Who is using an external HDD for gaming?

I just bought and installed a TOSHIBA 500GB HDD with 7200RPM and 16MB cache .
Installed already some games: installation runs smooth and fast, i startup the game and it looks like the loading goes faster then my 5400RPM internal HDD

Some people say you can't use external HDD or that it's bad for gaming...

Who also uses an external HDD for gaming?

 

Are you using Firewire or USB? I've got two external Western Digital harddrives, but copying/moving data between them or to or from my internal laptop drive (5400 rpm, but I got similar results with the 7200 rpm disk in my old desktop computer) only yields transfer rates of around 20 MB/s max, which is considerably worse than the 5400 rpm internal hdd (maxing out at around 50 MB/s if I recall correctly).

 

It's via USB 2.0.

I will look what the transfer rate is

 

I think it is 480MB/s

 

If its working better than your internal HDD for you then I dont see the reason to ask other people if its bad lol.

 

It sure as hell isn't . That's the theoretical transfer limit of USB 2 if I'm not much mistaken (although it's actually 480 Mbit/s, not MB/s), but I don't even think those ultra fast 10.000 rpm drives can manage much more than 100 MB/s, if they even hit 100 MB/s (I just quickly looked up some test benchmark results, looks like a 10.000 rpm Raptor peaks at slightly less than that).

 

Yep, i checked the box
- Interface: High-speed USB 2.0
- Transfer rate: 480 Mbps
- 7200 rpm
- Cache: 16MB
- (Fanless design for near-silent operation) ....

 

i use a western digital 160 gb 7200 rpm hd
games run fine on it

 

so does this mean it's possible for external 7200 rpm hard drive to outperform my internal 5400 rpm hard drive?

 

Yes, but that's 480 Mbps (Mbit/s), which is 60 MB/s (480/8) - the maximum transfer rate of USB 2, and also correctly well within reach of a modern 7200 rpm harddrive (which is why we've got Firewire and e-Sata these days, USB 2 is just barely cutting it).

Or at least it should be (and your disk may very well be capable of that) - apparantly some external disks can't for some reason reach anywhere near the speeds that they ought to. Like my WD My Book drives (7200 rpm) only hitting 20 MB/s, while my 5400 rpm internal disk according to HD Tune max out at just over 50 MB/s (I just ran a test on one of the external drives as well, HD Tune actually reports a max transfer rate of 29.2 MB/s - still much lower than you would expect, but I can't recall ever seeing it reach more than just over 20 during file copies).

 

is your external drive powered through the laptop or does it need to be plugged in the wall?

 

Don't know who you were asking, but mine are plugged into a wall socket. I doubt an USB2 port supplies anywhere near enough power to run a harddisk on its own.

Edit: Just did a quick Google search and it looks like 2.5" disks and smaller can be powered by just the USB port. I imagine most of us are using regular 3.5" external drives though (ie. desktop harddisks in an external casing, pre-built/assembled or not).

 

You have to plug it in the wall

USB can give power to things like a cell phone, mp3 player but i don't think there is a (fast) HDD that works on usb power

 

my external 7200 rpm drive is much fast when loading games than my internal 5400 rpm drive of the same size.

 

the portable 5200RPM external hdd's like the Western Digital Passport can be powered by a single USB port. If the port doesn't support enough power, you can get a Y-adapter to use 2 USB ports for power.

 

OP: The G1S has an e-SATA port. Most laptops don't even have one. That's one of the best features on any notebook and the G1S has it, why not take advantage of it?

The jump in transfer rates isn't even close! Besides you save a usb slot.

 

I've used 3 2.5" HDDs in my lifetime and all of them ran off the USB slot without the need for an external power supply. Of course if you have a firewire or E-SATA port take advantage of it since the transfer speeds are definitely faster.

 

Im cheap, I use my desktop as a server and load stuff off a gigabit Ethernet connection.

 

If you're gaming over an external HD, you must use an e-SATA connection to get any decent performance out of it. Firewire is still not nearly good enough.