Hi Guys and Dolls!Having used the search facility there was nothing in the Daily News!This is very specific to FS9 and my quest to move it from the present "C" Drive to an external hard drive. I have used different search engines but, alas, there are many FSX topics about the subject and too many different scenarios being offered that no single one is the same. Therefore, to keep this in the FS9 Forum, can someone or several well informed persons please give me a real step-by-step account of how to do it? Yes, there are payware add ons included, but the main goal here is to give my workhorse computer the free space that is now required.Answers on something more than a postage stamp would be most welcome and a big thank you in anticipation.Long live FS9 and all who use her!Sauviat

Hi,I have FS9 on a separate drive, but I did not "move" the software to it. The cleanest method is a fresh install of FS and all your add ons - there are other methods but I find the time invested for a clean install well worth the effort.Best,Jim Harnes

Ditto on what Jim said....I run FS9 on a separate SSD, which works well, but definitely recommend a clean install when doing so. It's a pain, but it's worth it.

Well, you could move the entire folder to the new drive, then use a small utility called the FS Registry repair. It lets you search for the fs9 executable and it updates the registry with the new location. VERY simple to use.Locate the file hereRegistry Repair

Thank you all for taking the time to respond, it is much appreciated. :( May I add something to this for clarification?The essence of my quest is to place FS9 on to an external hard drive (500GB), which is networked. Obviously, it is a standalone, with no WindowsXP OS. Whilst I cannot go to the expense of a PC just for FS9, I do now need to clear FS9 to another location off the main hard drive, partioned or otherwise. Therefore, is this possible, given what you have mentioned?Thanks, againSauviat

Thank you all for taking the time to respond, it is much appreciated. :( May I add something to this for clarification?The essence of my quest is to place FS9 on to an external hard drive (500GB), which is networked. Obviously, it is a standalone, with no WindowsXP OS. Whilst I cannot go to the expense of a PC just for FS9, I do now need to clear FS9 to another location off the main hard drive, partioned or otherwise. Therefore, is this possible, given what you have mentioned?Thanks, againSauviat

Hi,A more simple (and partial) alternative may be to move **only** your (add-on) sceneries.This prevents a lot of potential issues with 3rd party add-ons etc if you move your whole FS installation.Moving your (add-on) sceneries is simply moving them to your new drive and edit the entries in the scenery.cfg.(The external drive must be mapped first in Windows explorer, but I guess you already did)If you still want to move your whole FS9 install, I agree with the others: Do a clean reinstall.

Egbert, when you say "addon sceneries", do you literally mean the complete Addon scenery folder?If I choose the complete re-installation of FS9 on to the external hard drive, which types of files could be dropped in from the existing installation to cut down on the workload?I understand that payware would have to be reinstalled, but I have the keys, etc.All that said, is there a noticable difference in the performance by having FS9 running as a standalone configuration?Thereafter, all new addons have to be directed to the new location especially those with excutibles that are set up to go to the "C" Drive automatically!This last couple of questions should set me in the right direction, thank you.By keeping the original FS9 installation on the computer, but having everything directed to the external hard drive, should I run into any problems operting FS9 from the external hard drive, I have always the origial to fall back on during testing. Thereafter, if all goes well, I should be able to delete the original installation.Sauviat

Egbert, when you say "addon sceneries", do you literally mean the complete Addon scenery folder?

Yes and some more scenery folders, depending on your payware sceneries.Aerosoft sceneries are mostly installed in the '../FS2004/Aerosoft' folder, UK2000 sceneries in the '../FS2004/UK2000 Scenery' folder etc.Best is to analyse your scenery.cfg so you know where the add-on sceneries are installed.Leave the FS2004 default sceneries on the C-Drive, don't touch/move them. <Area.001> untill approximately <Area.037>But first analyse if the movement of your add-on sceneries creates enough disk space otherwise it's not worth the effort.

If I choose the complete re-installation of FS9 on to the external hard drive, which types of files could be dropped in from the existing installation to cut down on the workload?

None, re-install all.

All that said, is there a noticable difference in the performance by having FS9 running as a standalone configuration?

What do you mean exactly by this?If you run FS2004 from a networked drive, you want to have a 1GB network and probably not a 100MB network.I don't have any experience in running FS from networked drives, only from (internal/external) disks other then C:\ drivesBe advised:

• Make a backup of your current setup if anything goes wrong
• Only move/edit etc when you know what you are doing, otherwise go for the complete re-install.

Thank you to all for the time given to respond.It looks as it is going to be a complete re-install to the external hard drive!Now to organise the routers and hubs and the calculations. Long process I fear, but necessary as I want to keep FS9.With Kind RegardsSauviat

Egbert, I have just received this at 11:25 French time this morning, but it is not on the Forum!"sauviat,Egbert Drenth has just posted a reply to a topic that you have subscribed to titled "Can I move fs2004 to a separate hard drive"."Further develoments! I am using an external hard drive with USB connected to the computer where FS9 is installed already. The idea is to reinstall to the external. However, When I place Disc 1 in to the CD/DVD disc drive, it is reading it Windows Explorer, but the CD will not run. Even when I use the add/remove function in the control panel nothing happens. Running "setup" and still nothing happens although it recognises the CD.Is this an inherent problem if FS9 is already installed, but you want to reinstall it in another location?ThanksSauviat

Edited July 4, 201114 yr by sauviat

I have now found out why it is NOT possible to re-install to an external hard drive attached to the same computer!When you place Disc 1 into the CD drive, the setup process commences and you are asked to "Run" or "Uninstall". Why is this, because it believes, correctly, that it is already installed!!! When I tried it on a computer where FS9 has not been installed, there is no problem to go further!I have loaded (transferred) Discs 1, 2, and 3 on to the external drive and tried to install from there, but it is still seeking a disc in the CD Drive - i.e., Disc 4 to run FS9.Please, someone out there, point me in the direction where something must be changed, without uninstalling FS9, so that the computer C drive/external hard drive recognises the installation as a new install?I know that there must be a logical way to proceed with this, and it has to be somewhere within how the CD drive and OS talk with each other with executable files. :( ThanksSauviat

Hi all!Thanks to all that have responed. It is now on the external drive and the long slog to configure commences.This is now been resolved!Sauviat