XXHighEnd installation -- an orderly approach

[Calibrator]

hey Folks,

there are a number of ways to currently "install" XXHighEnd as you may have gathered by now, and I offer my approach to help newcomers over this initial hurdle.

While it has often been said that you can simply dump the contents of a new release over the top of the existing one, that assumes that the files and layout of the previous release are all working well together. It may be the simplest way, but lacks the flexability to jump quickly back to earlier versions for comparison, or for trouble shooting endeavours.

My suggestion is to have a separate and uniquely named folder for each new version you try. Doing it this way allows you to start from a clean slate each time and may well avoid startup issues some invariably have with each new release.

At the bottom you will see the layout of my folder structure, with a main folder located right in the root directory. You will notice I use a common folder for the "Data". This Data folder contains items such as your Playlists, Favorites, Bookmarks etc., so it makes sense to only have one of it. I also have a copy of XXHighEnd1xx.DAT ( which is created when you advance out of demo mode ) kept outside the unique version folders. When you create a new folder for any later version, simply copy that XXHighEnd1xx.DAT into the new folder to unlock it.

Create a shortcut for XXHighEnd.exe onto your desktop and you're ready to go. If you have multiple shortcuts from the different versions, be sure to rename the shortcuts to uniquely identify which is which. Be aware that flipping from one version to another will entail a restart of AutoHotKeys.

You may also notice than in the listing of drives, that I use a separate one for the Galleries. If you have the funds aplenty, this would ideally be a SSD. Mere mortals such as myself who are budget constrained are limited to the fastest drive in our system. If you are technically savvy to understand partitioning, create one large enough to accommodate forseeable expansion. This will ideally occupy the outer edges of the disc platter, where data read/write are at their best. Having the first partition of any disc dedicated to the Gallery will ensure that will be the case.

If you aren't able to have a dedicated gallery partition, consider periodic defragmentation for the drive it currently resides upon. Some of the better commercial defraggers allow you to specify which files or folders get relocated to the sectors on the outside of the platter, where performance is best as I mentioned earlier.

In due course Peter will have a proper installation process developed, but in the interim I trust this example of possible folder layouts helps a little for those still coming to terms with it all.

Cheers,

Russ