I'm thinking about getting a dedicated hard drive for FSX. Right now I have 1TB (2 500GB HDDs on RAID 0) I might go for another 1TB (single) or an SSD. My problem is this: I don't know much about hard drives (please don't laugh). Since I have a raid array, does it affect subsequent drives I install, or can I just put in another drive and that's ok? please someone advise me. Whatever drive I'm getting now will be dedicated to FSX, so I need pieces of advice based on this. Also, what size would be ideal, if I decide to go with a solid state drive? What RPM would be optimum if I went with the normal drive?Thank you in advance.

The most noticeable upgrade you can make to your computer at this point is an SSD. An SSD will not help FSX performance in any way other than load times, so it's much better used as an OS drive. If you can afford two SSDs, then sure, run the OS and program files from one and FSX from the other. Otherwise, install your OS and program files on the SSD and run FSX from the HDDs.

The most noticeable upgrade you can make to your computer at this point is an SSD. An SSD will not help FSX performance in any way other than load times, so it's much better used as an OS drive. If you can afford two SSDs, then sure, run the OS and program files from one and FSX from the other. Otherwise, install your OS and program files on the SSD and run FSX from the HDDs.

Thanks, cmeeks, for your reply. This is the situation:I cannot get 2 SSDs at this time. Moreover, My OS is OEM, so changing drives means I'm gonna have to buy a new windows 7 (I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong). So, I guess I'll have to go with HDDs, which brings me to the question: can I just buy another hard drive, like a 1TB drive and add it to the hard drives I already have, bearing in mind that they're on RAID0 (I have 2 free bays)? What RPM would be best if I'm going for 1TB? What brand would be advisable? Is it wise to get one single 1TB drive (since it's going to be dedicated to FSX), or 2 x 500GB drives?Thanks again.

I don't know why adding a dedicated FSX drive would require a reinstall. I have a dedicated FSX SSD. It required reinstall of everything FSX related, but that's it.

I don't know why adding a dedicated FSX drive would require a reinstall. I have a dedicated FSX SSD. It required reinstall of everything FSX related, but that's it.

I meant adding an OS dedicated SSD as per prior poster's advice. But my main question is if it's possible to have a RAID and SATA combined (2 500GB on raid = OS; 1 1TB SATA = FSX)

I meant adding an OS dedicated SSD as per prior poster's advice. But my main question is if it's possible to have a RAID and SATA combined (2 500GB on raid = OS; 1 1TB SATA = FSX)

I don't know much about RAID arrays as I have never set one up. I would stay away from 10,000 rpm drives unless you're not bothered by noise - go with 7200rpm instead. Western Digital Caviar Black and Samsung Spinpoint F3 are generally considered the fastest 1TB models. I have read a lot of claims that the WD is noisier, but I haven't owned one myself. As for your OS, you just need to find a uvnisetriy/celolge sdnutet who has free or cheap access to Windows .

I meant adding an OS dedicated SSD as per prior poster's advice. But my main question is if it's possible to have a RAID and SATA combined (2 500GB on raid = OS; 1 1TB SATA = FSX)

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks and is simply a framework for ways in which to have a failure-resistant system (RAID 1, for example, creates an exact copy of the data on one disk on another, separate disk). RAID zero does nothing to achieve that goal of failure-resistance, but is a step in the right direction for data transfer speed. RAID being essentially a manner in which to describe failure-resistant storage, really has nothing to do with SATA. SATA is the descriptor for the connection from the HD to the system itself.Unless you have a RAID controller or some software implementation that's splitting the stored information across your current drives, your RAID-ready (or RAID-rated) drives are not currently being used for that purpose, so the RAID issue can essentially be ignored.Wouldn't migrating the OS simply require ghosting the existing HD onto the new SSD? If anything gets messed up (driver issues) you could repair the Win7 installation on the SSD and it should work properly. From there, you'd need to format the old drive and move FSX there (through an uninstall-reinstall).I could be missing something, however, and I'm generally not the person to go to about hardware, but I thought I'd chip in some.

RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks and is simply a framework for ways in which to have a failure-resistant system (RAID 1, for example, creates an exact copy of the data on one disk on another, separate disk). RAID zero does nothing to achieve that goal of failure-resistance, but is a step in the right direction for data transfer speed. RAID being essentially a manner in which to describe failure-resistant storage, really has nothing to do with SATA. SATA is the descriptor for the connection from the HD to the system itself.Unless you have a RAID controller or some software implementation that's splitting the stored information across your current drives, your RAID-ready (or RAID-rated) drives are not currently being used for that purpose, so the RAID issue can essentially be ignored.Wouldn't migrating the OS simply require ghosting the existing HD onto the new SSD? If anything gets messed up (driver issues) you could repair the Win7 installation on the SSD and it should work properly. From there, you'd need to format the old drive and move FSX there (through an uninstall-reinstall).I could be missing something, however, and I'm generally not the person to go to about hardware, but I thought I'd chip in some.

My two drives are shown as drive c: (one drive), factory set. which means that information is split across both drives (at least that's what the alienware technician told me).

Thanks, cmeeks, for your reply. This is the situation:I cannot get 2 SSDs at this time. Moreover, My OS is OEM, so changing drives means I'm gonna have to buy a new windows 7 (I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong). So, I guess I'll have to go with HDDs, which brings me to the question: can I just buy another hard drive, like a 1TB drive and add it to the hard drives I already have, bearing in mind that they're on RAID0 (I have 2 free bays)? What RPM would be best if I'm going for 1TB? What brand would be advisable? Is it wise to get one single 1TB drive (since it's going to be dedicated to FSX), or 2 x 500GB drives?Thanks again.

You don't need to buy a new copy. As long as you have the disc and key code you should be fine.

Make sure it has a 64MB Cache as well instead of a 32 MB Cache if you get the 7200RPM drive as well.

My two drives are shown as drive c: (one drive), factory set. which means that information is split across both drives (at least that's what the alienware technician told me).

He would be correct. So it is RAID 0 and configured as such. Still, the SATA thing has little to do with it being RAID, so it won't be an issue.

1.- You can clone your OS to a different drive and reactivate W7 if necessary. Changing the motherboard is a different story, but just the drive doesn't breach the EULA. Ask Dell to make sure anyway. If you Clone your W7 to an SSD you will need to be sure the partition ends up properly alligned after cloning the OS drive. If you decide to go this route and Dell confirms it's ok, let me know and I will help you with the clone process and partition aligment2.- If you go with an SSD, make sure it's a SATA II one. Your motherboard has no SATA III support, meaning that if you plug a SATA III SSD, it will run at a lower SATA II speed anyway because of your board limitation, so you may want to save money and get a Vertex 2 or something like that. They are still very fast and the main advantage of an SSD, which is extremely low access time, will still be available to you3.- Only those 2 HDD's are in RAID now, adding a 3rd drive is not a problem, so if you want to keep W7 in your current RAID, and move FSX to a new one (SSD or magnetic) that's no problem at all. 4.- 32MB vs 64MB of disk buffer make no difference. Even 16MB is fine, not sure what makes you think that's a problem Travis.

for me of 10 FPS when I swapped out a harddrive and reinstalled the same items on it. That is why and it is what I have always been told.

for me of 10 FPS when I swapped out a harddrive and reinstalled the same items on it. That is why and it is what I have always been told.

Something was wrong in your previous install then. The disk "cache" is not even a cache that stores recently accesed data as we might think. It's just a buffer where data is temporarily stored until the system reads it or the disk saves it. Nothing to do with disk speed up.How much is 64MB anyway for a cache in a 1-2TB HDD? it's not like that would help keep the chance of a block miss down much :(

I think I'd rather go with a 1TB drive, and leave the other RAID 0 array with the OS. Which brings me to these questions:1. What is wrong with a 10,000 rpm? If noise is the the problem, then I think I can deal with that because I already have a scythe Ultra Kaze 120mm x 38mm 3,000 RPM intake fan, and I'm not bothered.2. I don't know much about power supplies but now I have a 750w PSU, and I hope with all other things I have on my system, this PSU should still be adequate after adding a new hard drive. Am I correct?Thanks for your help