I am thinking about getting a new hard drive for my PC, because of it's age, as a precautionary measure. I am going to clone my present drive, and then just use the new drive from now on. My question is, do I have to completely uninstall P3D to do this ( which I would rather not have to do) , or can I just clone my drive, and then switch operation to the new drive, keeping my P3D install intact? 

Good question Bob,  Regarding the Licence Issue,  I don't know to be honest.  I would say Licence wise there would have to be a catch,  I couldn't imagine you could clone 2 hard drives and have the ability to fly Prepar3D on 2 drives with one Licence.  I know that's not your intention but still there would have to be a catch.   

Bob,

 

Without getting to deep in discussion about P3D licensing (which by the way can be clarified through LM), cloning your existing drive to the new one shouldn't be an issue.  Since you have an existing license to use P3D, changing drives would not cause a problem, as you are still the license owner.

From the LM Forum this morning. :

 

You will need to do a full uninstall of Prepar3D.

- Mike

 

 

 

Guess I will just wait until my HD drive dies...

Sounds like there may be a host of shared files being written and read from drive to drive, although I still don't see why cloning one drive to another would hurt anything.  If it's still pertaining to licensing, then clone the drive, and then uninstall P3D from the old drive...seems legit.

Sounds like there may be a host of shared files being written and read from drive to drive, although I still don't see why cloning one drive to another would hurt anything.  If it's still pertaining to licensing, then clone the drive, and then uninstall P3D from the old drive...seems legit.

 

The purpose of using Macrium Reflect to back up my HD is that it stores a complete  image of ones hard drive, and enables the user to install a bare metal drive, and within an hour or two  make an exact duplicate of the failed drive, including OS and registry  so that no replacing anything  is involved to resume operation. I guess that works for everything in the world except P3D.   

I believe the P3D license is tied to the hard drive where you installed it.
 

My question is, do I have to completely uninstall P3D to do this ( which I would rather not have to do) , or can I just clone my drive, and then switch operation to the new drive, keeping my P3D install intact?

 
Just a couple weeks ago my D drive failed some tests, so I bought a new 1TB DDS and migrated all its content to the new drive.
 
To keep the license undisturbed all I did was to uninstall the P3D Client only before doing the clone, then after swapping the drives I reinstalled the Client, started P3D and entered my credentials, all else was intact.
 
So.
1. Uninstall the P3D client.
2. Clone the drive. (It will have the same drive Letter)
3. Reinstall the P3D client.
4. Reenter your License and Password.
5. Go Fly.
 
 
Note: Same procedure applies if you only have 1 drive.
 
Cheers.

I've also done what Kabronicus states. As long as drive letters and folders remain the same, it's not an issue. You are just resetting the license to the new drive. Backup your dll.xml, cfg files etc and replace them after install.

 

Vic

I believe the P3D license is tied to the hard drive where you installed it.

 

 

Just a couple weeks ago my D drive failed some tests, so I bought a new 1TB DDS and migrated all its content to the new drive.

 

To keep the license undisturbed all I did was to uninstall the P3D Client only before doing the clone, then after swapping the drives I reinstalled the Client, started P3D and entered my credentials, all else was intact.

 

So.

1. Uninstall the P3D client.

2. Clone the drive. (It will have the same drive Letter)

3. Reinstall the P3D client.

4. Reenter your License and Password.

5. Go Fly.

 

 

Note: Same procedure applies if you only have 1 drive.

 

Cheers.

 

 

OK. thanks for the tip. That sure makes it much easier.