external storage

unknownerror404 · May 4, 2020

if i add external hard drive or external ssd on my gaming laptop and install games on external hard drive did i get the same game performance like i get with my internal hard drive

Lurick · May 4, 2020

It depends completely on the interface. You could have the fastest SSD in the world and if you plug it into a USB1 or USB2 interface you're going to bottleneck it like crazy and only get, best case, the max speed of the USB interface.

unknownerror404 · May 4, 2020

i have USB 3.1 Gen 1 in my laptop is this good to run on external hard drive with my laptop

did i get any lag if i install and play games on external hard drive ?

harryk · May 4, 2020

USB 3.1 Gen 1 caps out at 625 MB/s. Gen 2 caps at 1250 MB/s.

Spinning hard drives cap out at around 100 MB/s. So an external hard drive will be just as fast as an internal.

SSDs are a different story though. There are many different technologies for SSD with a variety of speeds. Typical SATA SSDs top out at around 500 MB/s. There are faster internal PCIe SSDs which can exceed 2000 MB/s. The fastest external SSDs only reach 400-500 MB/s.

A fast external SSD will be fine for games, though may not be at fast as the internal drive depending on what your laptop has. Check reviews for the external drives and see what speeds people are actually getting.