My new PC will have 2, maybe 3 hard drives (depending on the condition of one), a couple with the size to easily handle FSX and all of it's addons that I have, and my question is, should I give FSX it's own drive? What would be the most efficient way of handling FSX on a brand new PC?

My bottom line? It really doesn't matter. You'll get lots of opinions on this subject but, over the years, I've tried every conceivable combination. And the result has always been the same, i.e., no noticeable difference. I've used 5400 RPM drives, 7200 RPM drives, 10000 RPM drives, and SSDs. Same drive as OS and different drive from OS... and...no noticeable difference.

 

Just a couple of weeks ago I took FSX off of an SSD (with the OS)  and put it back on a 10000 RPM Velociraptor in an external SATA docking station. Other than slightly slower loading times...no difference.

 

For some things the drive configuration is worth worrying about. But not FSX............

 

Doug

If you have a choice,  put FSX on it's own drive.

 

Easier to manage,  and better for performance.

 

If you want faster load times (and quiet operation..),  put it on an SSD.

At this point ISTM that it is cheap enough just to get a dedicated SSD for FSX.  Will you notice it?  Probably just for initial load but for me that's enough.  I can't think of any advantage to using a HDD.  Then get a 3Tb for all your junk, backups, etc.

 

scott s.

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The question about putting FSX on a seperate drive or not should not be related to any performance discussion. Fact: as long as you keep your FSX on a seperate disc, backups, restoring backups or moving to a new computer is by FAR more easy and less error prone. Personally, I do not have anything else installed on my C: SSD drive apart from Windows, Office and directly related software such as Firefox etc. For FSX, I have a dedicated SSD drive and for all other stuff such as games etc., I have a 1TB harddisk.

 

Sure, you can mix everything up and you will not see performance issues, but good luck if you have to perform a deeper operation on your build such as replacing the disc, changing OS or reverting back to an older backup of your FSX. If you anyway have several drives, I would certainly give FSX its dedicated one. Makes things easier...

FSX on its own SSD every time for me. It's not just slightly faster than a HDD, it's much faster and doesn't need defragmenting.

 

Use 1 small SSD for the OS and as large a one as you can afford for FSX plus scenery. I did this 2 years ago and would do the same again.

 

Do backups too. I use Aomei Backupper which is free and excellent.