SSD for gaming

[The Belgian Waffle]

Hello,

I have a 5400 RPM 3Gb/s HDD on my Laptop. Would it be a good idea to install my games on an external SSD? (I have some USB 3.0 ports). I don't really understand how this works, I'm kind of a newbie at this. 

Thanks. 

[Zero_Hour]

I personally wouldn't. Just buy an ssd and slap in your laptop if your laptop supports it

 

[The Belgian Waffle]

1 minute ago, lopj245 said:

I personally wouldn't. Just buy an ssd and slap in your laptop if your laptop supports it

 

I'll see if it supports it, but I'm not using it ATM. 

I know I can fit my HDD and a mSata in it, but I don't know what's the speed for mSata. 

[m0k]

i know people that run steam libraries off of 7200rpm external drives with no issues (usb 3.0)
 

[The Belgian Waffle]

Just now, mok said:

i know people that run steam libraries off of 7200rpm external drives with no issues (usb 3.0)
 

7200 RPM are at 6Gb/s right? 

[Zero_Hour]

mSATA would be your best bet. They're just as fast as ssd's.

 

[The Belgian Waffle]

Just now, Jorgen297 said:

What external SSD?

I don't know yet, what about the Samsung T3? 

[The Belgian Waffle]

Just now, lopj245 said:

mSATA would be your best bet. They're just as fast as ssd's.

 

Nice then, I think I'll do that ! What about this one? 

http://www.ldlc.be/fiche/PB00185920.html

[m0k]

1 minute ago, The Belgian Waffle said:

7200 RPM are at 6Gb/s right? 

that depends on the HDD, 90% of modern drives are sata3 6gb/s
 

1 minute ago, lopj245 said:

mSATA would be your best bet. They're just as fast as ssd's.

 

mSATA is just a form factor
they run off of sata and ARE ssd's
which is why they perform the same as 2.5inch ssd's

[Mira Yurizaki]

You can do this, but it depends on how the game is installed. The only thing you have to guarantee is the drive letter is the same. So depending on how the game is installed...

 

Through Steam

Spoiler

1. In Steam, go to Steam (in the menu bar) -> Settings -> Downloads -> Steam Library Folders (button at the top of the list)
2. Click on "Add Library Folder"
3. Pick a location on the SSD
4. After the library is created, install your games there.
5. If you already have games installed, while Steam is closed, copy of the contents of C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps into where the library folder in your SSD is.
6. If you want to selectively copy what you already installed...
   1. Copy what game you want from C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common to your SSD's Steam library folder under \SteamLibrary\steamapps\common.
   2. Go to the Steam store on your web browser and search for the game
   3. Not the number at the end of the URL ( for example: http://store.steampowered.com/app/474960/, note the 474960)
   4. Back in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\, find the file "appmanifest####", where the ### is the same number as what you saw in the store.
   5. Copy that file to your SSD's Steam library in the "steamapps" folder

Through Battle.net (Or whatever it's being renamed to

Spoiler

Copy the game somewhere and have Battle.Net search for it.

Through Origin

Spoiler

Point your Origin's game library to where you want it on your SSD, move your games over, then attempt to launch the game. Origin should start scanning for the game and figuring out it's there.

All other methods (if you don't want to reinstall)

Spoiler

1. Move the game from your hard drive to the SSD
2. Open up an admin
   1. Click Start.
   2. In the Start Search box, type cmd, and then press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER.
   3. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
3. cd into the directory where the game was originally
4. Type in

   
   mklink /J [name of folder] [where it lives on the SSD]

    

 

[The Belgian Waffle]

Guess I'll get the mSata, hoping the one I linked is good 

[The Belgian Waffle]

4 minutes ago, Jorgen297 said:

looks good

What about the mSata I linked before? ^^

[The Belgian Waffle]

Just now, Jorgen297 said:

yeah it's good but how will you get it in your system

My laptop has a mSata input

[The Belgian Waffle]

1 minute ago, Jorgen297 said:

that's way better

Ok then, tank you

[The Belgian Waffle]

1 minute ago, Jorgen297 said:

I can vouch for the 850 evo

Yeah, people like it : 5/5 stars

[MrDrWho13]

Personally I'd replace your internal HDD with an SSD since everything will be significantly faster.

 

BTW- I'm pretty sure 6Gb/s is a theoretical maximum, and HDDs have trouble reaching that. (SSDs don't)

[The Belgian Waffle]

4 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

Personally I'd replace your internal HDD with an SSD since everything will be significantly faster.

How can I do that? Do SSD are as fast as "normal" SSD? 

And will it physically fit? 

[MrDrWho13]

7 minutes ago, The Belgian Waffle said:

How can I do that? Do SSD are as fast as "normal" SSD? 

And will it physically fit? 

That first bit doesn't make sense in English. 

Any SSD will be significantly faster than a HDD, especially a 5400rpm one. Even running on a SATA 2 3.0Gb/s port, it will boot in seconds, and programs/games will open pretty much instantly.

Most SATA SSDs are in the 2.5 inch form factor, which is the same as most laptop HDDs. Therefore, I would be very surprised if it didn't fit. 

I'll check it if you say what make of laptop you have.

[typographie]

26 minutes ago, The Belgian Waffle said:

7200 RPM are at 6Gb/s right? 

The SATA 3 interface allows transfers of up to 6 Gb/s, your actual transfer speeds fluctuate a lot depending on the task. I don't think mechanical hard disks get anywhere near 6 Gb/s, since SATA SSDs are still able to vastly outperform SATA HDDs. How fast the disk can spin is a separate metric.

 

3 minutes ago, The Belgian Waffle said:

How can I do that? Do SSD are as fast as "normal" SSD? 

And will it physically fit? 

Most SATA SSDs are the standard 2.5" form factor that laptop HDDs are. Naturally you should double-check for your particular case, but it should be exactly the same size as your HDD.

[The Belgian Waffle]

5 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

That first bit doesn't make sense in English. 

Yeah, sorry, I wanted to ask if SSD's in a 2.5 form factor are as fast as PCIe SSD's. 

7 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

I'll check it if you say what make of laptop you have.

This is my laptop : http://www.gigabyte.fr/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4641#kf

[MrDrWho13]

2 minutes ago, The Belgian Waffle said:

Yeah, sorry, I wanted to ask if SSD's in a 2.5 form factor are as fast as PCIe SSD's. 

This is my laptop : http://www.gigabyte.fr/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4641#kf

That laptop is quite unusual. SATA SSDs are potentially slower than PCIe SSDs. Do you have an SSD already? 

The site says:

Storage

320/500/750GB/1TB 2.5" 9.5mm HDD  5400rpm 320/500/750GB 7mm HDD  5400rpm 64/128/256GB mSATA SSD

Do you know which option you went with?

[The Belgian Waffle]

Yeah, I went with Gigabyte because it has a dedicated GPU for 400 euro (which is really cheap). I have 750GB of storage without mSata (but I can add it), but I don't know if it's a 7mm HDD or a 2.5" HDD. I'm using my Mac ATM and I won't be home till 6:30 (currently 5:06). I'll open it and I'll upload a picture. 

[The Belgian Waffle]

5 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

Do you have an SSD already? 

I have an SSD in my MacBook Air, and the difference is shocking  

[MrDrWho13]

SATA and mSATA aren't the same thing. If your laptop has a spare mSATA port, then use that rather than the SATA one.

SATA is used in most laptops, and usually has a 2.5 inch space for a HDD/SSD. mSATA drives are much smaller, and usually don't have an enclosure like 2.5 inch drives do. Here's an example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-250GB-850-EVO-mSATA/dp/B00TGIVTP2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1475248219&sr=8-4&keywords=msata+ssd

I think they tend to be faster than 2.5'' drives too.

 

[The Belgian Waffle]

2 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

SATA and mSATA aren't the same thing. If your laptop has a spare mSATA port, then use that rather than the SATA one.

SATA is used in most laptops, and usually has a 2.5 inch space for a HDD/SSD. mSATA drives are much smaller, and usually don't have an enclosure like 2.5 inch drives do. Here's an example:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-250GB-850-EVO-mSATA/dp/B00TGIVTP2/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1475248219&sr=8-4&keywords=msata+ssd

I think they tend to be faster than 2.5'' drives too.

 

So it's mSata VS SATA SSD in the end?