newmanix 61 Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Hi guys, I was wondering, has anyone ever installed their flightsim on an external harddrive? Does it work? I have a WD 1TB external and it would clear my system up alot if I could put my FS9 and addons on the harddrive as there is more memory on the external than I will ever need... What are the pros and cons???Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snave 466 Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 YesYesEasier defragmentation as long as there are no system files located on the driveSlightly slower loading at startup. 9 preferred to X as X has more file swapping.That's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmanix 61 Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 YesYesEasier defragmentation as long as there are no system files located on the driveSlightly slower loading at startup. 9 preferred to X as X has more file swapping.That's it. God help me, I'm gonna try it! It takes hours to re install.....Thank you Snave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Fletcher 570 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 I can also confirm that it works okay on an external drive, thats what my FS9 is on as we speak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmanix 61 Posted December 18, 2008 Author Share Posted December 18, 2008 I can also confirm that it works okay on an external drive, thats what my FS9 is on as we speak.Hey Shaun! Thanks much! Now I am more confident knowing that Aerosoft staff does this as well!! It is my project for the weekend!! The payware stuff is pretty quick to reinstall, it's the freeware stuff that takes forever... Thanks Shaun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snave 466 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Take a lesson from me: DO NOT just install everything then try and run FS9 - it makes it impossible to identify where any problems are coming from. Instead just install one or two at a time, then defrag the drive and run FS to make sure everything is working as it should.Do not ask me how I know this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snave 466 Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Oh, and while you're at it, use the opportunity to weed out the addons you DON'T use and dont install them - good examples include aircraft you don't currently fly, scenery for areas you're not flying in, and modifications and changes to the default files and folders that you lft in only because you couldn't be bothered to take them out - making rational decisions on a full reinstall will allow for much faster bootups and better frame rates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmanix 61 Posted December 19, 2008 Author Share Posted December 19, 2008 Oh, and while you're at it, use the opportunity to weed out the addons you DON'T use and dont install them - good examples include aircraft you don't currently fly, scenery for areas you're not flying in, and modifications and changes to the default files and folders that you lft in only because you couldn't be bothered to take them out - making rational decisions on a full reinstall will allow for much faster bootups and better frame rates!Oh you are soooooo correct!! I have alot of FS junk I don't use anymore. Currently I am backing up everything to the external. Once I am done, I have decided to restore Windows to factory settings. A good ol clean purge!! Then I will have to uninstall all the default crap I never use.. Run System Mechanic, Defrag, CCcleaner... Then ready to reinstall. Also, alot of the Steam Counter Strike: Source files clogg up the drive as well so I expect to see some better frame rates once everything is up and running again... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmanix 61 Posted December 23, 2008 Author Share Posted December 23, 2008 Thanks for the advice guys! It works perfectly and FS9 actually loades FASTER!! I also see a slight improvement in framerates. Using the iSATA line so I wonder how much that is helping. My C: drive is now over 300gb free!!Still have to get the AI traffic and freeware seneries installed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Joseph 0 Posted December 24, 2008 Share Posted December 24, 2008 Running FS on external drives is the way to go, I keep all the files clear, and have access to fs only, if my computer crashes, or gets infected with a Trojan like it almost did yesterday, I turn off the drive to prevent data lossthe drive was unaffected and ran perfectly today, as my compueter was unharmed, was quite a scare tho, what made me switch was the fact that I had run out of space on my computer so I moved all my flight sim files onto an external drive, my computer crashed not too long after and I never removed the files, now I have FS and backup files on my external drive, and its only 70 GB, there is a great improvement to it overall, and I recomend it for anybody who wants to give the program a serious go... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmanix 61 Posted December 24, 2008 Author Share Posted December 24, 2008 Running FS on external drives is the way to go, I keep all the files clear, and have access to fs only, if my computer crashes, or gets infected with a Trojan like it almost did yesterday, I turn off the drive to prevent data lossthe drive was unaffected and ran perfectly today, as my compueter was unharmed, was quite a scare tho, what made me switch was the fact that I had run out of space on my computer so I moved all my flight sim files onto an external drive, my computer crashed not too long after and I never removed the files, now I have FS and backup files on my external drive, and its only 70 GB, there is a great improvement to it overall, and I recomend it for anybody who wants to give the program a serious go...So, let's say your computer had a serious problem and you had to reset the factory settings. Would you have to reinstall FS9 or would the default program still work?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snave 466 Posted December 25, 2008 Share Posted December 25, 2008 So, let's say your computer had a serious problem and you had to reset the factory settings. Would you have to reinstall FS9 or would the default program still work??No problem. The whole purpose of the remote installation is to keep it entirely separate. You could even reformat the computer or reinstall the OS and you'd still have an operating default FS - all you would need to do is run the registry installer that you can d/l from Avsim that places the correct settings back into the Windows Registry and you're back up and running. The only marginal difficulty is that many of the aftermarket addons also have their own Registry entries and they might need to be reinstalled to be recognised, but as you mention default explicitly... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bogbrain 0 Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Forgive me but FSX installs a lot of files onto the C: Drive (no matter what drive you install it on internal or external) so if you have a prroblem with this drive and have to re-install your operating system fsx will not run because the original files on the C: drive would heve been wiped off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts