Recommended Install Location

[Gimballock]

Good evening,

recently I bought a new PC and now plan on installing P3D v4.1. I have 2 drives. One 256GB SSD (C: with OS Windows 10 on it) and one 2TB HDD (D:). I come from FSX and there I always followed the rule, that I would never install the simulator at the same drive where the OS lies. And I heared, that it is best to give the Sim its own drive where no other programs are installed but the Sim.
My question is: Are these rules also valid for P3D? And if not, is it OK to install P3D on the same drive with the OS (in my case drive C:)?
Otherwise I would have to install on D: and would loose the benefit of the SSD.

Kind regards
Stefan

P.S.: I read the topic from Jazzie (http://www.prepar3d.com/forum/viewtopic ... 2&t=126127). It is not the same question, but similar. Maybe one of the Admins wants to merge both topics.

[JJJackson]

Never install a sim on the drive where the OS is. Your C-drive is also way to small for the sim + addons. For the perfomance of the sim an SSD has NO benefits, only for the initial loading time, nothing else.

Jack
the Swede in Spaibn

[Afterburner SST]

Provided that the size of the SSD is large enough, why is it recommended to NOT install P3D on the same drive as the OS? Is it performance? I would agree that it is better to have the simulator installed on a separate drive if you were to use HDDs, but an SSD should be fast enough to handle both the OS and the simulator during the operation.

[jimcarrel]

You can install on same drive as OS (what if you only have one drive??? makes no sense)
You do not want to install to "C:\Program Files" directory or folder. That is the location that the OS may give you problems allowing you to run with administrative rights. If you want to put it on the C:\ drive name the folder something else, like, my flight simulator, or Lockheed Martin, or anything. ( maybe even "C:\P3D4")

[Gimballock]

For the perfomance of the sim an SSD has NO benefits, only for the initial loading time, nothing else.

I thought it might reduce blurry scenery, because the refresh rate is faster. But frankly I do not know much about SSDs...

You can install on same drive as OS (what if you only have one drive??? makes no sense)

Do you have P3D installed on the same drive as OS? And if yes, are there other programs running apart from the OS and P3D? I am a little confused now, since I got two different answers to a boolean question.

Your C-drive is also way to small for the sim + addons.

I plan on buying 10 aircrafts (~1GB each), AS next + REX (30GB) and about 20 sceneries (2GB each) + P3D v4.1 (40GB). That adds to about 120GB. The OS and some other programs leave 180GB of free space on the SSD. Is that too less? What would be your recommendation?
And if I run out of space in a couple of years, I want to upgrade to 512GB SSD. That should be possible, right?

Thank you all for your answers!
Stefan

[mopperle]

Stefan,
your current SSD is definitely too small for adding P3D plus some Addons. Go and get a 2nd disc now, A fast HD or a SSD with a size of at least 512GB for P3D plus its addons should be fine, 1 TB would be perfect. I hit already the 512GB border with sceneries including a mesh with 100GB
Moving your p3D installation to another drive later needs a complete reinstall

[bpa602]

Hello,

and what about installing p3d on C and all the rest off add on into another HDD???

[Gimballock]

your current SSD is definitely too small for adding P3D plus some Addons. Go and get a 2nd disc now, A fast HD or a SSD with a size of at least 512GB for P3D plus its addons should be fine, 1 TB would be perfect.

Oh OK I see. Then I will consider buying a 512GB SSD right now.

and what about installing p3d on C and all the rest off add on into another HDD???

I am interested in the answer to this question, too. Does anybody know if that is possible?

[mopperle]

in principal possible, also somewhow preferred by LM by using a new method to install addons, but:
- some devs use the old mode (for good reason); so you need to manualy move and edit files
- some devs use the new add-on.xml method, but put everything in to the Documents folder; so still on drive C and you also need to move/edit files
- few devs use the new add-on.xml method and let you allow to put the addon files elsewhere, currently best solution

Problem is that some devs misunderstood how to use the addon.xml files resulting in CTDs when a certain amount of "wrong" add-on.xml files have been created.

Anyway, the safest way is to have a separate disc for P3D.

[Gimballock]

in principal possible, also somewhow preferred by LM by using a new method to install addons, but:
- some devs use the old mode (for good reason); so you need to manualy move and edit files
- some devs use the new add-on.xml method, but put everything in to the Documents folder; so still on drive C and you also need to move/edit files
- few devs use the new add-on.xml method and let you allow to put the addon files elsewhere, currently best solution

Problem is that some devs misunderstood how to use the addon.xml files resulting in CTDs when a certain amount of "wrong" add-on.xml files have been created.

Anyway, the safest way is to have a separate disc for P3D.

Thanks for clarification! So in my situation it would be best,to buy a new SSD with 512GB (or more, but cannot afford :P) and install P3D on that drive, correct?

[mopperle]

Correct, and if you have enough budget, get a 1TB ;)

[bpa602]

In conclusion the best way to install p3d is:
-OS on a SSD itself
-p3d on a SSD of at least 500Gb...

Not a good idea to have 1single SSD for p3d (250GB) and try to load all other add on including scenerys in an other HHD?

I do ask because I have a single SSD 250 GB, 2 HDD 250GB...so I thouhg was enough to have another SSD of 250GB just for p3d.....

Thanks