drive C: to be installed on, you must be in the OS that you want that particular program installed on, or you will screw up your registry files. You may however access and transfer from either drive any file types for installation or copying though.

The truly ultimate way to do all this is by way of partion but as your drive is so small it's not worth it. But what this means compared to the above procedure of 2 separate HD's is that you can go into the BOOT.INI and rename each Bootable partion like Vista_General and the other Vista_SIM and XP_SIM. Then you can select which one the PC will actually default to with a selected time frame that you choose, so if nothing is done in 1 minute the PC boots to Vista_General or you have 1 minute to arrow down to either of the other two and press enter to boot.

Hope this helps if you decide to go this way or atleast give you an understanding of how this works

[Tuisong]

Thanks Mark, yes it is very helpful.

Realistically I don't think I am up to trying to create a bootable HD or partition my C drive which is 500gb. I will need to do some more learning to get my head around it. My brain has many years on the clock and is not as quick as it used to be. However, I will put FSX etc on to my spare E drive. (small steps first)

Should I also put the software for Trackir and the Triplehead2go on it too?

regards,
Roger

[vatsim-aholic]

I would install those on the system drive /program files, for ease of uninstallation and registry files, drivers etc

[Tuisong]

Thanks Mark, I really appreciate your help.
Cheers Roger
Whangarei

[dbcunnz]

I have a separate 160GB sata drive that is set up just for FSX It contains Win XP x64 and all my FSX I also have the memory set to no page so that you don't get any page swap in the memory.
When I want to go flying I do a reboot and change the bios to boot to this drive.
I have matrox triple head but haven't quite found the funds yet for the Trackir I have an old Trackir 2 sitting here if anyone is interested in it but Ican't get drivers for it that will work with Win XP x64