Just getting going on a design, where I will need to work around my customer supplied data, The data is a rather large and contains 79 surface part files, I currently have 2 options:
A) carry the 79 part files in a part file ass'y & design around that - top level file size:40,922 kb
(smaller file size, but has 79 interior part files)
or
B) Crush my assemby file down to a part file & design around that- crushed part file size: 221,862 kb
Please advise whhat would run faster?
It sounds like you may want to look into the speedpak feature:
http://help.solidworks.com/2010/English/SolidWorks/sldworks/DITATopics/AllContent/SolidWorks/Core/Assemblies/c_SpeedPak_OH.htm?id=53f1011f045c45ccb6640051466136c7
It creates a simplified version of any assembly for use in further assemblies, sounds just like what you need!
That being said, if the customer supplied data will never change, just doing "save as part" will make it very simple. The advantage of speedpak is that it is fully associative, so any customer changes can be easily incorporated.