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    storing games on an external usb drive

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by mattcheau, Jan 30, 2013.

  1. mattcheau

    mattcheau Notebook Deity

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    aside from increased loading times, are any other performance decreases that can be expected? or is the longer loading time simply a result of everything being cached on the main disk/memory and once there, will play just as it would otherwise? i'd really like to start storing my games on my external usb (2.0) drive...
     
    mattcheau, Jan 30, 2013
    #1
  2. failwheeldrive

    failwheeldrive Notebook Deity

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    I've used hdds in a usb 3.0 enclosure a bunch, and I've never had any issues with it. If you can't swap out your disk drive for the hdd, you'll be fine with an external enclosure.
     
    failwheeldrive, Jan 30, 2013
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  3. moviemarketing

    moviemarketing Milk Drinker

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    You may want to consider just backing them up on your external drive and then restoring to you internal drive when you want to play. The loading times are going to be a nightmare if you are accustomed to your Intel 520 SSD.

    The Steam client has a backup and restore function, makes this very easy and convenient.
     
    moviemarketing, Jan 30, 2013
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  4. Zymphad

    Zymphad Zymphad

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    I would just install single player games on external HDD, but install your online games on a HDD in your machine.
     
    Zymphad, Jan 30, 2013
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  5. mattcheau

    mattcheau Notebook Deity

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    yea, i should have clarified. i'm talking about single-player games. i don't mind dealing with load times on a mechanical so long as that's the only performance hit. but even that could present an obvious issue for online multiplayer.
     
    mattcheau, Jan 30, 2013
    #5
  6. be77solo

    be77solo pc's and planes

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    I run a bunch of Steam games off of a usb 3.0 WD Passport and they run just fine...I don't even notice that much of a difference over an internal HDD... Not sure how much 2.0 would make, but when I upgraded to the newer 3.0 drive it's noticeably quicker.
     
    be77solo, Jan 31, 2013
    #6