I'm thinking of getting another hard drive so that I can have one dedicated to FS2004 use. Can I just copy the files over by clicking and dragging to the new drive or do I need to reinstall it all ?

Dave,You'll need to reinstall the sim. It's not just the files in the folder, FS has a bunch of registry entries it references too that get created during the install. Same goes for many addons including ours. Uninstall everything first from add/remove, and then go ahead and install to the new drive.

Thanks Ryan,Not so keen on the idea now !!!

After you reinstall the sim (to the new HDD) -- and any addons (ie PMDG) -- you can drag/drop the folders. Be sure to install ALL addons and patches before you drag/drop though. 3rd party sceneries, AFCADs and AI flight plans don't need to be installed -- most drag/drop nicely.

Yeah that's true - pretty much anything that doesn't use an installer can be dragged and dropped just fine.

As a matter of interest, apart from freeing up disk space, will having a dedicated HD improve FS performance at all ?Thanks

I don't think in a tangible way - it may technically be more efficient if the swap file and FS are on different drives but modern HD's are so fast that I doubt you'd actually be able to tell - any perceived difference is probably psychological.