Internal or external hard drive?

[Revolver Ocelot]

I recently got an external hard drive for my gaming laptop and I'm moving things onto it as I type. I'm going to download Gears of War 4 and don't know if I should do it internally or externally and want to know the benefits of both, but am having a bit of trouble simply searching it. It's a 130 gig game and so I'd rather not have to download it twice.

[Commander Makara]

If it's Steam games, and you are running WIndows, I sincerely advise against using external drive. External drives may be typically automatically flagged "Read Only" which is okay for installations that aren't prone to change (helps protect the install folder, savedata and configs ought to be elsewhere such as AppData folder etc.) but can be an annoyance for regular updated games etc.

Further Steam has a lot of issues when run from external drives - not sure if these issues apply to just the additional game folder locations, probably not, but it's something to be aware of.

Third, there may be a speed discrepancy in using (especially if mechanical drive) external devices.


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Overall, external drives are great for mass storage/archiving or of static content such as photo albums, music or movies - but with games, there are frequent reads (and maybe writes) to different files/sectors etc. continuously through playing.


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As 130G game, there is the advantage that it will not be hogging the space of your somewhat limited options inside a laptop -

[Revolver Ocelot]

So store stuff such as fallout and elder scrolls, but not gears and csgo, where updates are regular and crucal?

[Revolver Ocelot]

I have a lot of games, and most are fairly out dated at this point, making updates unlikely, so running them through an external, from what I'm understanding, wouldn't be much issue. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Sir Dookface McFerretballs]

Would need more info on what your plans and such are.

It all depends on the speed and space of the hard drive.

Games on an internal SSD or 7200RPM+ Hard Drive will load and run quicker than games on a small (usually USB powered) external 5400RPM laptop drive.

If you plan on playing said game offline on battery, then having an external harddrive hooked up will suck up more power than if you played it off the main internal drive.

The only benefits to an external hard drive is data storage, and portability to other computers. If you want performance and less power usage, it is better to stick with internal storage.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Externals are too slow for gaming, best used as mass storage for pictures, videos etc.
If your laptop has spare 2.5" internal expansion slot then I would get some decent size SSD that is not too expensive like 1 TB Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860 Evo.

[Revolver Ocelot]

Originally posted by Sir Dookface McFerretballs:

Would need more info on what your plans and such are.

It all depends on the speed and space of the hard drive.

Games on an internal SSD or 7200RPM+ Hard Drive will load and run quicker than games on a small (usually USB powered) external 5400RPM laptop drive.

If you plan on playing said game offline on battery, then having an external harddrive hooked up will suck up more power than if you played it off the main internal drive.

The only benefits to an external hard drive is data storage, and portability to other computers. If you want performance and less power usage, it is better to stick with internal storage.

My laptop is a Dell G5 with SSD 100GB/HDD 1TB combo and I got a 2TB SeaGate hard drive. I always have it plugged in but I have a lot of games I run on it and needed room for an MMORPG. I don't want any major issues but I don't mind a little bit of load time for solo games.

[Revolver Ocelot]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Externals are too slow for gaming, best used as mass storage for pictures, videos etc.
If your laptop has spare 2.5" internal expansion slot then I would get some decent size SSD that is not too expensive like 1 TB Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860 Evo.

When you say gaming, are you meaning online or general? As mentioned, online games will stay on HDD but I planned to move everything else off, onto the external.

[Sir Dookface McFerretballs]

Originally posted by Revolver Ocelot:

Originally posted by Sir Dookface McFerretballs:

Would need more info on what your plans and such are.

It all depends on the speed and space of the hard drive.

Games on an internal SSD or 7200RPM+ Hard Drive will load and run quicker than games on a small (usually USB powered) external 5400RPM laptop drive.

If you plan on playing said game offline on battery, then having an external harddrive hooked up will suck up more power than if you played it off the main internal drive.

The only benefits to an external hard drive is data storage, and portability to other computers. If you want performance and less power usage, it is better to stick with internal storage.

My laptop is a Dell G5 with SSD 100GB/HDD 1TB combo and I got a 2TB SeaGate hard drive. I always have it plugged in but I have a lot of games I run on it and needed room for an MMORPG. I don't want any major issues but I don't mind a little bit of load time for solo games.

Then install the game wherever you want that works best for you.

[Revolver Ocelot]

Originally posted by Sir Dookface McFerretballs:

Originally posted by Revolver Ocelot:

My laptop is a Dell G5 with SSD 100GB/HDD 1TB combo and I got a 2TB SeaGate hard drive. I always have it plugged in but I have a lot of games I run on it and needed room for an MMORPG. I don't want any major issues but I don't mind a little bit of load time for solo games.

Then install the game wherever you want that works best for you.

I apologise to everyone if I come off rudely persistent, I just don't know enough about verious drive types to make an accurate judgement call on it

[talemore]

Steam support it but it won't matter. If you have steam on a second drive it will install on the primary without your permission. You can but it's like wiping the butt before going on the WC. Own experience is not the speed but the connection. Sometimes an external drive can be unrecognized.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by Revolver Ocelot:

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Externals are too slow for gaming, best used as mass storage for pictures, videos etc.
If your laptop has spare 2.5" internal expansion slot then I would get some decent size SSD that is not too expensive like 1 TB Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860 Evo.

When you say gaming, are you meaning online or general? As mentioned, online games will stay on HDD but I planned to move everything else off, onto the external.

In general, online games with lots of areas to load are ofc worst. Problem is in connection speed of externals, way too slow for games.