DCS Transfer to dedicated SSD from C Drive

[NatoBoomerang]

Afternoon Folks - need some advise please, I currently have DCS World with FC3 & A10C installed on my C Drive, primary, that's a 128GB SSD. I've gotten a hold of a spanking new ADATA SX900 256GB SSD FREE! & would like to transfer my entire DCS folder to this new SSD, exclusively for DCS...it's the only sim/game on my rig. I'm doing the install tonight...I'll use the Adata software to do the migration.

My question is, has any one done this migration before? would there any issues with getting future updates from ED properly migrating to the new folder on the SSD? I guess i'm a little concerned as DCS will not be on the primary C Drive anymore. The reason for all this is...i've only got about 25GBs left on my primary C Drive SSD, I've also got a 2TB WD regular hard drive...with nothing on it. Thoughts please?

 

thanks in advance!

 

My Specs Below:

 

Corsair 750W Modular

ThermaltakeVersaII

CoolerMaster T4Heatpipe

MSI970A-G46 AMD Motherboard

AMD FX8320 Eight-Core OC 4.2Ghz

16GB Gskillz 2400mhz

nVIDIA GTX 780

120GB Samsung 840Series SSD

1TB WD 2nd HDD

LG 14x Blu-Ray Writer

LG 24x DVD Writer

ASUS MX279H 27" Monitor

TH Warthog HOTAS

Satiek Combat Pedals

TrackIR5w Clip

Creative Wrath 7.1 Sound Wireless

Win 7HE 64bit

Edited November 26, 2013 by NatoBoomerang

[xxJohnxx]

You can try it, but it maybe will mess things up. If you try to move the whole C:/ over to the new drive, that can cause big problems.

If you just try to move DCS over to the new drive, you can try to use the migration tool. However, chances are high that some path / registry is messed up.

I would recommend to reinstall DCS in this case to the new drive. It doesn't take to long and is the better method in my opinion.

 

Best regards,

 

Jonathan

[NatoBoomerang]

I was thinking about doing a clean install on the new SSD, but I'm really hesitant to download all the files from ED gain...I have major issues with I did the initial earlier this spring, massive corruption with the files, via the mirrors and also the torrents. it took me 4 tries to call all the files installed correctly and error free....nervous laugh :noexpression:

[Nate--IRL--]

Just move the DCS folder to the new disk, then amend the Short-cuts. Job done.

 

Nate

[SkateZilla]

Copy/Paste, Create New Shortcut worked fine for me.

[NatoBoomerang]

Morning Guys - Nate/SkateZ, worked like a charm!

Did the install, the SSD came with it's own mounting bracket, did some cable management and spent some time to clean out my fans. Was up and running in 20mins after a quick format. Copy & paste did the trick - one whole SSD just for DCS! :thumbup:

[SkateZilla]

Morning Guys - Nate/SkateZ, worked like a charm!

Did the install, the SSD came with it's own mounting bracket, did some cable management and spent some time to clean out my fans. Was up and running in 20mins after a quick format. Copy & paste did the trick - one whole SSD just for DCS! :thumbup:

 

Now, when you formatted, did you align the SSD sectors properly? something nearly everyone forgets to do.

[idenwen]

Work, have done it before.

 

• Copy the folder and
  
• search with regedit for the old path in the registry and change it to the new location.
  

[cichlidfan]

Work, have done it before.

 

• Copy the folder and
  
• search with regedit for the old path in the registry and change it to the new location.
  

 

There is no need to alter the registry, it will work with just shortcuts pointed to the new locations.

[NatoBoomerang]

Umm...Skate, I went into Computer Management and into Storage and did a NTSF Quick Format and it was good to go..then cut and pasted the ED Folder to the new drive & updated my shortcuts. Didn't do anything else...I should be good to go correct?

[Bodo]

http://www.windows-server-partition.com/how-to-align-partition-on-your-hddssd.html

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1226963/how-to-properly-re-align-your-ssd-hdd-partitions

[NatoBoomerang]

thank you, sounds good, will do.

[awdrgyjo]

Just move the DCS folder to the new disk, then amend the Short-cuts. Job done.

 

Nate

 

I am in exactly the same boat, but, I am completely computer illiterate, so I have booked an appointment for someone to install the new SSD, and get it up and running.

I discussed the copy and paste idea, and he said, although this would work in the short term, it wont make the sim run any faster, because the operating system needs to be moved onto the SSD drive as well, and, because its just been copied and pasted, updates, and mods etc will cause real problems in the long run, the only way round this is to delete and reinstall the sim, onto the new SSD, please don't shoot the messenger, I am just repeating what I have heard, but, I know this guy has been in the business for twelve years and comes recommended.

He also mentioned about partitioning, and formatting, but i'm afraid I was lost by then, now, I admit that some of this may have been lost in translation, but it does seem according to other forums I have now visited, its not as simple as it seems, cheers everyone.

[sobek]

I discussed the copy and paste idea, and he said, although this would work in the short term, it wont make the sim run any faster, because the operating system needs to be moved onto the SSD drive as well

 

This is not true. The loading times will decrease if it is stored on an SSD.

 

Regarding the autoupdater, i think it can handle it, but i'm not entirely sure.

[NatoBoomerang]

Hey Guys - the auto updater works fine, I did the latest update after I did the install and transfer as per above and it works fine. No need to worry.

[javelina1]

great thread and info. bookmarking for future reference! :thumbup: I plan to pickup an SSD for my gamer system, via the black friday deals.

 

I added an SSD onto my laptop, what a whole new machine there.

[awdrgyjo]

Hey Guys - the auto updater works fine, I did the latest update after I did the install and transfer as per above and it works fine. No need to worry.

 

What's the main difference to the in game performance, with the new SSD?

[awdrgyjo]

This is not true. The loading times will decrease if it is stored on an SSD.

 

Regarding the autoupdater, i think it can handle it, but i'm not entirely sure.

 

Hi SOBEK, that's the point I was making, if you look at my post again I agree with you that the operating system SHOULD be moved to the SSD, otherwise the full advantage of the new drive wont be realised, as I understand, copy and paste, just moves the sim to the new drive, not the operating system.

[sobek]

My point was that for the sim to load faster, the operating system DOES NOT need to be on the SSD. Putting the OS on the SSD will improve your boot time and smart caching stuff of the OS, but it won't do a lot to the sim if it has been on the SSD already.

[Cibit]

I put all my ED stuff on SSD back when A10C was in beta but then the drive kept disappearing from my Computer. Ironically it is visible today as I write this. Any reason you can think of it would do this?

 

Edit: I managed to copy and paste my DCSW installation onto my SSD and tested load times before it disappeared again.

SSD load times 1.41 for a user made mission

HDD load times 2.08 for same user made mission

Edited November 30, 2013 by Cibit

[xxJohnxx]

Hi,

 

Any reason you can think of it would do this?

 

Just some quick guesses:

 

- Datacable not plugged in properly into SSD.

- Datacable not plugged in properly into mainboard.

- Powercable not plugged in properly into SSD.

- Powercable not plugged in properly into SSD.

-> Check if connectors are plugged in properly.

 

- Damaged datacable.

- Damaged powercable.

-> Check cable and try to replace it with another cable if possible.

 

- Damaged port on SSD.

- Damaged port on mainboard.

-> Try to use another port if available.

 

That could be some of the mechanical reasons why it doesn't show up. I asume there are plenty more software side reasons why it doesn't show up all the time. I don't know any unfortunatly.

 

Hope it helps anyways,

 

John

[gerd]

What's the main difference to the in game performance, with the new SSD?

 

Faster load times and should remove sturrering when some new textures / sounds / parts of the map should be loaded during the game.

 

At least that is what I am hoping for - I already have Windows on a 64 GB SSD and I am planning to buy another one (probably Intel 530 / 240 GB) to move the games from the slow HDD.

[awdrgyjo]

Faster load times and should remove sturrering when some new textures / sounds / parts of the map should be loaded during the game.

 

At least that is what I am hoping for - I already have Windows on a 64 GB SSD and I am planning to buy another one (probably Intel 530 / 240 GB) to move the games from the slow HDD.

 

Hi Gerd, yes I know the advantages of an SSD.

 

In earlier posts, NatoBoomarang copied and pasted his DCS world straight from his hard drive onto his new SSD, although this worked initially, I was curious to know if the game performance had improved, if it has, all well and good, if not, then it may be a bit more complicated, and he has just moved the sim from one drive to another without utilizing the advantages of the SSD, several people have already advised me this can happen, and other problems can arise, but then again, they have not dealt with this particular program.

 

It would be interesting to know if anyone has done this transfer, say over a year ago, and has not encountered any problems, and, has noticed an improvement.

[gerd]

Well, it might be connected to the other speed improvement I read about - that is it beneficial to reinstall DCS from time to time using the latest version as the patching from version to version could leave some unwanted slow-down efects...

 

Actually I could report in about two weeks, provided everything goes well with my SSD purchase.

 

1) I will measure performance of my current install on HDD (version 1.2.3 patched to the latest 1.2.6)

2) I will move this installation to the new SSD and measure the performance again (Copy&Paste as mentioned in this thread before)

3) I will uninstall my patched DCS from SSD and install directly 1.2.6 to SSD

 

That should give us the answers.

 

However, I am a bit concerned about the last step - uninstalling and installing again - will I lose one de/activation of A10, P51 and UH-1 ?

Should I deactivate the modules beforehand, or should simply uninstall / install and pray it does not ask about activation?

[NatoBoomerang]

Awdrgyjo - I did a transfer from one SSD that had my OS & DCS on it (never did I have it loaded on a reg HDD), to a dedicated SSD for DCS. I've had this particular rig since Mar 2013 and had not have any issues with my SSD stability my load speeds have been awesome with max settings and full terrain & textures loading bet 5-10 seconds and I'm very happy.