Considering FSX install to External Drive, possible?

[strykerpsg]

I've done a few dozen searches for anyone talking of putting FSX on an external hard drive and failed to find much, though found quite a few threads talking about the boot up performance gains of applying FSX to an SSD drive.

Currently I have FSX-SE installed on my internal 2TB HDD, partitioned to have 300GB dedicated to FSX-SE. With the continuous releases by Orbx of their great looking scenery, that HDD partition is running out of space quickly. I ultimately want to have a 2TB SSD internally, but seeing some of the comments regarding SSD's limited shelf life and chance for recovery if it fails, non-existant, I am considering placing FSX-SE on an external 1TB HHD.

So, I come to my band of subject matter experts and ask if I can feasibly run FSX externally, with success or should it be on an internal HDD only? Also, what is the realistic chance of the SSD truly failing, as I like the access speed potential of the SSD while flying and perhaps just store my install files on a traditional mechanical HHD.

Thanks for always helping those in pause....

Also, wasn't sure which was the right thread to post. My apologies moderators if in the wrong forum.

 

[ncooper]

The advice I have read is not to put FSX on an external drive due to HDD speed issues.

I think the ideal solution is to put the core FSX files onto an SSD and then use a symbolic
link to keep all the addon scenery files on another HDD.
In this way, the speed of the SSD is made best use of without the expense of a very large SSD.
It is a fact that while scenery is initially loaded faster into FSX with an SSD, there is no perceptible advantage to using an SSD thereafter.

I cannot see the eye-watering price of a 2TB SSD ever being justified by the saving of a few moments while FSX loads scenery.

Using a utility like the Scenery Config Editor, Simstarter and so on to limit the amount of scenery loaded to what is required
for the flight in question will save far more time and cost absolutely nothing.

If you don't have an SSD at all at present, the best use of it would be to use it for your operating system which will transform
your whole PC.

 

[stansdds]

Data transfer rates on external drives is far less than internal drives, so loading of the sim will be slow as will texture loading. That means a long pause every time FSX loads fresh scenery while flying.

 

[strykerpsg]

Gents, thank you both for your replies. I just looked at my HDD specs and I do NOT have a 2TB HDD, but rather a 1.2 TB mechanical HDD. I am reconsidering changing my internal to a 2TB hybrid, trying to get the largest SSD combo and hoping I can then place FSX in it's entirety on the SSD and all other OS and associated files on the mechanical side. Is this a bridge too far concept, allowing maximum access speed for FSX, while still maintaining all on one HDD?

 

[stansdds]

I have heard some disparaging remarks regarding hybrid drives. The SSD portion of most hybrid drives is pretty small, so your OS will likely use most, if not all, of the SSD space, leaving FSX and scenery to run from the HD space. Most people feel that having the OS and FSX on the same SSD and scenery files on a fast, internal HD is a reasonable compromise.

 

[strykerpsg]

Searching the various webstores for 2TB SSD shows some Samsung EVO's for about $600. It's still a bit high in price, but give another 6 months, maybe down to $450'ish. I'll hold off a bit, as I see SSD as the best option, but SSD for entire system not just FSX or the OS.

Thanks for the advice gents. Always a pleasure getting competent advice from a well versed team.

 

[stansdds]

HD's are still really good storage devices for documents, videos and pictures. For simplicity, a single, huge SSD is convenient, but for practical purposes, a smaller SSD for the OS and FSX and a HD for everything else is a really good compromise.

 

[MaverickUZ]

I tried ages ago, had FSX on a HDD and FSX would boot up fine, however for prolonged period of usage the HDD started to heat up and there was visible FPS and performance loss.

Might not be the case on an external SSD but having it internal makes it so much smoother, especially if you're into heavily .

We are talking about thousands of files at work here. My recommendation, have a dedicated SSD in-built for FSX and have the HDD for specific files that are Misc.

 

[wolfebee89]

HD's are still really good storage devices for documents, videos and pictures. For simplicity, a single, huge SSD is convenient, but for practical purposes, a smaller SSD for the OS and FSX and a HD for everything else is a really good compromise.

I tried ages ago, had FSX on a HDD and FSX would boot up fine, however for prolonged period of usage the HDD started to heat up and there was visible FPS and performance loss.

Might not be the case on an external SSD but having it internal makes it so much smoother, especially if you're into heavily .

We are talking about thousands of files at work here. My recommendation, have a dedicated SSD in-built for FSX and have the HDD for specific files that are Misc.

also another concerning aspect in the past was disk thrashing as a result of having last access file stamp enabled, and which is especially acute for the likes of MS-FSX, what with the numerous files being accessed concurrently and thereafter stamped repeatedly in the course of running the simulation, and while this has naturally eased with the evolution of Windows, truth be told, depending on the out-of-box settings in your PC and any inadvertent changes no thanks to the constant stream of OS updates, can still prove to be an issue for both SSDs and HDDs alike; and especially with older hardware and worse yet on an older OS.

For Windows 10 1803 and up, the following provides a comprehensive overview on how to best configure Last Access File Stamp: https://www.tenforums.com/threads/e...cess-time-stamp-updates-in-windows-10.139015/ --> if only to reduce wear & tear and system overhead on older hardware; also recommended to read through the further links posted under section See also