Hi there,while waiting for my FSX copy to come, i'm going to buy a new HD (just to keep FS9 at its place ;-))Now, i'm going to buy a 300GB SATA Disk FSX dedicated (FSX + all of addons); my question is:will performance decrease if i'll partition this disk, for example 150+150GB, and install some other programs onto it?And what about using the second 150GB partition as a storage disk?As for FS9 it's installed on the third partition (E:) of my main HD the same of WinXP (C:) and it looks like my PC has always had lack of performance.Just to be sure :-coolThanks in advanceLuigi ;-)

>will performance decrease if i'll partition this disk, for>example 150+150GB, and install some other programs onto it?Partitioning itself will not impose a performance hit.Putting other programs on the other partition *may* impact performance if you use those programs at the same time as the sim.Recommendation:>And what about using the second 150GB partition as a storage>disk?Bingo. Use the other partition as a storage repositoty - pics, MP3s, the download masters for your addons, etc. etc. Anything that more likely than not won't be in use during your sim sessions.By installing the simulation to a second, separate physical drive, you in essence give the sim it's own read/write head - that may lead to faster load times or other load-style benefits (never an FPS improvement). If you put other programs on the same physical drive as MSFS, AND you run those programs while using the sim, you are back to sharing the read/write head again, potentially negating any benefits of having MSFS on a separate drive.If you simply load the drive up as a storage unit, with items you'd rarely have in operation when the sim was being used, then you're doing better! Not wasting the storage space, but not actively using it to infringe on MSFS performance.Any way you go, you won't get any WORSE performance than you are now, but to realize any gains you want to have MSFS on the least-accessed physical drive you have, if not giving MSFS the ENTIRE drive for itself. :) -Greg

thank you Greg,i'll surely run many addons i have got so far from the other disk :-coolBTW will SATA do the difference instead of an IDE disk Master of the second ide channel?cheersLuigi ;-)

Uhhhh...forgotten to mention i have a 2GB swap file on a separate HD (SECONDARY); better to keep thiS file at its place and do not move on the new SATA HD instead? Isnt'it?Thanks a lot for helpingLuigi ;-)