Hi all,

 

I had a question I was hoping everyone here may be able to help with. I currently have 4 drives in my PC, listed below:

 

250 GB SSD - OS, FSX, Orbx, Other small non-FSX programs

120 GB SSD - FSX addons (REX and Planes)

3TB HDD - iTunes

1TB HDD - Storage and where my USERTEMP and WINTEMP files are written (saves writes on the SSD)

 

The set up for the OS, FSX, and the add-ons kind of developed over time and as I look at it now, it doesn't make sense. What I would really like to do is to be able to move my OS to the smaller SSD and have everything FSX-related on the larger SSD so it would look like:

 

250GB SSD - FSX, FSX add ons

120GB SSD - OS and other non-FSX programs

 

And then leave the other two drives alone. Would this be at all possible with any kind of cloning software? Can I move the OS to the smaller SSD and then move FSX to the larger SSD. I don't mind reinstalling all of the add-ons for FSX after FSX has been moved to the larger SSD. I've already done hours and hours of customization and work for my FSX install which I'd hate to have to repeat if it wasn't necessary. I would sincerely appreciate any help or advice offered. Thank you so much!!

I would sincerely appreciate any help or advice offered. Thank you so much!!

I do not know about the OS. I doubt it can be moved. Here's a link to how to move FSX - http://forum.avsim.net/topic/421783-how-to-move-fsx-to-new-drive/ . Looks very complicated to me!

 

Best regards,

That post way over-explains and complicates the process. Moving FSX to another drive is very simple. Just move your FSX folder over to your preferred location on the new drive. After that, you can now create a junction. With this, Windows will see FSX as still being on your current drive, but forward it to the location on the new drive without breaking any addons. To create a junction, open an elevated command prompt (right click, Run as Administrator) and issue the following command: mklink /j <directory where FSX used to be> <directory where FSX is now>

 

Example demonstrating moving your FSX from Program Files on your C drive to a secondary drive designated K: mklink /j "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X" G:\Games\FSX

 

As far as cloning Windows, I believe this is actually possible. I know there is a tool that can do this via a CD, but I cannot think of the name at the moment.

You can move everything. I've done it, and know others that have as well. You need to find software that can clone a drive. The only issue I found was that I had to re-install a couple of aircraft because the licencing must have profiled the hardware. I used a product from EaseUS.

Moving FSX is no problem, I installed a new SSD and just dropped my FSX folder over to it then changed the drive name of my old drive where it use to be to another name so I could then change the name of my new SSD to the same letter as the old drive that use to have FSX on it. Works great!

 

Moving the OS I suspect is a little more complicated and I've never had to do that yet. But I do have my C: drive backup using WIndows backup utility and if it crashes I hope to be able to install the backup to a new C: drive and have it work....at least they claim it will B)  

That post way over-explains and complicates the process. Moving FSX to another drive is very simple. Just move your FSX folder over to your preferred location on the new drive. After that, you can now create a junction. With this, Windows will see FSX as still being on your current drive, but forward it to the location on the new drive without breaking any addons. To create a junction, open an elevated command prompt (right click, Run as Administrator) and issue the following command: mklink /j <directory where FSX used to be> <directory where FSX is now>

 

Example demonstrating moving your FSX from Program Files on your C drive to a secondary drive designated K: mklink /j "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X" G:\Games\FSX

 

As far as cloning Windows, I believe this is actually possible. I know there is a tool that can do this via a CD, but I cannot think of the name at the moment.

 

I've seen this written and posted in other places. I had 2 questions about it though:

 

1. Do I need to keep the original FSX directory or can that be deleted?

2. When I install add-ons, do I still need to reference the original directory or will I now install add-ons to the new directory?

I've seen this written and posted in other places. I had 2 questions about it though:

 

1. Do I need to keep the original FSX directory or can that be deleted?

2. When I install add-ons, do I still need to reference the original directory or will I now install add-ons to the new directory?

 

1. The whole point of using a junction and putting FSX on the new drive is to be able to remove it from the current drive, so yes! Think of a junction as a shortcut. The actual contents are elsewhere, but the junction simulates the contents being where the junction is and points Windows to the new location.

2. I would probably point to the junction just in case, but it shouldn't matter.

But if I delete the original FSX folder on my C drive, isn't that then breaking the shortcut? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure I understand.

 

I tried running mklink \j but got an error saying: "Cannot create a file when that file already exists"

 

I copied my FSX files from C:\FSX to F:\FSX

Never mind, I figured it out! I also did some more research to understand what I was actually doing!

 

Thanks so much for your help!!