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I have a 250gb ssd, looking at extra storage for my dedicated flight sim computer. Am i best off getting a matching ssd or a larger HDD? I haven't got much money at the moment so £40 tops really.

 

Also, if I add a HDD, how do I move my addons over so fsx still "picks them up?"

 

Thank you in advance

 

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For performance and fastest loading time, I would go for the SSD.

You probably can use a command prompt(mklink) to point the new destination of your folders.

 

 

I7 4790K (16g) on Gigabyte Z97X-G5/GTX970 OC/Win7 Ult(64) on Samsung SSD 240/

FSX Gold + Accel on Samsung SSD 120/Saitek yoke-rudder-radionav-multi-switch/

Logitech G13/GMap on Samsung Tab/TrackIR 5/Carenado's Ga and ORBX sceneries

i7-4790K @4400 on Gigabyte Z97X (16gb), GeForce GTX 970 OC, Corsair Spec case

Win7 Ult(64) on Samsung850 SSD(256), FSX+Accell on Samsung850 SSD(256), Track IR5

Saitek yoke/rudder radio/multi/switch panels, Logitech G13, GMap on Samsung tab

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You could go with a 1 TB platter and then you wold have to painstakingly edit the addons cfg file (can't remember the name) to point each addon to the platter. I have done this in FS2004. I had a lot of Mega scenery installed on the second disk.
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WRT getting a SSD or HDD - it doesn't really make much difference if you are going to use it as a second drive for addon stuff only and leave the main sim folders on the current SSD - the lag in loading info from the second drive will so low that you will unlikely notice it.

 

WRT to moving addons - this will depend on what you want to move (scenery and/or simobjects), what type (payware or freeware) and how it was installed (manual or auto).

 

FTR, I currently only use FSX but used FS2004 for many years and in both cases have stored most of my addon scenery (both freeware and payware) plus some freeware simobjects outside of the sims and on separate drives with no problems. I also store most of my traffic files (all except the sim defaults) and my AI simobjects (less a payware app that had to be installed into FSX) outside of the FSX.

 

Most payware stuff that have auto installers will write info into the OS Registry and simply 'moving' it will cause problems. Better to uninstall and then reinstall such items to the new location. For those payware items that don't have auto installers it is possible to 'treat' them the same as freeware and move them to the new drive then change the necessary file entries (scenery.cfg for scenery stuff and the main FSX or FS9.cfg file for Simobjects) so that the sim can find them.

 

Scenery - Depending on how you have your current scenery addons configured will dictate the method used. It is important to note that you must leave the 'empty' default Addon Scenery folder (and its two subfolders) in place to avoid scenery.cfg errors.

 

Method 1 - If you have a dedicated structure of your own that doesn't use the default Addon Scenery folder the easiest solution is to move the scenery (using cut and paste) to the new location, replicating the current structure.

 

Method 2 - If you use a dedicated structure of your own that is located within the default Addon Scenery location but outside of the default Scenery and Texture subfolders use method 1.

 

Method 3 - If you use the default Addon Scenery folder including the subfolder of it would be better to create a new top level folder on the new drive called Addon Scenery and then create two subfolders - Scenery and Texture. Then copy the contents of the subfolders into the appropriate new folders.

 

Method 4 - Create a new folder structure based on your requirements and cut/paste individual scenery 'packages' into the new structure.

 

Once you have moved the files to the new location you will need to edit the scenery,cfg file - this is normally located within the C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\ folder. Make a backup copy first before opening the file in notepad. Below are a number of entries from my scenery.cfg. The line entry in RED is the line that you will need to edit to point to new location.

 

The first item is default FSX scenery, the next one is a payware item (auto installer) added into the default FSX location. the third one is also payware (manual install) that I installed into my own structure. The last two are freeware items that I have installed into my own structure. The thing to note here is that items stored within the main sim folder do not have a drive letter or full path in the entry as it is not required but those outside of the main sim folder need the drive letter and full path.

 

[Area.120]

Title=Edwards_AFB

Local=Scenery\Cities\Edwards_AFB

Layer=120

Active=TRUE

Required=FALSE

 

[Area.121]

Title=Traffic 360 Airport Facilities

Local=JustFlight\Traffic360\AirportFacilities

Active=TRUE

Layer=145

Required=FALSE

 

[Area.338]

Local=D:\Addon Scenery\FSGenesis Terrain Mesh\FSGenesis - EU and Africa\Scenery

Title=FSGenesis - EU and Africa

Required=FALSE

Active=TRUE

 

[Area.151]

Layer=167

Local=D:\Addon Scenery\Airports - Basic\Afghanistan

Title=Afghanistan

Required=FALSE

Active=TRUE

 

[Area.249]

Layer=268

Local=D:\Addon Scenery\Airports - Detailed\EGXW RAF Waddington

Title=EGXW RAF Waddington

Required=FALSE

Active=TRUE

 

Simobjects - Like Scenery, most simobjects can be installed outside of the sim. That said, I only keep AI objects and a few select freeware simobjects outside as most simobjects, especially payware, will also need stuff adding to other default sim locations (such as gauges, effects etc.......... see below).

 

If you choose to store simobjects outside of the sim you must edit the simobjectspath entry located within the [Main} section of the .cfg file (usually located at C:\Users\\Appdate\Roaming\Microsoft\). My snapshot of my current entries look like this..........

 

SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\Airplanes

SimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\Rotorcraft

SimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehicles

SimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\Boats

SimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\Animals

SimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\Misc

SimObjectPaths.6=SimObjects\JFTraffic360

SimObjectPaths.7=D:\MySimObjects\AIFastJets

SimObjectPaths.8=D:\MySimObjectsAIHeavies

SimObjectPaths.9=D:\MySimObjects\AIHelicopters

SimObjectPaths.10=D:\MySimObjects\AITrainers

SimObjectPaths.11=D:\MySimObjects\HJG

 

As can be seen entries 0 to 6 are default entries and entries 7 to 11 are those stored outside of the sim. FTR, the HJG object is a package of HJG B707 models made up of several individual models folders and a panels folder and a sounds folder specific to the models themselves. I have, in the pass, stored models outside of the sim that made use of the panels/sounds of the other models stored within the default sim location. This requires the panel.cfg and sound.cfg files to be edited so that they point to the intended source.

 

Whilst the process may seem complicated it is relatively easy once you have got your head around it. As always, make backups of the files to be edited before hand. Feel free to PM me if you want any additional info.

Regards

 

Brian

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