Per subject...  What is the best way to set up drives for a new PC.  My assumption is that a very fast 2TB drive with the OS and FS2020 (and any other programs) I want to run is going to be faster than other "dedicated" drives.  Thoughts? 

You are now in the appropriate forum for questions!

Depending on what other programs you run alongside the Windows OS, you might run out of space. Many on Avsim are running a 1TB dedicated just to MSFS.

There will be other opinions but what I would do is keep Windows and other Apps on a single drive , either 500GB or 1 TB and have a second 1TB drive reserved exclusively for MSFS.

This will not be any slower that a single drive as long as both are equally fast as the single drive.

Regardless the route you take, put MSFS in a custom location. Do not choose the default. Something simple like C:\MSFS2020

I never install anything else on my OS drive in case I need to reinstall it from a backup.  And MSFS will be massive anyway, much bigger than Windows.

I save the C drive purely for Windows, MS Office, and a few prime apps I use.  About 120GB.  I store my backups and place my downloads folder on a 1TB spinner.

Flightsim is on my F drive.

You could get a fast 2TB NVMe drive, and partition it to get the best of both words.

Say 200GB for Windows and your programs, and the rest for Flightsim.  I have done this before and it works well.

i always partition, one for the os stuff and rest for games, progs etc.

Hello,

Using one NVMe drive 2 TB will be faster than using 2 NVMe drives, 1 TB (same total capacity)

More info HERE for example, as you will find this info on other websites !

Edited November 24, 20223 yr by ctdlg

Not sure that MSFS needs to be on a "Superfast" NVMe drive... Windows yes.

I like to keep MSFS on its own drive, just to keep things nice and tidy.

That way, you can back up a drive if needed..

47 minutes ago, Bert Pieke said:

Not sure that MSFS needs to be on a "Superfast" NVMe drive... Windows yes.

I like to keep MSFS on its own drive, just to keep things nice and tidy.

That way, you can back up a drive if needed..

The fast drive helps with loading the sim Bert.  Especially on start-up when it scans the community and official folders for all of the addons. 

Also, some of the aircraft folders are 2 or 3 gig.  An NVME drive will be around 10 times quicker than an old spinner, and 5 times quicker than a standard SSD, and that is being conservative. 
My current Samsung 2TB can read at over 7000MB/s - basically 7GB per second.

You are bang on about Windows being on its own drive or partition.  Helps with backups (less to back up obviously), and a quicker reinstall if needed.

1 hour ago, bobcat999 said:

The fast drive helps with loading the sim Bert.  Especially on start-up when it scans the community and official folders for all of the addons. 

Fast is good, for sure.. "superfast" may not make a real difference.. eg 2 TB vs 2X1 TB. 😉

3 hours ago, wim123 said:

i always partition, one for the os stuff and rest for games, progs etc.

I never partition. You always end up with one partition being too small so you have to rearrange things. It also hardly helps if you need to reinstall the OS: a physically seperate drive is much better in that case.
If you must have a seperate drive letter to keep things organised it is much easier to assign a drive letter to a folder, say F: = C:\Games\MSFS\ using the subst command.

5 hours ago, Cavemanhead said:

Per subject...  What is the best way to set up drives for a new PC.  My assumption is that a very fast 2TB drive with the OS and FS2020 (and any other programs) I want to run is going to be faster than other "dedicated" drives.  Thoughts? 

I've got a 2TB m.2 for MSFS.  The Samsung 980 pros were on sale not sure of their price now.

I have a 1tb NVMe just for the simulator.  The OS has its own drive with other apps.

I use two Nvme's. 1 500GB for OS, and 1 2TB for MSFS,AIG and other addons.

Edited November 25, 20223 yr by pilotter

How would you guys design the following setup? I have:

1 TB SSD nvme 3.400 MB/s

500 GB SSD (normal ssd speed)

2 TB SSD nvme 5.150 MB/s (ordered on black friday)

Should I put MSFS on the 2 TB or 1TB? I actually had intend to use the new SSD for video / photo editing and storage. But I wouldn't need the speed of the new 2 TB SSD but the space. For Windows/MSFS I think I could benefit of the speed but don't need that much space of 2TB. How to solve this best?

Yep I use the Samsung 980 Pro for FS only.... the 2TB is ok (for now! ) 🙂