fsx-ms New laptop, ONE internal hard drive. Where to install FSX?

[n4gix 4,947]

I am the OP (original poster). I did as told and installed it in C:\FSX using Windows 10.  Now I am wondering if it was a mistake.   My C: is a 250 GB drive. My D: is about 750 GB (total drive size for the LAPTOP is 1 TB at 5400 rpm).

Had you mentioned this in your original post the advice given would have been very different! The incomplete information you gave led everyone to believe that you had one contiguous drive C:...

 

Whereas now you report that you have a partitioned hard drive with C: @ 250MB and a D: @ 750MB.

 

In that case you would have been advised to install to D:\FSX instead.

[W2DR 1,860]

Had you mentioned this in your original post the advice given would have been very different! The incomplete information you gave led everyone to believe that you had one contiguous drive C:...

 

Whereas now you report that you have a partitioned hard drive with C: @ 250MB and a D: @ 750MB.

 

In that case you would have been advised to install to D:\FSX instead.

 

I couldn't agree more. Now the OP comes back and wonders if it was a mistake? Of course it was a mistake. I'm just about finished offering advice to folks who don't have a clue.

Doug

[SteveW 1,792]

Never heard such meandering advice.

A properly installed FSX boxed ed. or P3D, is installed into default path (so addons don't have a hard time finding it). However, the Users Group must have write and modify permissions added for the FSX folder. If a user folder is created by a user it's only available to that account, so add write and modify for those too or problems may arise later with that account. *That's all you need to know about the security issues surrounding FSX on the default location and causing such unnecessary confusion it hurts.*

If you are installing the Steam ed. install into a short path like C:\SteamApps. The steam folders already have Write and Modify added to the Users group on the steam folders, but there's a bug in the scenery system that mis-interprets long relative paths.

If I had a nickel etc.

[n4gix 4,947]

Steve, if the OP had installed to the "default path" then he'd still have the same problem with the partition size of the "C:" drive being only 250MB.

 

Sometimes one simply has to ignore the "default path" for reasons other than convenience or permission issues.

[SteveW 1,792]

Yes that's correct, but my advice still stands with respect to the permissions problems and no need to ever mess with UAC settings. To add the "missing permissions" to a user made folder or the program files folder; in Explorer, right-click, choose properties, security tab, press edit, choose users group, check write, and modify, apply ok.

 

...regarding the partitioning of drives. With old drives partitioning could reduce the longevity of the drive, but with SSDs, there's no problem, and also later HDDs they have virtual FATs. I'm not sure why the OP partitioned the drive though as it's really unnecessary.

 

 

Other factors to consider whan locating FSX is that the scenery and planes can easily be located in other drives, not just the installed drive.

 

Also note that installing FSX on another drive, is fine but remember all the working folders still remain on drive C: like:

 

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\FSX

C:\Users\[you]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\FSX

C:\Users\[you]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX

C:\Users\[you]\Documents\Flight Simulator X Files

C:\Users\[you]\Pictures\Flight Simulator X Files

 

to name a few.

[mgh 89]

What's the  disadvatages of not installing in C\Program Files (x86). It avoids messing about with UAL and permissions. I've never had to change either.

[SteveW 1,792]

Disadvantages remind me of the time a friend said he'd installed an addon and there were no gauges. The addon installed fine in a default located FSX. Maybe not so much of that around now, but happens. Making your own folder reminds me of another time when they user made another account or his account was corrupted, and none of the stuff worked with the new account. Messing with UAC settings, admin this that and the other, partitioning, and so on isn't necessary and is bewildering to someone new to it that the FSX install folder is somehow a problem. It's the addons erroneously installed into it that expect write permissions that are at fault.

 

Leaving things to default and checking the permission write and modify as I described is *far* more straight forward than partitioning or messing with admin or UAC levels or making folders and re establishing the new folder location to every addon. Does that make sense?

 

avoids messing about with UAL...

By the way, you didn't read me right, I said there's no messing once the permission is set, right after installing FSX - couldn't be simpler.

 

 

"C:" drive being only 250MB.

I think Gb? Surely 250Mb is too small for Windows operating system files.

[bofhlusr 453]

I am the OP (Original Poster).  Some of the replies here made me check my first post.  Quoting myself I said:

"Should I install FSX in a different partition?  Or, just in the root of C:?"

 

The operative words in the two sentences above are DIFFERENT and OR (with a comma). To me the sentences above means that there is more than one partition (ie. the OR implies mutual exclusivity --there is another partition which is different from the C: system partition). My apologies if my meaning was not clear enough to you and if I upset you.  That was not my intent.

 

Is that the consensus then, in a laptop with only ONE drive, the best practice as far as FSX is concerned is to partition the drive into at least two partitions and install FSX in the new non-system partition.  I just want to be sure that this is best practice for FSX before starting everything all over again from scratch (this will take days to do).  Thank you. I appreciate your taking the time to reply to my post.

[bofhlusr 453]

OP here again. And yes, I probably made another mistake.  There's probably a typo there if you think I said MB instead of GB. To repeat, it's 250 GB for C: and 750 GB for the non-system partition for a total of 1 TB drive space.

 

But I started with one partition. The advice here was to install FSX in the C: partition  which I did. That huge partition proved too large for backups and took forever to defrag. So I split it off to two. FSX remained in C:\FSX.

 

My apologies  to some who thought I am a computer dummy.  I guess I should have explained that, yes, I also know computers. Granted I started with mainframes.  But I also got to know PC's. Other than buying a very complete PS/2 system way way back then (think an 80286 chip, a math co-processor for almost $300, a dot-matrix printer and an internal modem) for an employee discounted price of about $4000 ($3995 to be exact), I have been just building and overclocking PC's since then.  

The reason I am seeking advice now is that this is the first time I am running FSX in a laptop which happens to cost less than $1,000 with only one drive (my previous FSX machine was an overclocked desktop  running SSD's, Velociraptor drives, NVidia cards, etc.). In those builds, I used separate drives and never separate partitions. It appears I am about to learn something new:  creating a separate partition for FSX in a single drive system is the way to go.

Thinking out loud here: maybe instead of re-doing everything --what if I just moved my C:\FSX folder to a separate partition and created junctions instead.  That will save me from having to re-install everything.  Instead of uninstalling and re-installing, or re-imaging C: and upgrading to Win10 again (the laptop's default factory image uses Win 8.1), I can just simply move the FSX folder and use junctions. Does anyone know if junctions will mess up my FSX installation which is now in C:\FSX?  Thanks.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,955]

oneleg,

 

I gave you some advice yesterday which you haven't responded to. HDDs are extremely slow compared to SSDs. For that reason alone you should seriously consider switching to one.

[mgh 89]

Disadvantages remind me of the time a friend said he'd installed an addon and there were no gauges.

 

Is that the best you can do - a friend told you? I keep C:\Microsoft \Micosoft Games\ Microsoft Flight Simulator X and have never any problems.

By the way, you didn't read me right, I said there's no messing once the permission is set, right after installing FSX - couldn't be simpler.

You didn't read me my right. I have never changed default permisions or UAL on my PC That is even simpler!

[bofhlusr 453]

@Ray Proudfoot, thank you for the link but I am trying to simplify my life and weaning myself away from tinkering with hardware (see above) which is why I bought a laptop.  The laptop is new and one of those which do not have screws and is seemingly hard to crack open (battery is inaccessible), and replacing the HDD to SDD is not an option. 

 

Unrelated topic - how do I quote or reply to a specific post in this forum?  Pressing the quote or the multi-quote icons apparently doesn't work for me. Thanks.

[SteveW 1,792]

A laptop with one drive? Do yourself a favour and install FSX where it want to go, and check the Modify permission as described, the write permission is automatically checked with that. And then....nothing else to do - ever.

 

You didn't read me my right. I have never changed default permisions or UAL on my PC That is even simpler!

You didn't read me right, I said there's no need for that once the single checkbox has been ticked.

[n4gix 4,947]

I'm not sure why the OP partitioned the drive though as it's really unnecessary.

Steve, the OP explained the reasons:

 

 

But I started with one partition. The advice here was to install FSX in the C: partition  which I did. That huge partition proved too large for backups and took forever to defrag. So I split it off to two. FSX remained in C:\FSX.

Both reasons seem quite reasonable  to me, especially the "too large for backups" one... :wink:

[Jimm 437]

@Ray Proudfoot, thank you for the link but I am trying to simplify my life and weaning myself away from tinkering with hardware (see above) which is why I bought a laptop.  The laptop is new and one of those which do not have screws and is seemingly hard to crack open (battery is inaccessible), and replacing the HDD to SDD is not an option. 

 

Unrelated topic - how do I quote or reply to a specific post in this forum?  Pressing the quote or the multi-quote icons apparently doesn't work for me. Thanks.

If you don't mind me asking, what is the manufacturer of your laptop?  I have quite a bit of experience dealing with laptop hardware and general setups of laptops.  I read through every response here, and putting aside the rather inappropriate banter, I will stand by anyone who suggested installing FSX to a partition other than the system partition, whatever drive letter it may be.  I have 4 SSDs in my laptop and even to this day, I still install my sims on a different drive (or partition in your case, as you only have one physical drive).

 

Please keep this in mind (and heed what Ray Proudfoot stated about SSDs), that your single physical drive runs at 5400rpm.  Long ago i started out flying FSX with a 5400rpm drive and it was murder because of the physical speed limits of the drive.  As Ray said, SSD rpices are rather low now, but if cash is still tight, might I recommend a 1TB 7200 drive. Amazon has this one for a VERY reasonable rpice, and it's got plenty of space:

 

http://www.amazon.com/HGST-Travelstar-2-5-Inch-Internal-0J22423/dp/B00B4QESVQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1450464760&sr=8-3&keywords=1tb+7200rpm

 

I would honestly, if it were my machine, uninstall every last bit of FSX, then assess whether you want to upgrade the drive.  If you want to leave it as is, start a complete reinstall to the other partition (as you say it has much more space).  To counter the argument over benefits, yes you will gain some performance running off a separate partition (or drive) but there are still folders and files that get copied to your OS partition so if you had to reinstall the OS and had not backed up the folders and files that resided on the OS drive, they would be gone and would be hard to replace (possibly a repair might work, but don't put a lot of stock in that).

 

Hopefully, my advice and suggestions helped you out.

 

-Jim