RodgerC Posted February 3, 2017 Share Posted February 3, 2017 I'm not very computer savey so I'll try my best to explain my situation. I have FSX and all of my Orbx scenery and all of my airplanes on my C drive which is a Crucial 250 GB SSD. It is totally full and I need to do something to fix this problem as I want to expand my Orbx scenery. I have a standard 1 TB HDD as my D drive. Can I clone all programs related to flight simming onto the 1TB hard drive so I can then expand my Orbx scenery, or do I need to buy another SSD to replace the 1TB HDD (which is virtually empty). I'm very nervous about doing anything with my computer. The last time I tried something like this I had to start all over and it took nearly 2 days to get everything working properly again. Can someone pleas give me some advice as to what I should do. Thanks for your help. Rodger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Sawyer Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 You could use Acronis to make a backup of your C drive then if D is empty do an Acronis restore to the D drive. Then I think you can change the drive letters and you will now have all your C drive data on the D drive which when renamed to C will be the new drive. I did something like this once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Great idea Jack, that sounds good to me. Think I will give that a try. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 You might also want to think about just reinstalling all the flight sim "stuff" on the HDD and leave the SSD for your OS and future non-FS growth. There is no noticeable in-game performance difference between the SSD and the HDD. Initial loading times will be a bit slower on the HDD but once FSX starts it will look and perform exactly the same.....and you'll have room for growth. Given what you already have, I wouldn't spend the money for a new 1TB SSD just for FS....that's most likely going to be a waste of hard-earned bucks. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olli4740 Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 If you have other addon scenery (non-ORBX), think about moving those to the HDD. (Photoscenery preferably, as those installations are rather big and often self-contained - everything in a single folder with a single scenery library entry.) If you do the cloning thingy (everything from C:\ copied precisely bit by bit, sector by sector to D:\ via Acronis or some freeware tool) you should take a look at your mainboard documentation: Often the second slot for drives offers only half the bandwidth of the primary slot (6 GBit/s vs. 3 GBit/s), so chances are you want to swap the connections inside the case to make D:\ your primary drive with the 6 GBit/s performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 Hello, My advice would be to copy your ORBX folder and your other addon scenery to a folder on your D drive. Delete the original copies of them from your C drive, being sure to empty the recycle bin. Then use a symbolic link to replace the folders on the C drive with links to the new folders on the D drive. This has the following advantages. You keep your operating system on your SSD. You keep your main simulator files on your SSD. You do not have to re-install anything. You will greatly increase the free space on your SSD. You do not have to open your PC case and start moving wires about. I use this configuration myself and it works very well. There are many ways to create symbolic links. My preferred method is Link Shell Extension which installs itself and integrates into the Windows File Explorer, making the creation and deletion of links very simple. Also, over time, the Windows folder can become very large. Regular housework is always of benefit, even as basic as the Windows File Explorer Disk Cleanup function. If your PC never hibernates, there is a huge folder that can be removed from the Windows folder and there are many other ways to minimise the space that it uses. Presently, my Windows (10) folder is only 16.3 GB, I wonder how that compares to yours. You can easily move your Windows temp folders to your D drive, thus removing them from the C drive and the potential for installations to fail due to the lack of free space. If you have software that you never use, most of us have, uninstall it and delete its folders. I suspect that you will soon find that you do have enough space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Nick, I like your idea as all I would need to do is copy my Orbx folder then link it from the D drive. However, I connected to the link you provided and to be honest, I'm somewhat intimidated by the program. Like I said, I don't understand these kind of programs and am afraid of messing something up. That being said, I think I will try it and hope I don't mess anything up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 These are the links you need http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/B/4/8B42259F-5D70-43F4-AC2E-4B208FD8D66A/vcredist_x64.EXE and http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshellext/HardLinkShellExt_X64.exe Both are self installers, so you need only run the .exe files as an administrator. Then you will see the additions to the Windows File Explorer right click menu and you can create the links with ease. Neither will make any problems for you and you have the extensive instructions on the Link Shell Extension home page to refer to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 4, 2017 Author Share Posted February 4, 2017 Thanks for your help Nick, much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Bone Posted February 4, 2017 Share Posted February 4, 2017 RetiredFE please post an update how it went for you. I'm in the exact same boat and have been putting off doing anything for a year now. I hate messing with my computer as I don't know what I'm doing and I'm bound to screw it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsapair Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Nick, I have a similar setup; a partitioned 500GB SSD assigned C: (a typical C drive) and K: with all my FSX stuff. I didn't assign enough space to the C: drive initially (150 GB), I don't have any FSX on my C: drive but it's getting real full. 6GB left. Is it possible to move things like the typical Windows Libraries (Documents, Pictures,Music, Videos) to an HDD? Would your above advice apply? Programs that want to automatically install to Program Files (X86)...can I divert those installations to an HDD instead? I've done that with my Landing Rate Monitor and VFR Flight programs, but I'm not sure how far I can push it. Don't like screwing around in the Program Files folder too much. jsapair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 5, 2017 Share Posted February 5, 2017 Yes, you can apply the method to any software. It is of course also possible to install software straight to another drive. Most software installers seem to default to C:\Program Files (x86) but there is nothing wrong in most cases with creating a folder somewhere else, D:\Programs for example and installing them to there. You might also want to check the size of your Windows folder which can grow to be huge but almost always can be trimmed back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 UPDATE: For some reason I can't seem to get this procedure to work. I'm not good with computers so I've got to be doing something wrong. I'm about to give up on all this and just be satisfied with what I have before I really mess something up and it costs me a lot of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 On 2/4/2017 at 10:36 AM, Nick Cooper said: Then you will see the additions to the Windows File Explorer right click menu and you can create the links with ease. Nick, I've did what you instructed me to do but I'm not seeing the "additions to the Windows File Explorer". What am I missing, or what have I done wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 The additions should appear in the menu that you see when you right click on a file or folder. You should see Pick link source on the file you choose and Drop as when you select its destination. It is all explained on the home page, including some illustrations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 Thanks Nick. I'll give it another try. Sorry for the hassle Nick but so I understand. After installing the programs from the links you gave me, for example I go the the Orbx folder right click on it in order to move it? Is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 No. The idea of a symbolic link is to enable files that are in one location to be accessed in another location. The problem is disk space, so the idea is to first copy the entire ORBX folder from the disk with no space to the disk with space. Then the original copy, on the disk with no space, can be deleted. However, it is required that the ORBX folder appears inside the simulator folder and a symbolic link will make it both look as if it was still there and allow access to the files, even though they are now on the disk with space. To make the link, one should go to the new location of the ORBX folder, on the disk with space and right click on it. From the menu, select Pick link source. Then navigate to the simulator root folder, where the ORBX folder used to be and right click anywhere in that folder where there are no files. Select Drop as and then Symbolic link from the sub menu. You will see the link appear where the ORBX folder used to be. Once you have done that, your simulator, FTX Central and Windows File Explorer will recognise it as the ORBX folder. Files can be added, files can be deleted and products can be installed to this link. All of them will write through the link to the ORBX folder on the drive with space and the size on your C drive will be zero. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 Thanks so much Nick. Now I understand. Again, sorry for the hassle and thanks so much for your patience. I greatly appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 6, 2017 Author Share Posted February 6, 2017 Hey Nick, it worked perfectly. You made it clear and easy. Thank you kind sir!!! Now I can get on with buying more Orbx scenery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 6, 2017 Share Posted February 6, 2017 Very good news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsapair Posted February 7, 2017 Share Posted February 7, 2017 Some great tips there, Nick, thanks from all of us. When I was trying to rescue as much data as I could from my rapidly failing C: HDD I wound up with a generic Windows Program Files and Program Files (X86) on my I: HDD, with tons of space on it. I'll hereby divert any further installations to the I: drive, and maybe re-install some programs from C: to I:. jsapair Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Nick, I just purchased the FTX Global open LC North America. Towards the end of the download I got an error message saying I was out of disk space. I thought any download of ORBX would be routed now to my D: instead of my C:. Can you help me out? Thanks, Rodger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 That will be the installer writing to the temp file, which I guess you have left on the C drive. If you take another look at my reply #6, you will see some more advice at the bottom and a link. It's not a difficult thing to move the temp files and the link explains it very clearly. While we are on the subject, how large is your C:\Windows folder and which version do you have? Also, you should be aware that nothing that you have deleted frees up any space until you empty the recycle bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Nick my C:\Windows folder is 17.7 GB on Windows 10. I have emptied my recycle bin. I'll move the temp files as suggested. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 That seems about right for the Windows folder. You should have a lot more space after you have completely removed the ORBX folder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 Thanks for your help Nick, I got everything moved and downloaded my new Orbx scenery and everything is working well. Appreciate your help as always. Rodger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Clarke Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Also check if you have any Memory Dumps in C drive still stored as these can be many gigabytes in size and serve no real purpose. I happen to use CCleaner which notifies me of when a memory dump has occurred and then it removes it. I mention it because about 10 minutes ago when i fired up my PC I got a notification from CCleaner and it deleted a 1.7GB Memory Dump. Where it came from and when, I have no idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodgerC Posted February 9, 2017 Author Share Posted February 9, 2017 7 hours ago, jjaycee1 said: Also check if you have any Memory Dumps in C drive still stored as these can be many gigabytes in size and serve no real purpose. I happen to use CCleaner which notifies me of when a memory dump has occurred and then it removes it. I mention it because about 10 minutes ago when i fired up my PC I got a notification from CCleaner and it deleted a 1.7GB Memory Dump. Where it came from and when, I have no idea! jjaycee1, good idea. I have CCleaner and checked but had to upgrade to Pro to make sure that it monitors the Memory Dump. I really enjoy these forums, as I have gotten so much help and great suggestions. Thanks. Rodger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triplane Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 Another thing to look for is Package Cache. This folder could be many GB big. When I first looked at mine it was 76GB. Search the web for this item and you'll see what's going on. I've deleted this folder long ago and haven't had any problems with uninstalling/repairing anything.....YMMV..........Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cooper Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 However, the prevailing advice appears to be not to delete it but to move it and just like the ORBX folder, replace it with a symbolic link. I expect it depends on what one does with the PC, the folder on mine is 22mb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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