Looking for suggestions on moving DCS World from Hard Drive to Solid State Disk Drive

[Slap_Chop]

Planning on purchasing a SSDD (Solid State Disk Drive) to run DCS World from.

 

I currently have DCS World and modules installed on my C: Hard Drive.

 

Is it possible to move the entire folder to the new SSDD and run it as is or

do I have to reload the entire program and modules onto the SSDD ?

 

I've tried searching the forums but I'm not finding anything relevant although

I'm sure I've seen it discussed.

 

Thanks in advance for any tips on this process.

[txmtb]

Move the entire directory structure over to the new drive, except leave the files in C:/users/yourusername alone.

Then update the shortcuts to reflect the new path.

Run and profit from the SSD.

[Corrigan]

You're asking if you can just move the program folder onto a new drive?

 

No, I don't think so, I think the windows registry entries will break in that case. You'll need to make a new installation. A protip is to backup your [user]/saved games/dcs world folder in order to keep your screenshots, settings etc. They should carry over anyway, but best make sure.

[cichlidfan]

Just move it and change the links in your shortcuts and it will work just fine. I have done this many times since I have about four DCS installations plus the beta at the moment.

 

In the grand scheme of things, a new installation on the SSD will go so fast it will, IMO, be easier than moving the files and editing the links. The new install will still use your existing saved games folder so nothing will be lost, except possible mod installations, no matter which route you take.

[Tone71]

When I got my SSD I took an image of my old HDD C drive (on which I had Windows and DCS installed) and copied this across to the SSD. Quick, simple and painless.

[Gladman]

Like Tone71 says, use image software. I've used Symantec Ghost for many years with great success. Easy to use and excellent results.

 

http://buy.symantec.com/estore/categoryDetailPage/productCode/GSS-EXP-LIC_V2.5_12MO_PC/skuType/Product

 

Dale

[cichlidfan]

If I were to buy an imaging package, I would go with Acronis True Image.

[txmtb]

+1 for this , used it to manage remote backups on about 600 PC's great software

 

 

@slap_chop

 

You can indeed move you DCS world install folder to another drive , but you will need to update your registry to point to the new location

 

If you are comfortable messing with the registry the key you are looking for lives here:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Eagle Dynamics

 

DCS World

 

Edit the

Path

key to point to your new location for DCS World

 

I've moved both the regular and beta versions back and forth from my raid drive to my SSD numerous times and never edited the registry, just update the shortcut Target: and Start in: fields and it should be fine.

[Gladman]

I've never heard of Acronis. I'll have to take a look.

 

What do you fellas like about it over Ghost?

 

Dale

[cichlidfan]

I've never heard of Acronis. I'll have to take a look.

 

What do you fellas like about it over Ghost?

 

Dale

 

TBH, the primary reason for me is that it is not owned by Symantec.

 

EDIT: I also got a pretty good deal on a three machine license. ;)

 

I have never tried to backup a running machine but I have used it to image system disks while booted from CD many times. I also use it for my automated backups to network drives.

Edited September 15, 2014 by cichlidfan

[Gladman]

Not sure what you mean Fly Guy. With Ghost I have always just put in the HDD that I want to backup to, launch Windoz, go into ghost and let it do its thing, then I have a HDD ready to go. What does Acronis do differently?

 

Dale

[SkateZilla]

You dont need any special Software,

 

a COPY/PASTE will work just fine,

 

then update the shortcuts and Path in the registry.

[JayPee]

On the other hand, reinstalling DCSW on the SSD will probably take about twice the amount of time it takes you to load a single mission on your current/previous HDD. So if you really want to be safe, why bother and not just reinstall? That is ofcourse if you have all your mods nicely set up via JSGME and copy/paste-ready...

[xaoslaad]

If you're looking to replace the entire disk you don't have to pay anything. Use a Linux LiveCD from just about any distro and use dd to dump the contents of one disk in entirety to the other if the new disk is big enough. Then you can just go into windows Disk Management and expand the partition if necessary. If you need to shrink the partition or prefer a graphical interface there is always gparted, available on most Linux LiveCD's as well. Yes, these utilities work on FAT/NTFS partitions.

 

If you just want to put your existing install onto the SSD one easy way to do this is moving the _contents_ of C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics to a temp folder.

Shutdown, install your SSD, staple your computer back up, boot.

Right click on "This PC", "My Computer", "Computer", or whatever your Win release is calling it.

Click Manage on the context menu.

Go to Storage -> Disk Management on the left menu, make sure your SSD is formatted (think it needs to be NTFS for this to work)

Right click the partition

Select Change Drive Letter and Paths on the Context menu

Select Mount in the following empty NTFS folder in the new window, and set it up to be C:\Program Files\Eagle Dynamics.

Move the contents back into the folder.

Now your registry settings, links, blah blah blah are still correct and the game is on an SSD.

 

I did this for a friend who had a 120GB SSD hanging around that wasn't big enough for his system disk, but plenty enough for DCS. Worked fine.

Edited September 15, 2014 by xaoslaad

[doveman]

You dont need any special Software,

 

a COPY/PASTE will work just fine,

 

then update the shortcuts and Path in the registry.

+1. You can even export the relevant part of the registry, edit the drive letter/path with find+replace in notepad++ and import it back in.

 

Serves as a handy backup if you need to reinstall windows as well, to save having to reactivate all your modules.

[cichlidfan]

Serves as a handy backup if you need to reinstall windows as well, to save having to reactivate all your modules.

 

If you reinstall Windows, you should still need to reactivate your modules because your old activation will not be valid any longer.

[doveman]

If you reinstall Windows, you should still need to reactivate your modules because your old activation will not be valid any longer.

Really? Even if the hardware hasn't changed?

[cichlidfan]

I thought so, but apparently it is only three points. I recalled it as being a bigger issue.

 

An activation will be required if the hardware/software changes exceed 12 points as

rated below:

• CPU ID: 13

• Windows PID: 3

• Computer Name: 3

• Hard drive volume serial number: 3

• MAC address: 6

• RAM amount: 6

[Gladman]

You can backup the hard drive you are currently running windows from

 

Ok. Yeah. Ghost does the same.

 

Dale