Hello: I was wondering if it is possible to install X-Plane on an external USB SSD? I know it can be "installed" on any disk anywhere, but will it function properly? Also, I would appreciate any recommendations on any particular external USB SSD that would be capable of handling the program...Thanks a lot!

yes. but...

USB itself is slower than any hdd/sdd you can put on it, the main benefit you get from an external sdd over hdd is the shock resistance.

You'll get the best performance if you install XP on an nvme drive in the machine, then link scenery on the usb disk to its custom scenery folder. (dont know how to do this on windows aiui its possible but very buggy, on linux and mac its a few clicks and bullet proof)

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by mSparks

It's very usable with aUSB3 drive and matching port on the PC.  A bit slow loading, but no performance hit in-game (sorry, in-engineering-tool).  May be different with photoscenery, I don't use it.

However if you're on windows I would recommend putting X-plane itself on the external drive and the scenery directly in the custom scenery folder.  While links do work (and may even be simple WIndows shortcuts), Windows may assign a different drive letter to your drive if you plug it in a different port, which will make the links stop working.  

2 hours ago, mSparks said:

yes. but...

USB itself is slower than any hdd/sdd you can put on it, the main benefit you get from an external sdd over hdd is the shock resistance.

You'll get the best performance if you install XP on an nvme drive in the machine, then link scenery on the usb disk to its custom scenery folder. (dont know how to do this on windows aiui its possible but very buggy, on linux and mac its a few clicks and bullet proof)

NTFS supports symbolic links and they work well, however, the syntax for creating them is non-intuitive for linux users.

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by jbee1a

40 minutes ago, jbee1a said:

the syntax for creating them is non-intuitive for linux users

The only reason I know they exist is from someone who used them complaining about having to restart his machine if he tried to access them without the drive connected, very similar I guess to the issues LTT was discussing the other day about how his entire PC breaks if he tries to access his VPN network share without being connected to the VPN.

Other than that intuitive or not, I simply have no clue how they work on windows.

linux & mac is easy, and you only need one link -> to custom scenery.

Thats what I use on my main machine, from the nvme with XP on it, to the much larger SSD in the machine

and recently on the macbook air, to an external SSD.

Putting all XP over USB will really hurt load times, and is generally completely unnecessary.

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by mSparks

Hi LTCSZ.

"I was wondering if it is possible to install X-Plane on an external USB SSD?"

Yes, it is possible. I installed X-Plane on an external nvme drive hooked up to a usb3 port just to see if it would work. It worked quite well and I was surprised. That was a while back. Newer, faster nvme cards are probably available now.

 

Edited December 5, 20214 yr by jcjimmy
corrected name

On 12/5/2021 at 2:31 AM, jbee1a said:

NTFS supports symbolic links and they work well, however, the syntax for creating them is non-intuitive for linux users.

I'm using it to redirect the mandatory Windows "Package Cache" folder out of the NVME into an HDD. These can take up lots of GB and are only needed when uninstalling/repairing etc...

You can use stock command line:

mklink /j "C:\ProgramData\Package Cache" "D:\ProgramData\Package Cache"

I'm however using SysinternalSsuite junction64.exe :

junction64.exe "C:\ProgramData\Package Cache" "D:\ProgramData\Package Cache"

NB: beware that when uninstalling a program it might remove the link (they are not considering this a bug at all unfortunately). So what I do is have the command line in a .bat file, and whenever I uninstall something and see the link has been removed, I just launch the bat file manually. Ideally I'd setup a boot task which just sets the link but I've been lazy 🙂