First, I will say that I am NOT an expert with sims by any means, just a constant tinkerer. So, with that out of way, I tried this, this past weekend. I have a 300MB harddrive that I have consistently used 74% of my total disk space with both FS9 & FSX. The very first thing I did was become very, very honest with myself. I know  FS9 & FSX have some great scenery features available such as the Sphinx and the Great Pyamids, great sights in Australia, Europe and Asia. This is where the "self" honesty came in; I NEVER have "flown" those areas before because I'm usually trying to get more proficient with controlling and monitoring the aircraft, and of course, I do look out the windows, but I'm not really sight-seeing and I have no quarells with "flying" these other places. Again, just self honesty. It turns out that I "fly" in about five general areas in the U.S. with very short excursions into Canada and Mexico every once in a while. Well, with much tinkering and countless uninstall/re-installs, I began parusing through all the files. I got to the Scenery/World/Scenery area, and I noticed Same, Asia, Oceana, etc... I figured, what the heck, I'll try it... I deleted all of the areas that I don't "fly" - Asia , Europe, Australia, etc. in both FS9 & FSX, and I now using a little bit less than 40% of my harddrive space...THAT made quite a difference. I noticed that my, already, quite smooth graphics are even smoother and even have become a little bit sharper. Like I said, I'm no expert, I'm just relaying something that I tried out...Semper Fi, Dave

Yeah, LOL, you know, I thought about that after I walked away from the computer and drove down the street   I stand corrected, 300 GB

     Good Morning, NOW here's a post that you've put in that is of GREAT interest to me and I'm sure to most everyone else.   I remember removing all the planes[except the one I was using] from the FS2002 because the PC I had at the time just wouldn't /couldn't handle it.   Terrible behavior.    With the planes removed there was a marked improvement in everthing in the Sim.    It's going to be interesting to see the input on this one.

     Wish you the best,  caveman

If you ever decide to go flying over my home country/disregarding Greece, Australia, you will most likely find that you have deleted the landmass, replacing it with a large black area, that you can fly through, and get UNDER the terrain.