Starting to install onto an SSD

[Paul Humphries 0]

AS my FSX starts to fatal more and more I have bitten the bullet and installed an SSD to fun FSX. Its 2 years since the last install so you can imagine the add-on's that need to be installed again

 

Is it OK to run the NGX on the 2 systems until I get fully up and running on the SSD?

 

 

Many thanks.

 

Paul Humphries

[ICMC 1]

Hi Paul

 

What do you mean with 2 systems?

If you want to run it from 2 HDD's then yes that can be done. I do this also as one HDD is to small. Not all software can be run from a different HDD as it has to implement itself into the MS FSX folder.

The question I have is why are you using a SSD?

Remember: A SSD has a limited amount of ' write to '

SSD's are OK for storage if very seldom data is being changed. There are a lot of changes to your FSX folder everytime you use FSX which makes a SSD go fast down the tubes and they are a bit expensive still to use them like that

I would advise to use a WD HDD like a Raptor or a VelociRaptor at 10,000 rpm if you need fast access due to the amount of software.

Furthermore to make things even faster use 2 HDD's and maybe also a 2nd PC and use WideFS, etc.

 

Hope that info helps.

 

Thx Ian

[oskrypuch 36]

I am now a big fan of SSDs, at least modern, fast SSDs like the OCX vertex 3.

 

My main FSX computer, I have migrated to an SSD for D: (FSX and add-ons drive), main drive C: (system) currently a WD Caviar -- I am about to replace it with an SSD.

 

Previously I used a Raptor for the FSX drive, it is sitting idle at the moment.

 

I also have two Tb caviars in a RAID 1 (mirror) format as drive E:, which is used for backups of multiple computers on the network.

 

Windows 7 has native TRIM support which largely removes the issue of stray assigned groups of sectors, which otherwise can whittle away performance and available space. SSDs are limited in write counts, but this is unlikely to be a factor in the normal life of the drive/computer.

 

Although initially gun-shy on SSDs, I am in with both feet now. Though they don't make a huge improvement in in-sim performance, startups are much faster, and then run much cooler too. All our laptops are now equipped with SSDs.

 

The only down side is the cost/Gb, but that is coming down fast too.

 

* Orest

[MichaelTurner 5]

I have FSX plus scenery and aircraft addons installed on a 256Gb SSD that I bought about 3 months ago and am very satisfied with the results. Apart from the near instantaneous start up and shutdown of W7, FSX loads up far more quickly. For example, after clicking on FLY at Manchester Xtreme with full England and Wales VFR scenery I'm ready to fly in 90 seconds whereas previously I could be wait 5 minutes for everything to load. And I find that any add on aircraft load far more quickly on the selection page. I haven't noticed any difference in FPS though the scenery does seem to load more smoothly.

 

As for longevity, there doesn't seem to be enough data on which to draw any firm conclusions. The general consensus seems to be that even if frequent read/write cycles do shorten the life of an SSD it will still last longer than an equivalent HDD. And SSD prices do seem to have dropped quite dramatically even in the 3 months since I bought mine.

 

My unequivocal advice to anyone thinking of taking this step would be to go ahead. Even if you get a small capacity SSD and have to install some addon scenery on a separate HDD (as I have done) you will still notice an enormous improvement in load times.

[coa1117 53]

Remember: A SSD has a limited amount of ' write to '

SSD's are OK for storage if very seldom data is being changed. There are a lot of changes to your FSX folder everytime you use FSX which makes a SSD go fast down the tubes and they are a bit expensive still to use them like that

 

Not true in my case. I've been using two Crucial M4 SSDs (512GB and 256GB) for just about a year and there's been no degradation in performance at all. I run WIN7-64 and all of my apps, including FSX, from the larger drive and it's still at 100% health. The WIN7 Trim function works as advertised, so writes continue to be very speedy. In reality stuff gets installed to the SSD and rarely gets removed, so the data is more permanent than transient. This is especially true with FSX. Also, I don't think there are that many file changes with each run of FSX to warrant the kind of concern you have about this degrading the SSD. I've seen no degradation at all -- even with AS2012 and REX-E doing their thing before each flight.

 

One thing I do is to never download stuff to the SSD. I've got an HDD set as the default download location and files archive because this involves frequent additions, unpacking and deletions of files. So this moves the wear and tear of that process off the SSD. I don't know if this is absolutely necessary, but to me it makes sense to not burden the SSD with file activity in which ultra-fast reads/writes are not necessary.

 

It's amazing how much prices have plunged recently. I noticed NewEgg had the Crucial M4 256GB drive on sale this weekend for $179 (I believe the sale has ended now and the price is at $209). In comparison, last year I paid $429 for the same unit. Ahh, the cost of being on the bleeding edge.

[brian747 5]

Another happy SSD user here. Ignore misinformation dating from earlier days, and go for it! :P

 

I took the option of installing a "kit" which included a binary copier utility to copy from my previous boot disk to the SSD. I removed everything from my C: drive except Windoze and fsx stuff, then cloned the result onto a 240 Gb SSD, changed the boot drive in the BIOS, and have never looked back.

 

As mentioned above, apart from the blazingly fast Windoze startup, the load times for fsx have plummeted. (No increase in frame rates, of course, but none was expected).

 

Good luck,

 

Brian

[bradrcfii 3]

Been running SSD's for two years now and have noticed no problems and can't see running FSX with them.

[falcon999 24]

No problems with SSD's here. Make sure you format with the correct offset to get the full performance.

[Paul Humphries 0]

Thank you for your replies, going to go for it.

 

One final question once the new installed version is registered, will I still be able to use the older version in the interim whilst installing all my other add-ons?

 

Thanks again

Paul.

[zmak 331]

Im Running fsx over to SSD's and have

AS my FSX starts to fatal more and more I have bitten the bullet and installed an SSD to fun FSX. Its 2 years since the last install so you can imagine the add-on's that need to be installed again

 

Is it OK to run the NGX on the 2 systems until I get fully up and running on the SSD?

 

 

Many thanks.

 

Paul Humphries

 

 

There is no need to uninstall, you can easily transfer to your SSD using this tutorial http://forum.avsim.n...over-to-an-ssd/

 

took me all of 10mins

[MichaelTurner 5]

Make sure you format with the correct offset to get the full performance

This is new to me . Please explain how to do this and how it differs from a 'normal' format. Thank you

[tazisdylan 2]

The question I have is why are you using a SSD?

Remember: A SSD has a limited amount of ' write to '

SSD's are OK for storage if very seldom data is being changed. There are a lot of changes to your FSX folder everytime you use FSX which makes a SSD go fast down the tubes and they are a bit expensive still to use them like that

 

Sorry to say, but as a general statement this information is inaccurate. If the user (like Paul) is on Win 7, TRiM will take care of this and you will see little to no degredation in performance. I have been using an SSD for sometime now and run FSx from it and still enjoy lightening fast boot times, read/write speeds and load times.

 

So go ahead and enjoy the benefits.