Up to now on recent posts, I've been waffling (sorry) about P3D and MSFS as if they are mutually exclusive. Maybe they are not. I honestly don't know! So I bet you folks will have experience to answer this:

QUESTION: Is it feasible/possible to run MSFS from the same C : Drive, if that same C : Drive also has P3D (V5 &/or V6) installed (but not actively running); and vice versa?

 

Treating like they are 2 completely different "games", obviously I'm not thinking of running then simultaneously nor linking/bridging them in any way.

My SSD C : Drive has the two P3Ds installed and yet still has over 1TB FREE. Please take it that I have a very good medium-to-high end set up (Win 11, 32GB RAM, RTX 3090, i7-12700)

BUT please assume I'm low tech in me noddle

Rod

EGBB

You have to consider that there is no relationship between these programs, so they can coexist on the same HDD/SSD.

I currently have both MSFS and P3D v6 installed in C:\. You can install other P3D as well, of course it depends on the capacity of your HDD/SSD.

Hi RobPol471

how kind of you to take time and give me such definite evidence. So now I've already started this process to increase FREE SPACE on C :drive. Since your post, I went ahead and moved my all my Orbx Scenery (175GB!! how did that happen? ha!) to a new location that is D : drive.

And you're among the first to convince me about the coexistence of P3D PLUS MSFS on the C :DRIVE (SSD, in my case).

You've been a huge help

I raise my glass of ale to you, Rob

Rod

EGBB thankfully cooler

Well I agree there's no relationship between MSFS and P3D so basically they can co-reside on the same disk, but are you sure you want to risk everything including presumably your O/S on a single drive?

 

Even if you want one disk/location, I would be tempted to partition it in 3 logical drives. Makes backing up easier.

Of course if the whole drive fails then everything is gone when everything is on a single SSD.Yes SSDs are reliable, but there's no guarantee they will not fail one day.

 

At the end of the day, you have to weigh the benefits of a simpler system configuration and less cost versus the risk of potentially losing everything if that one disk fails. The choice is ultimately yours!

3 hours ago, 787flyer said:

Well I agree there's no relationship between MSFS and P3D so basically they can co-reside on the same disk, but are you sure you want to risk everything including presumably your O/S on a single drive?

 

Even if you want one disk/location, I would be tempted to partition it in 3 logical drives. Makes backing up easier.

Of course if the whole drive fails then everything is gone when everything is on a single SSD.Yes SSDs are reliable, but there's no guarantee they will not fail one day.

 

At the end of the day, you have to weigh the benefits of a simpler system configuration and less cost versus the risk of potentially losing everything if that one disk fails. The choice is ultimately yours!

Excuse me, premising that it is essential to have backups but with your worries that everything can go wrong, how many backup PCs do you have?

I have a PC but in fact there are two because I have an Asus Z590 F motherboard that supports 4 x SSD m2 and of the 4 installed I have two Samsung 980 Pros that both have W11 installed and have browsers in common and everything I thought important to have as a backup while I have distributed programs and libraries so that, if I have to use a specific simulator, I start the relative SSD from the bios.

Perhaps, according to your apprehensions about possible failures, I was lucky because in the last 10 years I've had only one failure on my PC and it was a power supply which fortunately, once I replaced it, hadn't created any other problems.

Realistically, if you lose your OS drive and don't have a backup, you'd end up having to reinstall so much of your sim that a complete rebuild would probably be in order anyway.

IOW, you can have everything on one device or spread out on several--but neither choice obviates the need to keep a reasonably current full system backup.

To answer the OP's question--they can all co-exist on the same drive without issue.  There's no meaningful increase in performance from spreading them out, but it can prove convenient from a file system organization perspective.  Also, SSDs large enough to accomodate three or more extensive sim installs may not be cost effective in comparison to several smaller devices. 

Many thanks 787flyer, Rob and Bob

Your collective advice is absolutely correct. It worked! MSFS (Deluxe) coexists with, and runs independently of P3D (which I still really enjoy P3Dv5 and I'm interested in P3Dv6's potential). Many thanks for giving your own time to help me.

Now to find out if I leave MSFS in its default installation OR to open a new, distinct folder (i guess, in C :\program files)

Then I really need to work out how to use my  X52 joystick to view around the whole cockpit control panel (to work the various aircraft controls)

Privileged

Rod

EGBB

20 hours ago, RobPol471 said:

Excuse me, premising that it is essential to have backups but with your worries that everything can go wrong, how many backup PCs do you have?

I have a PC but in fact there are two because I have an Asus Z590 F motherboard that supports 4 x SSD m2 and of the 4 installed I have two Samsung 980 Pros that both have W11 installed and have browsers in common and everything I thought important to have as a backup while I have distributed programs and libraries so that, if I have to use a specific simulator, I start the relative SSD from the bios.

Perhaps, according to your apprehensions about possible failures, I was lucky because in the last 10 years I've had only one failure on my PC and it was a power supply which fortunately, once I replaced it, hadn't created any other problems.

I am not as fortunate as you in terms of having another simPC to rely upon, but I do have several backups made of the sim at different points in time.

It doesn't have to be a hardware failure. Windows can really screw things up for you too so I have found. I just had this issue with Windows 11 2 months ago. Windows 11 and the sim had to be restored from a backup.

But yes as you have found, failures can occur. I had a spate of Seagate failures some years ago which is why I swapped to Western Digital both for my HDD and SSDs. Touch wood things have run well, but you can never predict the future I say.

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, rod321 said:

Many thanks 787flyer, Rob and Bob

Your collective advice is absolutely correct. It worked! MSFS (Deluxe) coexists with, and runs independently of P3D (which I still really enjoy P3Dv5 and I'm interested in P3Dv6's potential). Many thanks for giving your own time to help me.

Now to find out if I leave MSFS in its default installation OR to open a new, distinct folder (i guess, in C :\program files)

Then I really need to work out how to use my  X52 joystick to view around the whole cockpit control panel (to work the various aircraft controls)

Privileged

Rod

EGBB

Rod,

Glad things worked out well for you. Have fun with MSFS and P3D.

 

I still love and use my X52 today. It's certainly seen it's fair share of wear and tear (lots of use), but still very functional.It's over 10 years old now!