MSFS 2024 in an external SSD drive

Yes, absolutely. My old PC had it installed on an external SSD. No issues. Just needs to be formatted to NTFS and you're good to go.

ok. try these other steps.

Uninstall and reinstall the game:

Uninstall MSFS 2024 completely.

Reinstall the game.

7. Try to fix the installation file:

On Steam, you can try to "fix" or "restore" the game's installation file, if available.

8. Check if MSFS 2024 is installed on the external hard drive:

Flight Simulator X may have issues if installed on an external hard drive

because of their higher prices I would only be able to afford a small (256GB) SSD drive

Hi

Don't be fooled into buying an external SSD, most are far too expensive for what they are. I'm not saying not to buy an SSD though.

The cheapest option is to make your own. All you need is a standard 2.5" SSD and an external USB 3.0 drive enclosure. SSD's on their own work out a lot cheaper and a Drive enclosure costs only $10. External SSD use the same tech, just in a glued together
case.

It's not complicated either. Putting an SSD hard drive in an enclosure is as easy as changing batteries in a TV remote.

My external SSD is a 2.5" Corsair MX500 SSD drive.

Thanks. It appears the SSD external drive number 2 was the issue. Maybe!

That narrows it down to 3 issues.

Bad USB SSD Docking cable

Bad SSD

XBOX S does not play well with 2 external SSD drives

Sometimes when a drive starts to fail it will do strange things .

last one that failed had a bad cable as well as a bad drive. Difficult to troubleshoot eh.

Just like to add, unless your external drive is an SSD, don't bother. This game NEEDS an SSD, it will be unplayable on a mechanical hard drive.