External Hard Drive ?

[Templarian]

WD Passport 80 GB Hard Drives
For a hard drive that is external like the one above is it possible to run a game off one (not that 5400 would probably be crappy loads). Just is it possible or will the drive die becuase i runs on USB bus power?

//edit 2, im going to buy it tomorrow probably, becuase i have 5gigs left on this drive. Yea i feel sad for myself too. And i need it for school next year.

[Templarian]

bump. anyone know?

[G]

I don't think USB would be fast enough your best bet would be to get an external hd that uses firewire as that is quite a bit faster thans usb and is used to transfer large video files etc.

make sure you get one that is 7200rpm...you may have to spend a little more to get a hard drive that is fast enough for a game.

[Templarian]

No it was to play video games off it at school so like starcract diablo 2 quake 3 those kind of game. Not many computers have firewire support. Im still looking around though i'm not sure which one to buy yet i liked that one becuase it was about the same size as my PPC.

(and for real gaming i would still be using my 10,000rpm.).

[Stratification]

You're still going to have issues besides speed, most games require registry entries to play properly, which wouldn't travel with you. Unless I'm way off base it's not going to work very well unless you install on the computer. Then you might as well just put your saved games on a thumb drive.

[Maxtr0sity]

I suggest you just buy a harddrive and enclosure separately. It'll save you bucks.

[Templarian]

yea now i have a long time to decide i've changed my mind im going to buy it right before school starts up anyway. Well thanks guys, and stratification are you sure. I thought it would work almost like an internal drive. (some internal drives are just used to store stuff and have no OS either).

//edit sry what do you mean an enclosure, im not really good with hardware.

[Maxtr0sity]

Inclosures are connected through IDE as opposed to USB2/Firewire which is significantly slower as for transfer speeds. The package you're buying is just a harddrive inside a box. The box is called the enclosure. If you buy the harddrive and enclosure separately, it's usually cheaper.

[Templarian]

wouldnt it be larger? im going to be taking this from school and back every day.

[Maxtr0sity]

Larger? As in physical size wise of the enclosure? No. Here, show me what you are planing to buy (URL) and I can probably get a better deal.

[Maxtr0sity]

I just googled your product. Yeah, the enclosure is usually larger. The harddrive you have in mind has a laptop harddrive inside. 5400RPM is really slow. Games'll load reallllly slow, I suggeest you just buy a regular 3.5in enclosure, at least you can get it faster (7200RPM).

[Templarian]

i k i said the load times would blow but if you notice what games im planning to play on them it probably doent matter. and from what im readding its pretty okay for regular transfers. If someone can show me a good one thats cheap and small i would change my mind in a second. but i dont have much $$ so... still looking around.

and like usual i dont want to be using any external power only the USB bus power.

[Jolly_Fat_Man]

I guess ur all set!

I can't help u on ur prices and stores and all that 'cause I don't live bellow canada...
There is only one store I know around me that even sell the product ur speaking of and it's around 20 or so euros.
1 laptop disc enclosure that feeds off of a dual usb connection...

Most problems u might get would be on the first use... of the games i mean!
Just install the first time and the registry would be fine...
Or, but this will require Admin privilieges on the computers to install in, use a "registry adder"...

I honestly have no idea of the name or even how it works, but many games, like old hentai games have a litle file that adds a registry key about ur game. Just get that and if u have admin rights ur prolly set!

U most likelly need a crack for ur games since its school...

[Templarian]

All my old games have cracks (i own all the games just cant really find the CD's lol).
Thanks so from what your saying i can just have to add the registery everytime after my first install (i can figure out the spicifics myself later when school starts)?

Will the registeries on my computer work for the ones at my school?

//edit, Anyone?

[Maxtr0sity]

You can't just 'copy' your registry from your computer. Plus, you'd have to find out every string that the game adds when it installs. Good luck.

[Templarian]

is their a way to run the games without registery (i dont know what a registery is exactly). Becuase i've sent my friend the folder in program files and he ran the game perfectly. And i really doubt the registry was in their. so couldnt i just do the same thing with the external drive?

[Maxtr0sity]

I say try it out, older games mighttt work, you never know til you try.

[Templarian]

good idea Max, ill just see when i get it if it does. i wont really care a whole lot if it doesnt becuase students have complete axcess to all files on the computer.

[krnmikel]

wait, why a external? why not just a internal 7200 rpm 80 gig hardrive. i say 45 dollars for that.

[Maxtr0sity]

...I think he's looking for something mobile.

:P

Try this, borrow a flash drive, copy your game folder into it and see if it'll load on another computer.

[Jolly_Fat_Man]

In principle it should work even if at a very slow speed.
Even USB2 is only 480MB/s or was it Mb? Anywho! Its still amazingly slower than normal IDE or even EIDE cable connections!

Old games should work well enough, some might get the hickups and start throwing up errors, but thats the price u pay....

Good luck playing the games without ur teacher finding out about it in school! Over here u wouldn't do it 'cause the classrooms are configured against that sorta thing, the teacher can see any1 at all times, besides that u'd get the HDD confiscated and might not be given back!

[Templarian]

Jolly these computers are only connect to the internet nothing else and they reset them back every year to their original state. Yea, i'm not going to be playing games all the time just whenever i get bored. And they are only like 1.4ghz i believe, so they arn't going to play the big games anyway.

And KRN, Max answered it.

Max i tested it. It works you just need to drag over the program files folder and put it in the same place on the other computer. This means i can play the games i just would have to drag them over to the computer im at. not that big of a deal.

[Maxtr0sity]

Are you surre you tested it? If I read correctly, you just moved your game folder around on your computer and it worked. If that's how you did it, you still might have problems. Just because your registry doesn't point to a location, doesn't mean the program doesn't point to the registry. Moving the folder around doesn't change where it reads the registry, however, when you're on the other computers, the registry won't have those values.

[Templarian]

No i moved it to my bro's computer. starcraft must be to old? becuase i just threw it on a cd and threw it on his comp. basically the same thing i would do with the HD *(the .exe doesnt need a cd).

//edit, i wont see the answer for 3 days i'm going to see Dave Matthews Band.