The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    External Hard Drive question.

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by davkal, Feb 19, 2007.

  1. davkal

    davkal Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    I'm getting a new laptop, and I also want to buy an external hardrive. I'm wondering can I put all of my music and games on the external hard drive, and when I plug in the hard drive would the games and music work fine, just as if they were on the internal hard drive, Is there a difference in putting stuff on the external over the internal drive besides just plugging in the external hd.
    -Davkal
     
  2. jetstar

    jetstar Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    1,095
    Messages:
    7,034
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    There will be no perceptible difference when listening to music, viewing photos etc. However, gameplay may vary based on the nature of the game and/or type of hard drive connection (USB, Firewire, etc).
     
  3. davkal

    davkal Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    The most complicated game will be battle field 2, and it would be connected with USB.
    Would there be a noticable difference?
    -Davkal
     
  4. chuckspadina

    chuckspadina Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    2
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    I am going to buy an ExpressCard SATA adapter with external SATA connectors. You can buy the eSATA / USB portable 3.5" drive case and an stock 3.5" 500 GB (or whatever) SATA drive. This will give you external drive connectivity with local SATA speed. The adapter card is about $50 or so.
     
  5. Gator

    Gator Go Gators!

    Reputations:
    890
    Messages:
    1,889
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    I would not place games and performance apps on the external HDD. Instead, use it for media storage and archiving purposes.

    I have a 100GB 7200RPM internal HDD and 250GB external.
     
  6. Lil Mayz

    Lil Mayz Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    599
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    Running applications off an external HDD is quite complicated infact. All the registry keys will be on the Notebook HDD, and the game files would be on the External Drive.