I know people say it's better to have FSX on a separate HDD to the operating system, but for those of us with only one HDD, is there any benefit to be gained from a seperate partition, just for FSX?

No!

I know people say it's better to have FSX on a separate HDD to the operating system, but for those of us with only one HDD, is there any benefit to be gained from a seperate partition, just for FSX?

 

No, just don't install it into the default programs and files folder.

Create a new folder or directory on your C drive (or whatever letter it is).

A seperate partition might be even worse than simply installing it on the same HDD. I stopped using partitions years ago. I keep things on one HDD/SSD or buy another. No partitions for me. ^_^

Already experienced in another drive, did not change anything.
But settling in on another folder, say C: \ FSX, you will have some benefits.


João Alfredo

I agree there would be no performance advantage using a separate partition for FSX on a single drive. Separate partitions do however allow independent backups and restores to be undertaken which can be useful at times. Partitions also make it easier to grow your PC in the future (buy a new drive and move a partition to it).  

I just got a new rig with two SSDs. Wow. Just wow. I installed the NGX in about 40 seconds. Even a full install of FSX only took about five minutes. From hitting the .exe I'm at the gate in the NGX within 35 seconds. Don't know why I didn't go SSD sooner!

I know people say it's better to have FSX on a separate HDD to the operating system, but for those of us with only one HDD, is there any benefit to be gained from a seperate partition, just for FSX?

The main advantage of FS[X] being on a seperate partition [or preferable a seperate disk] is that when your Windows crashes you won't have to reinstall everything. By using a little trick with Windows, I've placed FSX on a newer, faster disk. That would not have been possible when FSx would have been on the same partition as Windows [=just 1 partition] To keep files save it is allways better to have more than one parttion. Eg.: C= Windows D=FSX E= reservesm foto's personal docs and waht not, This kind of setup saved the day more then just once, IT professionals do it this way with my companies laptop so I'm very curious why home users should not do it the same way.

Installed FSX on its own dedicated SSD in its own folder, not the default X86/program/files one. I then employed xxxxxx's software and hardware tweaking guide. I have not looked back since. I now have the most problem free, stable  sim I've ever experienced. Nothing's more frustrating than suffering a CTD at the end of a long flight.

The main advantage of FS[X] being on a seperate partition [or preferable a seperate disk] is that when your Windows crashes you won't have to reinstall everything. By using a little trick with Windows, I've placed FSX on a newer, faster disk. That would not have been possible when FSx would have been on the same partition as Windows [=just 1 partition] To keep files save it is allways better to have more than one parttion. Eg.: C= Windows D=FSX E= reservesm foto's personal docs and waht not, This kind of setup saved the day more then just once, IT professionals do it this way with my companies laptop so I'm very curious why home users should not do it the same way.

If Windows crashes and you reinstall it you also need to reinstall FSX no matter where FSX is installed. There are parts of FSX that get installed right into your Windows installation.

JSkorna is right, FSX gets installed into the Windows registry and a lot of FSX configuration files and trusted files list is also part of the C drive.  I still use partitions, but I also use two drives.  First drive is partitioned into C and partitions for documents/pics/videos and a partition for business software, disk utilities and such.  The second hard drive is also partitioned, with the first partition reserved for FSX, the second for all other games, and the third is for storing files.  If you are using only one drive, there is no benefit in creating partitions.  Multiple drives can realize some benefits in loading times and overall smoothness.

 

 

is there any benefit to be gained from a seperate partition, just for FSX?

 

Yes, a very big one:

 

If you ever get another/newer/larger/SSD drive, where you want to move FSX, do not have to do any reinstall. Just do a plain file copy of everything, and then swap the drive letters of old<->new partition.

 

But if you have FSX in your system partition, you cannot do that (and have to reinstal everything) because the system partition letter cannot be changed.

 

So, yes, always install in a diferrent (preferably dedicated) partition, and (as eveybody above said), always in a custom directory (not program files) that you have created as a plain (not administrator) user.

And you would also probably install a fresh OS which would also require a new FSX install.

 

And you would not have the correct drive letters and paths in the Windows registry.

 

And you would not have the correct paths in the scenery.cfg file.

 

So the benefits are very small and the problems created very large.

I once had a virus that destroyed Windows. My sim was on partition drive F: and my C:documents and settings where all the other sim files are kept was unaffected.
I deleted all the Windows files to allow a clean install of Windows. got everything back relinked a few things here and there but the sim worked first time without anything having to be done.

So now I have in effect a sim that's not in the registry!!!!!!!!!!

Whenever I reinstall the OS, I also reinstall all my software. Even when I have everything on seperate drives. I don't mind spending a few hours or a weekend getting everything fresh and new again. Only reinstalling the OS and then going through all kinds of problems to get all my old programs running (mainly FSX and a lot of music making software) and messing things up again before I got even started using the software is so NOT worth it. I reinstalled my complete PC the previous weekend: Windows 7 was running within half an hour or less (I will time it the next time, it might as well have been 15 minutes) and FSX was up and running with all my favorite addons within no time. The next day I installed all music software: took some time but BOY it's great having a clean and lean system with nothing else but the things I want on it.

 

Big tip: I have made a list of EVERY step I take when I install everything. This way you don't have to figure out everything again during a reinstall. (And no, don't think you will remember how you solved this or that or what the setting was of this addon and that plugin...!) I simply take out my list, follow it to the letter, and I am good to go within (what I would regard as) no time.

 

Another thing I do before I reinstall is spend an hour or so to get ALL the latest updates/installers and delete everything all the old updates/installers. This way not only my PC is lean and clean but also my downloads folder.

 

Yes, I like things well organized. ^_^

 

Anyway, reinstalling everything really beats all those restoring/hacking/copying/editing tips to get the old mixed in with the new and it prevents unavoidable errors and problems...

 

The way I do it it's even FUN to reinstall a PC! ^_^