I realize the drawback of not getting INSTANT action for virus detection for example.What IF you put all the utilities, like virus, defrag, etc.......in a different partition D or E. Your main partition C is devoted entirely to FSX.Would such action as drastic as it is improve FSX in a BIG WAY? What would be the consequences? Does the GOOD overwhelm the BAD?I am sure somebody has tried it or is using such configuration.Would appreciate all INPUTS. Thanks.Abe

It depends on if these "partitions" are physically separate or if they are on the same physical hard drive, but split up in different partitions. If there are 3 different partitions on the same hard drive, you can expect FSX perfomance to get worse, because the partitions will be physically written on different parts of the platter, and some may be on the inside of the platter, instead of the outside where access is fast for the drive heads. I would recommend against making several "fake" partitions, or else you could notice a degrade in your experience. Also remember, if you make different partitions, it is harder to manage disc space, and if you make a new partition on the same hard drive, while there is data on it, there is a possibility you could corrupt the data, unless you do erase all the data on the HDD and make 3 separate partitions.

Although I use fs9, its the same thing. I have two hard drives with 3 partitions. My fastest Sata drive I use only for games, including fs9. I don't use the internet on it unless to simply check my email. On the other hard drive, I have 2 partitions. One is just used for storage..the other has another windows setup. I use this to go on the internet, download..etc etc. I mainly did this to avoid getting a virus on my gaming partition and have to reinstall everything. works great.

I should have clarified my question. Definitely FSX should be in its OWN hard drive.

I'm with Red:Put the Windows stuff on C:/ . Put the gaming stuff (or data) on a physically different disk. Disks are not so expensive, you could buy one just for FSX, I guess. That way, you shouldn't see viruses on any disk but C:/, and if you have to wipe windows, you won't lose games (or data). That, and I think I've improved FSX by keeping it on a physical disk that is separate from the OS. There's debate about whether or not doing this will really help, but I think it did in my case. I don't think it would help so much to keep your games on C:/ and your OS on another drive, that seems to buck the common usage of putting the OS on the lowest drive letter possible. Mind you, I always put my pans on right leg first, so maybe it's more of a habit than a requirement. Jeff ShylukSenior Staff ReviewerAVSIM