Can I place mods onto an external hard drive?

[WolfJarl]

Heya.

I was just wondering if it's possible to store my mods and mod organizer onto my external hard drive, since said mods take quite a lot of space on my PC, and I need some for a new game.

I know that putting a game onto an external hard drive results in abysmally slow run speed, but can these mods be stored in said hard drive and be active in the game without affecting their performance?

And if it's doable, how do I transfer my mods onto the external hard drive?

[Belanos]

No, mods have to be in the game's Data folder in order to function. While you can back them up on an external drive, you can't use them in the game itself like that.

[WolfJarl]

Originally posted by Belanos:

No, mods have to be in the game's Data folder in order to function. While you can back them up on an external drive, you can't use them in the game itself like that.

Thank you. I take it placing a game onto an external hard drive isn't a good idea, yea?

[McCloud]

Originally posted by DragonCount:

Originally posted by Belanos:

No, mods have to be in the game's Data folder in order to function. While you can back them up on an external drive, you can't use them in the game itself like that.

Thank you. I take it placing a game onto an external hard drive isn't a good idea, yea?

Usually* not, correct.

[Belanos]

Originally posted by DragonCount:

Thank you. I take it placing a game onto an external hard drive isn't a good idea, yea?

Probably not for a game like Skyrim. Fast loading times are important, unless you have the patience to deal with the lag you will get as the game constantly loads new textures and meshes as you travel around. Some other game that's not quite so demanding would probably be OK though. Maybe you could move something else there instead to make some room on your main drive.