Quote Originally Posted by Perrigrin View Post
I was under the impression that running multiple wow installs was helpful for system performance though?
100% incorrect. Common misconception. I don't know how many times I've explained it here and elsewhere. The sole reason to use multiple folders is to keep separate configurations. The problem with doing this is that there are many layers of caching on your PC, from your hard drive to the operating system to the game itself. When you use multiple folders, the benefits of caching are lost, so the average time required to grab data from the disk is much, much slower. Like, multiple orders of ten slower. What some people do to mitigate this performance hit is "symlink" the data folders so that they're all using the same patch data files for example, and this allows the caching mechanisms to work properly. But it can still be a pain on patch day.

Using ISBoxer's virtual file feature instead of multiple folders, you don't need to worry about symlinking at all, you don't need to patch multiple folders on patch day, and you get the benefits of different configuration per character without taking performance hits. Then if you want, you can have a fast SSD hold your data folder with a symlink to improve access times. Or if you have enough RAM, it should be possible to use a RAM drive for the data folder too, which should be even faster