External USB powered HDD ok for gaming?

Do you guys think that an external hard drive that doesnt require a wallwart (powered by USB 3.0) and runs at 5400 RPM would be sufficient to run some games (like say team fortress 2) on? Wouldnt the only thing that would be affected would be the longer load time and not the FPS or anything?

Also, what do you think about just leaving a drive like that hooked up to the laptop 24/7? Is that okay?

 

This should run (less performance due to less speed of the uSB2 interface vs SATA), thought USB3 is highly recommanded if your laptop supports it.

 

I would find the 'performance' unbearable - even with USB 3.0 (shudders thinking about 5400 RPM drives).

Using this 24/7 (without a constant and (very) effective cooling solution) is simply asking to have this setup fail on you sooner, rather than later.

While your maximum FPS won't be affected (once all the required data for the level you're on is finally loaded...) your average and more importantly your minimum FPS rates most certainly will.

How it will affect you, idk, but keep in mind that I'm not a gamer (at all).

Any external drives that I have experimented with were not worth the hassle in the long term - unless they were the fastest 7200 RPM drives available and connected via eSATA (at the minimum...).

If you need to expand your current notebook's storage (as you seem to need to) - it is highly recommended to upgrade to an XT 750GB drive - if this still does not offer the required increase in storage capacity; start looking for a dual HDD bay notebook (or maybe a caddy to put a HDD into your unused optical drive bay).

An optical drive used occassionally through USB 3.0 will last much longer than a non-actively cooled HDD (even one that spins at only 5400 rpm) that you keep 'hooked up' 24/7 to your system.

Good luck.

 

I've played RCT3 and SimCity 4 using an eSATA HDD dock and as far as cooling goes, I don't see any issues (though yet again, it's a bare drive in open air...). USB2 is unplayable even with these older games, though USB3 should be nearly as good as eSATA for gaming purposes (most of the hardware stress is on the GPU anyway, and games usually load up the bulk of files to RAM before gameplay).

 

What an awfully pessimistic post.

I don't understand what you're talking about with the cooling at all. Are you saying the external HDD is somehow going to heat up his notebook? seriously.

 

Aside from the occasional lag due to running off USB (as far as the game loading data anyway on 2.0) you should be fine, but 3.0 would work a lot better for that kind of use. Get a 7200 rpm drive and make your own external though, just in case something happens.

 

Yes, sound advice. I was going to say 7200RPM in your own USB 3.0 enclosure too, or eSATA even if your laptop supports it. It should be fine.

 

Second on 7200RPM.. will work great.

 

I've done this with USB 2.0 and a 5400RPM 1TB drive. Let me dispel a few ideas floating around here:
1) The drive does not get exceptionally hot, nor has it failed in over 2 years of running.
2) The only real 'performance drop' is in load times. Once the level loads, the USB 2.0 nature of your drive isn't an issue really.
3) If you could get a faster drive (7200RPM, Momentus XT - I'd suggest only 750GB version though, or SSD) and a faster connection (eSATA/USB 3.0) then any problems would be severely mitigated.

 

USB 2.0 is more than enough for playing media off an external drive, but you might not be happy with how long things can take to load from it, so if at all possible go for USB3 or eSATA.

You might want to get a 3.5" drive because they are faster, have more space, and are cheaper.