How big is yours?

[jetsflier 87]

My FSX Root Folder which contains everything I currently use has a whopping...

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30.8GB on it, and I also have a flash drive containing 2-3 more GB of aircraft I no longer use.

[uhntissbaby111 58]

thanks everyone for the replies, i got a pretty good idea of what to expect in terms of folder size. and i think what im going to do is get a 256GB SSD for fsx, which should last me for a while and then just get a bigger one when the time comes.

 

adam

[cptawsom 19]

It is possible. Have been doing that for yonks. Using MJ Link.

 

Thanks to JvanE Jeroen. Avsim member

 

Actually, you can quite easily move any folder anywhere you want to (at least in Windows 7 but probably also in Vista: don't know about XP), even the Orbx-folders, by using the Windows junction option. You will fool the system into thinking the folder is where it should be while it is somewhere else.

 

DISCLAIMER: Try this at your own risk. The situation can be undone easily be copying everything back and removing one file (more about that later).

 

Imagine you want to move the Orbx folder entirely to another drive, so also out of the FSX folder, which is impossible under normal circumstances.

 

Let's say the current path to the Orbx-folder is this:

 

C:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\ORBX

 

Now move the entire Orbx folder out of the FSX folder to a new folder on another drive (if you want to), for instance here:

 

D:\Programs\ORBX

 

After doing that, open the command prompt (cmd.exe) and go to the folder where the Orbx folder originally was, in this example C:\Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Use the good old DOS-commands to get you there*. When you are there type this (I am using this example's folder names and path but obviously you have to change everything to your folder names and path, but do use the " where they are noted!):

 

mklink /J "ORBX" "D:\Programs\ORBX"

 

and hit Enter.

 

So that is mklink /J "name-of-the-folder-you-moved" "the-complete-path-to-the-new-location"

 

From now on the computer will think the folder is still where it was while it actually resides on another disk. Since the computer still thinks the folder is where it was, you will be able to install and uninstall new sceneries without any problems: you simply tricked the computer into thinking the folder is where it should be (in the FSX folder) but everything will be installed in the new location.

 

To undo all this, remove the file that's created by mklink (it creates a file where the folder originally was) and copy back the entire folder to its original spot.

 

* DOS commands

- to get to the root directory of the current drive type cd\ and hit Enter

- to get to another drive using the command prompt, type the letter of the drive followed by a : and hit Enter

- to get to another folder using the command prompt, type cd followed by a space and the path to the folder and hit Enter

 

Unfortunately junction links do not always work as they should in Windows. They are unreliable some times, when files/dirs have to be moved/renamed/deleted (eg uninstallers, airport/aircraft control panels, AFCAD changers, etc.).

 

Only in UNIX/Linux symlinks are flawless.

[ZKOKQ 984]

Understood, but have only used it for addons that don't have complicated installers and uninstallers. Some Aerosoft addons for example, but airports like UK200 work fine. Fly Tampa is another example that I don't use the link. It works good, as long as you are cautious with what you move. Orbx was the easiest to move without side effects, and I thought that would be the worst, go figure.

[spilok 1,133]

139 gigs.

 

Stan

[Lawyer+Pilot 126]

Your thread title is a bit like the $2,000 debit cards that FEMA give to hurricane Katrina evacuees: Well intentioned, but begging for trouble.