Hey guysmy pc is now 2 years old and getting slow cause there is so mutch stuff on there i dont need, i want to reformat how can i do this and still safe FS? i.e all my AI traffic///anyone got some ideas?cheers (i can make an image of my harddrive my friend has one we can connect)

no ideas anyone?cheersNick

First - I assume from what you say that we are talking about a PC that has only one Hard drive with only on partition - ie; C:/ which contains both your OS and all other programs including FS.If that is so - borrow the second HDD from your friend - connect it to the second position on the IDE ribbon cable - make sure it is configured as slave(Look at the underside of the HDD and set the jumper according to the instructions,).Start the PC and make sure the new HDD has been recognized and found by Windows.Format it if necccessary.Copy C:/Program Files/Microsoft Games/FS9( or FS2002 if thats what you have) to the new HDD whivch will have been named D:/.Also You can copy the FS .cfg file if you wish to the new HDD.Then do your format c:/ and reinstall Windows etc.Install FS from the CDs to the default location C:/Program Files/Microsoft Games/When you have done all this copy the entire contents of the "old"FS folder on D:/ to within the "new" FS folder on C:/ allowing overwrites.You should then have all your AI traffic, addon aircraft etc available in a nice clean new install of Windows and FS.Dave

wow thanks a million! i will probably go and do that since my computer is not that umm 'clean' anymore after two years!thanks!cheersNick

Another way is to get a CD Writer and burn the files onto CD.(Also creates a handy back up of the files should you get a new PC.)You can then redo the hard drive and simply copy the files back.P.S.Don't forget to back up the FS9 folder in My Documents and settings, as it contains a lot of settings for your aircraft and your settings etc.Will be somting like:C:Documents and SettingsYOUR_USER_NAMEApplication DataMicrosoftFS9

Just to add to this--be sure you save your "flight" files with all your saved flights and flight plans.Can be found in the My Documents folder (assuming XP) on the desktop or via Windows Explorer. It is the Flight Simulator Files folder. That way you do not have to recreate all those flight plans you developed and saved. I believe there is also a copy of this folder in the FS9 folder under Application Data etc as explained in the post above.Paul

heythanks guys...is it important to save your fs9.cfg??? cause if i copy all the planes etc, then re-install FS and put planes back (with scenery acitve sky etc.) do i need to put in my old fs9.cfg?? or should i just leave it with the one i just installed?cheersNick