About External Hard Drives! Question.

[Foul]

Hey!

 

Question, So ive always liked the idea of having an External Hard Drive with all my games and stuff on it, I was wondering if this is actually possible, Meaning, I could download games Onto the External Hard Drive, and play them on my computer from it.

Is this possible?
Is it a (good) idea?

Would the games run slower?

 

Any recommendations help, Dont really want or need anything over 500gb, And don't really want to break the bank on one, And does it need to be USB 3.0?

Thanks!!

[Captinjigglesworth]

1 minute ago, Foul said:

Hey!

 

Question, So ive always liked the idea of having an External Hard Drive with all my games and stuff on it, I was wondering if this is actually possible, Meaning, I could download games Onto the External Hard Drive, and play them on my computer from it.

Is this possible?
Is it a (good) idea?

Would the games run slower?

 

Any recommendations help, Dont really want or need anything over 500gb, And don't really want to break the bank on one, And does it need to be USB 3.0?

Thanks!!

I have it set up this way it makes lan parties easier and somtimes flash is faster than mechanical (depends on drive)

[Captinjigglesworth]

Just now, Captinjigglesworth said:

I have it set up this way it makes lan parties easier and somtimes flash is faster than mechanical (depends on drive)

Very good if you move around alot to different pcs if not settle for a mechanical or ssd it will be a bit cheaper

[Himommies]

Is this steam or like GOG 

[Mira Yurizaki]

10 minutes ago, Foul said:

Hey!

 

Question, So ive always liked the idea of having an External Hard Drive with all my games and stuff on it, I was wondering if this is actually possible, Meaning, I could download games Onto the External Hard Drive, and play them on my computer from it.

Is this possible?

For the most part yes. Most games don't care that they were actually "installed" or where they were installed to.

10 minutes ago, Foul said:

Is it a (good) idea?

If you travel around a lot, then yes.

10 minutes ago, Foul said:

Would the games run slower?

It'll load stuff slower, but other than that, no.

10 minutes ago, Foul said:

Any recommendations help, Dont really want or need anything over 500gb, And don't really want to break the bank on one, And does it need to be USB 3.0?

The external drive must be USB 3.0, because it offers more bandwidth that hard drives can use. USB 2.0 would easily cripple hard drive performance since it maxes out at around 40-50MB/s once you remove all the overhead.

[Foul]

1 minute ago, Himommies said:

Is this steam or like GOG 

Some steam games, Overwatch, Some.. Games.. 100% paid for legit of course... _{cough cough}

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, Foul said:

Some steam games, Overwatch, Some.. Games.. 100% paid for legit of course... _{cough cough}

Steam you can have a game library on the external drive, provided it has the same drive letter every time you connect it. I believe Battle.Net works the same as Origin (only one game library, but you can move it around).

 

Otherwise you'd have to make creative use of symlinks

[Ryujin2003]

As @M.Yurizaki stated:

Quote

It'll load stuff slower[...]

The external drive must be USB 3.0, because it offers more bandwidth that hard drives can use. USB 2.0 would easily cripple hard drive performance since it maxes out at around 40-50MB/s once you remove all the overhead.

If this is something you want to do, I would definitely suggest doing it yourself. Purchasing an external, you're going to find they are majroity 5400 RPM, which would hurt a bit more. I've found it cheaper to use either an old 7200 RPM 2.5 HDD or purchase one, and purchase a 2.5 external enclosure with USB 3.0, that way you get the maximum potential.

 

I haven't looked into it, but there might be a thunderbolt option that could provide faster speeds than USB 3.0 depending on your setup.

 

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Steam you can have a game library on the external drive, provided it has the same drive letter every time you connect it. I believe Battle.Net works the same as Origin (only one game library, but you can move it around).

 

Otherwise you'd have to make creative use of symlinks

Yes. If you install everything on a separate computer, then you'd just have to map the drive as a saved games directory on the device you're using as a portable, and you'll be fine. Same thing with Ubisoft and Origin as well.

 

Another recommendation, get double-sided Velcro tape. I've been to some LAN parties where space is tight or something, and you wouldn't want your external being moved to the side and jar the USB slot and damage the connection. Velcro it to the side of the PC or something on the table would help prevent that.

 

Otherwise, enjoy!

[Foul]

On 3/7/2018 at 10:16 PM, Ryujin2003 said:

As @M.Yurizaki stated:

If this is something you want to do, I would definitely suggest doing it yourself. Purchasing an external, you're going to find they are majroity 5400 RPM, which would hurt a bit more. I've found it cheaper to use either an old 7200 RPM 2.5 HDD or purchase one, and purchase a 2.5 external enclosure with USB 3.0, that way you get the maximum potential.

 

I haven't looked into it, but there might be a thunderbolt option that could provide faster speeds than USB 3.0 depending on your setup.

 

Yes. If you install everything on a separate computer, then you'd just have to map the drive as a saved games directory on the device you're using as a portable, and you'll be fine. Same thing with Ubisoft and Origin as well.

 

Another recommendation, get double-sided Velcro tape. I've been to some LAN parties where space is tight or something, and you wouldn't want your external being moved to the side and jar the USB slot and damage the connection. Velcro it to the side of the PC or something on the table would help prevent that.

 

Otherwise, enjoy!

Thanks a ton for the Help!

And sorry about this, Normally i'm pretty tech savvy, but for this not such, 
I just have a stranded WD Blue 1TB hardrive in my computer, Reason I want to do the External is I like the idea of having all my games in one spot, Plus moving around etc. 
So my real question is im not sure about the whole "speed" thing, Like my Hard drive isent "slow" but its not fast, But ive looked online of people saying they expreicne lag while playing off a E-Harddrive.

And like I said i really dont want to spend over 100$, only need it to be like 500gb, So i dont know if i can find anything "good" for that price.

Thanks!!

My current HardDrive http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=15_1086_210_212&item_id=050727&sid=tgio2buupftur0co8d13qgkpr3