USB Portable Hard Drives

[Wardawg1001]

I've been looking into upgrading the storage capacity on my laptop. I was under the impression (not sure where from) that USB storage devices were pretty much only good for storing things like photos/music/backups etc, but they suffer from speed problems if you try to run applications (games in my case) from them and they cant really be used for that purpose. I was talking with a couple of my co-workers who are claiming that a good USB drive will run just as fast/efficient as your built in hard drive and that you could easily run games or even an OS off a USB drive if you had the mind to.

I'm a little skeptical about their knowledge so I come to you, AnandTech, for a second opinion. Can I get a (preferably portable) USB hard drive that can reliably run games and other applications? Is there any kind of specifications I should be looking for to make sure its capable? Or should I just look into upgrading the internal hard drive?

 

[mfenn]

Your coworkers are full of shit. Upgrade the internal drive. You can get 500GB laptop sized hard drives for fairly cheap now.

 

[C1]

Second that (and I use a lot of external drives too - USB & 1394).

An argument might possibly be made for these if using eSATA, but otherwise USB external drives should be considered only as information storage/archive or, if for boot, as for emergency/recovery.

 

[Paperdoc]

USB2 is certain to be slower then internal SATA or eSATA, although not totally drastic - maybe half to one-third the speed. But that WOULD be unacceptable for devoted gamers. The newest USB3 is supposed to be as fast as SATA - fast enough that the speed limit is the hard drive itself, not the interface. I have not read any actual lab tests to verify that, but that is the reason for its introduction. However, you would need a USB3 port on your laptop, as well as a USB3 external drive unit.

 

[Gunbuster]

USB 2.0 tops out at around 30 megabytes a second. Internal sata laptop drive can do over 80meg a second.

 

[corkyg]

My lappy uses eSATA for an external drive - and we'll be looking at USB 3 pretty soon via a USB 3 Express Card. In the meantime, 320 and 500 GB lappy drives are plentiful and affordable for internal use.

 

[0roo0roo]

usb is ridiculously slow..end of story. its about to be replaced by usb 3 for good reason. 2.0 stays around cuz its cheap easy and universal, those things matter more than speed for many applications.

 

[tweakboy]

Well all I can say is low disk space and breaks easy. My cousin had one and it stopped working. His friend bought same as him, and it died. Their support isn't the greatest.. gl soo far I think your card is ok. That is a lesson, u never run more then 45 minutes of 100 percent load,, Then you jump in a game and the card dies.

Warning, guys Ive read a lot about this and I know people who used this. Its gonna die probably in 1 year to 3 year. Also if its USB, its gonna be slow,, the new techie eSATA , and his laptop doesnt have that obviously. Those slot card usb can be very expensive. I guess you have no choice... gl

 

[mfenn]

well all i can say is low disk space and breaks easy. My cousin had one and it stopped working. His friend bought same as him, and it died. Their support isn't the greatest.. Gl soo far i think your card is ok. That is a lesson, u never run more then 45 minutes of 100 percent load,, then you jump in a game and the card dies.

Warning, guys ive read a lot about this and i know people who used this. Its gonna die probably in 1 year to 3 year. Also if its usb, its gonna be slow,, the new techie esata , and his laptop doesnt have that obviously. Those slot card usb can be very expensive. I guess you have no choice... Gl

wtf....

 

[lsv]

wtf....

i lold

 

[zetsway]

Well all I can say is low disk space and breaks easy. My cousin had one and it stopped working. His friend bought same as him, and it died. Their support isn't the greatest.. gl soo far I think your card is ok. That is a lesson, u never run more then 45 minutes of 100 percent load,, Then you jump in a game and the card dies.

Warning, guys Ive read a lot about this and I know people who used this. Its gonna die probably in 1 year to 3 year. Also if its USB, its gonna be slow,, the new techie eSATA , and his laptop doesnt have that obviously. Those slot card usb can be very expensive. I guess you have no choice... gl

I'm 24 and I've had three of my usb drives since I was 16. Do the math. Yes, some do break but not all.

In regards to the OP, yes you can run an OS off of your USB drive. I do it all the time. Would I do it for games, etc....NO. Get an internal drive. Now if they are talking about USB 3.0 than that's a different story. However, I assume your laptop is still on 2.0. So just upgrade your internal storage.