Move P3D installation to a different disk volume without re-installing?

[odourboy 1,286]

I've got a new large (1TB) SSD for system and now wish to consolidate some contents of two drives to one. I'd like to move my P3D installation from my F: drive to my E: drive without having to go through the headaches of rebuilding it from scratch.

 

I'm thinking I can do a direct copy of the P3D folder from one drive to the other, then adjust the 'pointers' (shortcuts, registry entries? etc.) to point at the new location. Is this possible (I presume it is) and would it be fairly straight forward, or do I need to bite the bullet on this? The only other complication I can think of is that a couple of UTX regions installed into P3D also and would need to redirect the configuration executables for them also.

 

What do I need to do to accomplish this?

[flyingsub1959 3]

I have successfully moved ORBX to another drive as I was runing out of space in my P3D drive. All that I needed to do was to create a directory hard link to the new location of ORBX so that it still appears to be within the P3D directory. I used symlink creator to do this as it was a very useful and free program.

[AviatorMoser 353]

Yep symlinks are the way to go.

 

Look into SteamMover. It was designed to move Steam games to another drive using symlinks, but it works for any folder.

[RamonB 449]

Easiest/safest way to do it is to use the new drive as F: (same as you have now for P3D),

that way you won't have to mess with registry entries, P3D registration info and other hard to find paths from addons,

(Also all links and shortcuts from windows to drive F will remain untouched)

 

 

1.  For P3D you need to uninstall ONLY the Prepar3D v3 Academic Client, (From Programs and Features < 1 minute)

2.  Then change the drive letter of your old drive to O or any another letter. (From Computer Management -> Disk Management)

3., Power off, Install the new drive, initialize and format it while assigning its drive Letter to F (From Computer Management -> Disk Management)

3a. Reboot if necessary.

4.  Move all your P3D folders and any other folders you want to the new F drive

5.  Reinstall the Prepar3D v3 Academic Client (< 2 minutes)

 

6.  Start P3D, enter your registration info.

7. Go Fly.

 

 

Symbolic and Hard links work fine, but the OP is changing drives, to a new 1TB SSD.

[odourboy 1,286]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not sure if that will work here because the old volume will be removed entirely. I have two small disks E: (with FSX) and F: (with P3D) and wish to put them both on a new E: drive and remove F: completely. I have to move one or the other, and since my P3D install is a lot simpler (addons etc.) I figure it's the preferred one to try to move.

 

I know from experience I can simply copy FSX to the new disk and as long as the volume info is set on the new disk as it was on the old, It will be happy. So the P3D has to physically change volumes.

[RamonB 449]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not sure if that will work here because the old volume will be removed entirely. I have two small disks E: (with FSX) and F: (with P3D) and wish to put them both on a new E: drive and remove F: completely. I know I can simply copy FSX to the new disk and as long as the volume info is set on the new disk as it was on the old, It will be happy. But P3DE has to physically change volumes.

In this case you have to make a choice, ( but remember, You must uninstall-reinstall the P3D client)

 

1. Create 2 volumes on your new drive E: & F: (size them according to your needs) and move each sim to its partition, or

2. Use the new drive as E and keep FSX intact, then do as I posted above to move P3D, then fix all other paths pertaining to P3D. (addons, cfg files, etc)

3. Use the new drive as F and keep P3D running doing as I posted previously, then move FSX and fix all path entries for FSX (don't know if FSX registration ties to a drive letter)

 

It's Your choice.

[vgbaron 3,482]

I'm with Kabronicus - don't look for trouble - the simplest and most efficient is

 

1. Create 2 volumes on your new drive E: & F: (size them according to your needs) and move each sim to its partition.

 

Messing around with redirects and simlinks works but if something goes wrong, it will be a mess.

 

As the saying goes - it's the KISS principle - "Keep It Simple Stupid" - not calling you stupid - just the saying!

 

Vic

[odourboy 1,286]

Naive question: What if I copy the F:\PrepareD v3\ folder in it's entirety and to E:\PrepareD v3\ then do a global change in the registry of all occurrences of F:\PrepareD v3 to E:PrepareD v3?

[RamonB 449]

Naive question: What if I copy the F:\PrepareD v3\ folder in it's entirety and to E:\PrepareD v3\ then do a global change in the registry of all occurrences of F:\PrepareD v3 to E:PrepareD v3?

Whatever you decide to do

 

You must uninstall-reinstall the Prepar3D v3 Academic Client. (No cutting corners here)

[odourboy 1,286]

No worries there... Client uninstall and reinstall is not a big deal, having done that a few times for upgrades. Would my idea for moving the folder work or is that a non-starter?

[vgbaron 3,482]

MAYBE - but if it doesn't - you are toast because you won't be able to properly uninstall it - meaning you'd have to just delete everything and wait for LM to give you new activation. Not to mention that any add ons you have installed would 1) need to be UNinstalled before the move and 2) reinstalled after the move.

 

If you just clone the F:\ drive to a NEW F:\ drive - you need do nothing else - just fly.

 

Frankly, you are taking an extremely simple task and making it much more complicated than it is.

 

Do you have something against the letter F?  

 

Vic

[odourboy 1,286]

Not at all Vic - just not keen on splitting a nice 1TB disk into two smaller volumes. :smile: I hate fragmentation!

 

I'm not stuck in a groove here - just exploring the options.

 

I don't have that many add-ons or customizations yet in P3D, so I may just opt for a clean install on the new drive. But, I would like to see if I can have my cake and eat it too.

[vgbaron 3,482]

I did essentially the same thing a while back - split a 1TB SSD for FSX and P3D - not too long after that I quit using FSX and just expanded the F:\P3D to the full drive.

 

You don't get fragmentation on an SSD but I get your meaning.

 

Vic

[odourboy 1,286]

Just to close off (since I know you're all wondering! LOL) ... I sucked out and just did a clean full install (and upgrade as I was on 3.1, needed to go to 3.2 anyway) on the new drive after fully uninstalling P3D off the old drive. UTX Canada gave me some grief (because for whatever reason, it deleted my FSX installation) but P3D itself was cooperative.

 

Except for some oddness with my water, everything's back as it was but to the latest release and on a new drive.

 

Cheers!

[vgbaron 3,482]

Sometimes it's best to bite the bullet and do it the hard way!  

 

 

VIc