Solid State Disk for msfs 2020!

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
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Hello ,
I have a question concerning my SSD for my Msfs !
At the moment i have a 4tb Samsung for my MSFS ( Drive : C ) , in which windows are also installed !
I also have another 2tb ssd ( D: Drive ) .
If in the future my 4tb becomes full , is there any way i can use my second ssd D:Drive for my msfs as well ?

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Yep
How to move Microsoft Flight Simulator to a new PC – Microsoft Flight Simulator Support (zendesk.com)

How to install Flight Sim on a different drive? – Microsoft Flight Simulator Support (zendesk.com)

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Make a new folder on your D:\ drive.
Name it what you want, FS2020
Settings, Apps, Installed apps, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Move
Select the D: drive
Follow prompts

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Slightly sideways response. My MSFS main file is on a partition of my 2TB NVMe base drive with enough room for plenty of sim expansion and only the base MSFS, plus a couple of related programmes, is on it. All other data e.g. addon files, is on a separate 1TB external NVMe drive which periodically gets backed up to a spare hard drive.

Doing it this way means there is little likelihood of running out of room for the base programme.

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To answer directly, I’d put Windows and your programs on the 2Tb drive and the data on the bigger drive.

Many people will say to put the sim on a separate drive, but MS recommend putting the sim on the system drive; I reckon MS know a thing or two about Windows and that’s good enough for me.

The sim’s data, however, is a different matter; you can put it wherever you like. I’ll stick my neck out and say you’ve got plenty of room on the other drive, so I’d put it there.

It’s easy to do, and you can even do it right now in the meantime if you want. Just open File Explorer and move your entire packages folder (I forget the path but someone will chip in) to the other drive and give it a name of your choice. Start the sim; it’ll tell you it needs to download the data and ask you where you want to download them to. Point it to your moved folder; after a minute or two it’ll be happy and you’ll be ready to fly.

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Just to make sure that i understood 100%

In my C:Drive (4Tb) , i have installed my Msfs ( Community Folder and Official ( One Store folder ) ! Total of 2.4 tb .
Can i just move my Community folder (1.3 tb up to now ) into my D:Drive (2Tb) and Start the sim ? ( A bit confused ) !!
I will keep my Official folder into my C:Drive !

Thank you very much

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I don’t know that answer but why would you want to only move the Community folder?

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No, my fault, I wasn’t clear enough.

Make a new folder, name it FSPackages or whatever makes sense to you. Move Community and Official to that folder. When you start the sim, it obviously won’t find the packages and assume you need to download them. It’ll ask you where to and you point it to your new folder. It will see the packages, tell itself “nothing to download” and after a minute or two it’s done.

Note that your original Packages folder will remain, but it won’t populate.

And no, the Community and Official folders can’t be separated.

Edit: I’ve just noticed your packages are bigger than the drive (wow!). My original post was to answer your point about the future. I really cant see you needing 4TB just for Windows and programs. It’d be better on the smaller drive and your data on the bigger one. There’s an addon for putting your addons anywhere you like and it puts symbolic links to them in the Community folder. Called Addon Linker I believe, you can find it on flightsim.to.

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Got it my Friend !
Crystal clear now :smiley:
I am aware about addon linker !

Thank you very much

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Do they recommend it, or is that just the default pathway in their documentation?

If it was imperative that it be on C: in the default install directory, we wouldn’t be allowed to change it. Mine was installed to the F: drive by Steam upon first installation. Been that way since debut. Zero issues.

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Yes they do:

https://flightsimulator.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015910560-How-to-install-Flight-Sim-on-a-different-drive-

Note that I’m not telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t do; merely what the makers of Windows recommend. I’m an ex-MCP myself, though all my knowledge is out of date (if you want to know anything about Windows XP, I’m your man), with certificates signed by Steve Ballmer, they’re so old.

I’ve always taken the view that, if you want to know something about something, who better to ask than whoever invented it?

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You are correct.

FS2020 installs in 2 parts:

  1. Launcher/apps, 2 GB
    The Launcher/apps is installed on your “boot” drive.
    You cannot change this.
    The boot drive is the drive that Windows is installed on.
    You can have Linux installed on C: and Windows installed on K:.

  2. Installed Packages, ~270 GB
    The Installed Packages can be installed on any drive/folder that you wish and tell it to install there.
    (The Community & Official folders & the WpSystem folder.)

In addition, I found this reference for MS Store installs:
Quote from this article:
"Microsoft Store apps function like any other app in your system. However, they are not stored like any other app when installed. By default, the installation location of Microsoft Store apps is not visible.

Apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store are saved in a folder called ‘WindowsApps’ inside the ‘Program Files’ directory of your Windows installation drive. This folder is hidden by default on every Windows system but it’s fairly easier to unhide and access the contents of it."
End Article quote:

Note the “‘Program Files’ directory of your Windows installation drive”.
If you install Windows on any drive other than your C: drive, that is your Windows installation drive.
Also referred to as the “Boot” drive.

This folder is Hidden until you change File Explorer to show Hidden Items. But even when it is shown, you cannot see the contents of this folder. It is protected from view and access by the system and FS2020 App.

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Hi TeemingChief986 et al,

I actually had a similar requirement yesterday to move FlightSim to another Samsung drive to free up space on drive c. I am running the latest Win11 and Flightsim version that is available for download on Dec 16th 2023.

This is how you do it in short:

  1. Open Settings
    2 Click/tap on Apps on the left side, and click/tap on Apps & features or Installed apps on the right side.
  2. Click/tap on the 3 dots button for the app (e.g Flightsim) you want to move, and click/tap on Move.

My first few attempts failed displaying some error code. I searched the Internet and lots of users seem to struggle with it. As I am not an experienced Windows user, I decided not to fiddle with it.

I can’t explain why this fix worked for me but you may give it a try as you have a Samsung SSD installed. Download their Magician software (Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global) and have it optimize your drive. After that, pls try it out to move some other program first to check if it works in principle (smaller in size so that it’s quick). Once done, you can move Flightsim. I had to be patient wait some 10-15min to complete, but it worked.

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Thank you SlipshodWave !
What i am planning to do 

Format both SSd’s , and then in my 2tb i will go ahead and install Windows plus my MSFS2020 !
On my 4tb SSd i will then Install my community and official folder ! ( Appr. 2.3 plus tb )
So i will have a dedicated ssd just for my Msfs :smiley:

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