I am about a year away from purchasing a new computer which will be a significant upgrade from what I now run. In the mean . time I would like to purchase MSFS . I have a 500 Gb ssd internal drive now which I am using for x plane so I really don't have the space for MSFS. For now I have been looking at the feasibility of running the app on an external drive and I have read conflicting comments about the advisability of doing this. I was thinking about an ssd or an nvme ssd. I am not a techie but I do believe that the interface does affect how well the drive will perform. If I do this I would like to purchase something that would be usable on a new computer. I have a usb port 3.1 gen 1 available. I could move x plane to my external hdd where I have had it before and that would leave me with about 330 Gb of space on the internal ssd. I'm still not sure that would be adequate.

I would appreciate some advice on how to proceed if this approach is even feasible. 

I think the conventional wisdom is to connect the additional SSD internally with a SATA cable and then it is operating straight into the motherboard.  It is very easy to do but probably can be spec'd anyway as part of your new computer.  I would recommend a 1Tb SSD and use that solely for MSFS and then you know where all the files are going to be, hidden or not.

Not a good idea if I'm honest. External drives aren't really designed for running applications, they're primarily for data storage or backups.

Can't you upgrade the internal drive or install a second one to install it on? Installing a new drive into a machine isn't really a major undertaking and will be a lot better in the long run.

 

Edited May 23, 20224 yr by Tom Wright

Yes it can be done. But performance will suffer, a USB3 interface is slower than SATA-300 or M.2 NVME, you're going to get longer loading times, might get stutters or blurries whilst it's trying to stream in content from the drive too. It's not just the USB3 interface itself that will limit speeds, USB controllers are usually shared between several ports, and the chip on the storage caddy might be sub-optimal.

Also if the drive letter changes (they can do so sometimes) that will break everything until you correct the drive letter. High performance SSDs can also run quite warm, I'm not sure they'd like being an enclosed travel caddy/enclosure.

Edited May 23, 20224 yr by ckyliu

If as you say you've had X-plane on an external hard drive before then that's the way to go - I wouldn't even think of running a Windows app like MSFS on a USB drive.

300GB will get you going with MSFS - the base install is about 170GB IIRC - but you might have to go easy on add-ons.   As a temporary solution I'd say it's workable.

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Thanks for the responses. I think at this point that I will not try and run MSFS on an external drive. I may move x plane to my external hard drive where it was once before to free up space. Adding another internal ssd is not all that expensive so I think that is the best route. I think I would get a 500 Gb and dedicate it to this app. I just don't want to spend a lot of money on a computer that I only be using for 1 more year if that. 

Here's what I do, and it's been working flawlessly for years now. I installed MSFS2020 on my internal SSD, however I run all addons on an external Samsung T5 500GB SSD connected via usb-c and used with symbolic links (MSFS Addons Linker).

On the external SSD I have over 228GB worth of additional data including:
1) all addon planes, including FBW A320 and PMDG 737
2) all additional liveries
3) 475 additional airport sceneries (OrbX, Aerosoft, Contrail, etc) 
4) 44 scenery packs (model libraires for sceneries)
5) global scenery updates (towers, powerlines, lifts, ships, etc)
6) tech addons (GNS 530 mod, GTN 750, WT G1000 NXi, pushback toolbar, etc)

This setup allows the core sim to run quickly on internal SATA but all of the additional addons are loaded from the external drive seamlessly as well. This allows easy update or upgrade to external drive and additional addons without touching core sim. I can also take the addon drive with me and run it with a laptop when on the go (which also has the core sim installed). Hope this helped, cheers!

1 hour ago, dresoccer4 said:

Here's what I do, and it's been working flawlessly for years now. I installed MSFS2020 on my internal SSD, however I run all addons on an external Samsung T5 500GB SSD connected via usb-c and used with symbolic links (MSFS Addons Linker).

On the external SSD I have over 228GB worth of additional data including:
1) all addon planes, including FBW A320 and PMDG 737
2) all additional liveries
3) 475 additional airport sceneries (OrbX, Aerosoft, Contrail, etc) 
4) 44 scenery packs (model libraires for sceneries)
5) global scenery updates (towers, powerlines, lifts, ships, etc)
6) tech addons (GNS 530 mod, GTN 750, WT G1000 NXi, pushback toolbar, etc)

This setup allows the core sim to run quickly on internal SATA but all of the additional addons are loaded from the external drive seamlessly as well. This allows easy update or upgrade to external drive and additional addons without touching core sim. I can also take the addon drive with me and run it with a laptop when on the go (which also has the core sim installed). Hope this helped, cheers!

That seems like a way to save a lot of space if it works as well as you state. I will keep that in mind, I assume the linker comes with the app or is some sort of addon.

MSFS Addon Linker is available free at this site:https://flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker.  Not sure if you are talking about a desktop or laptop, but installing an additional SSD, whether SATA or NVME, into a desktop isn't that difficult and would be most preferable than considering external devices. An additional 1TB drive can be gotten for less than $100. Good thing, you can move it to your new build later. Just some ideas.... good luck...

40 minutes ago, stubby2 said:

That seems like a way to save a lot of space if it works as well as you state. I will keep that in mind, I assume the linker comes with the app or is some sort of addon.

 

4 minutes ago, simtech209 said:

MSFS Addon Linker is available free at this site:https://flightsim.to/file/1572/msfs-addons-linker.  Not sure if you are talking about a desktop or laptop, but installing an additional SSD, whether SATA or NVME, into a desktop isn't that difficult and would be most preferable than considering external devices. An additional 1TB drive can be gotten for less than $100. Good thing, you can move it to your new build later. Just some ideas.... good luck...

 

yep sorry I should have linked to the Addons Linker. i highly recommend using it if you start accumulating addons. you only load the files you need per flight. cuts down on load times and possible data conflicts. using the method i described i've gotten maybe 4 or 5 crashes to desktop since the sim was first released. not sure if causation but definitely correlation! cheers

I did have a few questions about running MSFS on an internal ssd. I have been tracking the game development since release. I am curious as to how load times look currently, overall stability, and how well auto pilot and the ability to do things like ils landings are working. I know I'm getting into a different topic and will start a new topic if I have further questions.