I recently had a total hard drive crash. I've put in a new drive and reloaded FS9. I have a backup on a large external hard drive that has a bacup of Flightsim. I can see individual folders for aircraft, etc. Should'nt I be able copy all of my guages and aircraft folders to the new installation? I'm thinking maybe with the scenery also? I thought I would ask to see if anyone else has done this. Thanks in advance.

I recently had a total hard drive crash. I've put in a new drive and reloaded FS9. I have a backup on a large external hard drive that has a bacup of Flightsim. I can see individual folders for aircraft, etc. Should'nt I be able copy all of my guages and aircraft folders to the new installation? I'm thinking maybe with the scenery also? I thought I would ask to see if anyone else has done this. Thanks in advance.

Hi Bill,I had a topic on this recently. Let me link to it. I think copying is the best way to go and should be no problems. http://forum.avsim.net/topic/323399-backing-up-your-fs9-installation/page__p__1911777__hl__backup+fs9__fromsearch__1#entry1911777Daniel

I'm no computer expert but I had this same nightmare last year. Copying will work okay with most of your addons but you'll need to remember a few things... (Probably more but these are the ones I can think of right now)1. Some sceneries will need textures in the main texture folder or modified AP files in the Scenery/world folder etc. In other words, just copying your addon folder files won't work with everything. It should be okay with most of them but....2. Most payware products will want to find various files in all kinds of hidden places to prevent piracy. You might want to do all your payware stuff as a complete reinstall otherwise many of them will not work3. You might want to do a clean reinstall of FS9 and then the 9.1 patch before you do anything else. that way you may avoid registry issues etc.There are lots of people on here who are far more competent to advise you than me so if they contradict me, believe them! :( Good luck

Thanks,guys. I never really paid much attention to how much was in there till now. I expect to spend much of the week on this.

Hi Bill,If you're using XP, there are three (I think) places you need to consider:1. Your main FS9 folder (and obviously all its subfolders)2. ..\Documents and Settings\[whoever you are on your PC]\Application Data\Microsoft\FS93. a third folder in 'My Documents', name escapes me, something like ..\Flight Simulator Files\You' will surely need to reinstall a clean copy of FS9 to set your registry correctly, then I have a feeling that pretty much everything else can be restored by copying your backup into those folders, overwriting anything that's in the way.Take care with some addons- they may have been installed into other folders, they may need clean installation to avoid problems with your registry, or they may need re-registering with the vendor. However, the steps above will be the bulk of the reinstallation done & out of the way.Regards,D

Thanks,guys. I never really paid much attention to how much was in there till now. I expect to spend much of the week on this.

It's a pain in the you-know-what but you can look at it in a positive way. When mine imploded, I decided to do a complete clean reinstall, with just a few exceptions from my backup. Over years of having FS9 I had huge quantities of stuff that I had downloaded that I wasn't using, lots of leftover files from incomplete uninstalls etc. It took me weeks to get it all the way I wanted, but once it was all done I was thrilled with the result. I got rid of all kinds of junk and loading time and general performance was much improved.Good luck with it - either way you'll be happy when it's all fixed

It's a pain in the you-know-what but you can look at it in a positive way. When mine imploded, I decided to do a complete clean reinstall, with just a few exceptions from my backup. Over years of having FS9 I had huge quantities of stuff that I had downloaded that I wasn't using, lots of leftover files from incomplete uninstalls etc. It took me weeks to get it all the way I wanted, but once it was all done I was thrilled with the result. I got rid of all kinds of junk and loading time and general performance was much improved.Good luck with it - either way you'll be happy when it's all fixed

I'm trying to find the "safest" way to back up my Flight Simulator 9 folder. My Fs9 sceneries and aircrafts can be reinstalled but AI is something that I'm worrying about. I spent days and nights to edit all the needed airliners to the latest flightplans. If my HDD crashes,I don't know if I can do it again../Buying an storage account online is what I'm thinking about,such as mediafire?

Kiwiflyer is right....it is a good opportunity to get rid of the bloat. It is a real pain tracking down some of the payware,but I also have stopped to ask myself if they are needed. A good opportunity, but I don't really recommend it.