highlandhippie Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Hello all This is my first post and I am glad to be part of the forum I have a reasonable system at present and it has one hard drive (see spec at foot of post) I am thinking of getting a caviar black or blue 500gb hard drive to put all of my fsx and scenery software on whilst leaving the operating system on the original drive. Has anyone else got this type of setup and is it worth me removing all of my stuff from the system drive and re loading it onto a new one. Will it give me better performance than I have currently? I get 35- 60 fps depending on where I fly and with the new PNW it does drop to 11 or so around places like Vancouver. I realise there are many variables etc but it would be good to get an honest opinion as to the value of adding another drive. Many thanks regards HH :) :) :) :) :) vista home premium 64 bit Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 2.66ghz (RAM): 4,000 MB Hard Drive Capacity: 1,000 GB Nvidia 9800GT 1024mb DDR3 Graphics Card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenBlade Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 Definitely yes! Get FSX on your fastest drive for better performance. And put nothing but FSX and add-ons on that drive. Some even take the add-on thing further and draw that from networking pc´s, but that´s way too complicated for me. Bjorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted May 17, 2010 Share Posted May 17, 2010 WHY do you only have one drive in your PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Meiklejohn Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Hi Mr H Hippie welcome... I think you will benefit to an extent. I do not think it will increase FPS in FSX noticeably (if at all). The second drive will give you an opportunity to have FSX and all your addons defragmented. This should allow for faster load times, how much faster depends on how fragmented the files became on your single drive previously. Just be careful to remove all evidence of FSX from your primary drive before installing to the second harddrive. Not sure about your computer knowledge, but you shouldn't just drag your FSX folder from drive C: to the new drive (you can but it is a bit more complicated than that due to all the links FSX establishes - so can be fraught with danger); a new, fresh install will be required. Some addons expect to find FSX in the default path, so you need to be careful when installing these addons to make sure you point them at the new install on the second harddrive. Maurices comment above would be relating to the fact that a second harddrive is a fantastic way of backing up your files and installations from the main harddrive in case of a drive failure. Report back and let us know how you got on. Cheers, Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 No Baz not quite I was just a little bemused as to why there is only one drive, in this day and age and for the price I just don't see why people don't have at least 2-3 Physical HDD and split them to aid management. I'm a bit anal with my system and use 1 drive for the OS 1 for General Programing , 1 for Racing and Flight Sim and 2 large drives for all my downloads and archives, all cataloged as a Web Site on my network, This is a god send when it comes to finding stuff and installing add-ons or other tools, especially when visiting someone with my archive Drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandhippie Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Many thanks for the replies I will get a new drive in the coming weeks and I will indeed remove all traces of fsx and the addons from the original. The machine came with a 1 TB drive and if I had been a bit more switched on I should have had it partitioned before it got here but there you go. I have a lot of my stuff on disc so it is not too much of a problem to re install stuff. When all is done I will indeed drop a line back to the forum. Many thanks for the comments and regards HH :) :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenBlade Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Shouldn´t be too late to partition the drive still. I think all you need is some empty space on the hd, and you can assign that to a new partition. If the drive is almost full, cut and paste the lot to other drive, partition, and move files back. Re-format other drive to be ready for FSX. Correct me if I´m on the wrong track here, fellas. Bjorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandhippie Posted May 18, 2010 Author Share Posted May 18, 2010 Hi Tenblade I have just watched a video on partitioning my drive in Vista and it looks quite simple. I will split it into two as it is a tb already and then I will have at least 400gb to add fsx and all of my scenery onto. I did not realise it could be done when the drive was up and running. I dont think it could be done in XP. Many thanks for the advice and I will get back on the forum when it is done ( hopefully) regards HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TenBlade Posted May 18, 2010 Share Posted May 18, 2010 Glad I could be of help, HH. Peace out Bjorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted May 19, 2010 Share Posted May 19, 2010 I'd make a complete clone of the data on the 1 Tb drive BEFORE I did ANYTHING else, you can delete it afterwards if not needed BUT it's nice to have should something go awry. I have all me DVD/s CD/s etc cloned on one archive drive so I can easily replace damaged or deleted files without the risk of damaging my originals. It's all about protecting your self. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandhippie Posted May 20, 2010 Author Share Posted May 20, 2010 Hi Maurice How do you clone the data? Do you just copy verything to a backup or do you just put all of the files into a folder on a seperate drive from the system drive. Sorry if I sound a bit thick but I am still working my way around the intacacies of the machine. I did try to partition the drive but due to some issue ( I suspect it is to do with the optimisation I do with ultimate defrag) the drive would only allow me 18 gb to be sectioned off. I got over this by fitting a wd caviar black 500 gb drive tonight, still waiting for the format to finish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the help and I am sure I will continue to ask advice along the way. Regards HH :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted May 21, 2010 Share Posted May 21, 2010 To make an image of the OS partition or the OS File structure you need something like Akronis or GHOST 15 for Win 7, But all other Files and programing you can simply make a copy to another drive. Remember there are 3 CRITICAL areas where data on installed software can be installed, 1 the user Profile, 2 the "Program Files\Common Files" Dir, the Windows\System32\ Dir, and sometimes there can be critical files in your My Documents (usually in the User profile but if you have a custom system this may have been moved. (Windows Allows both the User Profile and My Documents to be moved. ) preserving data in the event of a failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianos007 Posted May 22, 2010 Share Posted May 22, 2010 If you install a new drive. Buy a Velociraptor from western digital. A bit pricy but well worth the extra money.(Speed=money) It makes a lot of a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highlandhippie Posted June 2, 2010 Author Share Posted June 2, 2010 Hello all Thanks brianos007 for the suggestion re the velociraptor drive. I got a drive before you posted the line so I now have a w/d Caviar Black 500 gb drive installed with all of my flight sim stuff on it alone. I was a bit unsure about re loading 200gig of stuff but I have now completed it and it works a treat. The frame rates are a bit better ( maybe I am dreaming ) but it definately runs much smoother. Many thanks to all who assisted and I will use the forum to help others if I am able. Regards HH :) :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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