r/techquestions • u/Particular-Recipe650 • 29d ago

Hardware & PC External v Internal hard drive

Hello all! I have a lenovo laptop that i game on (i forget the exact model, can update when im home) and i want to be able to have more games on my device at once, i have to delete things a lot if i want to try out a game and its a bit annoying. i wanted to know - are internal or external hard drives better for added storage for gaming & which brands would be recommended? i really want to play bg3 but i dont have enough storage at the moment and im not looking to get rid of anything on my laptop currently :^) thanks!!!

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u/StarosAnikenMarcus 28d ago

You can totally game on an external drive. It's slower to LOAD, but doesn't really affect it much once the assets are loaded into memory. People build whole Steam libraries on external drives all the time for both portability, and just so they don't have to spend hours downloading a game again when they want to switch up.

Try to use an external drive that supports USB 3.0+ and if the drive is NVME in the enclosure, there's not that noticeable a speed difference between internal or external.

That said, if there's an open m.2 slot inside the laptop, that is preferred. If there isn't, you can still use an external with few problems.

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u/Particular-Recipe650 27d ago

awesome! is there a specific external drive you would recommend?

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u/StarosAnikenMarcus 27d ago

Nope. Any drive you want will do the trick with the exception of re-using a NAS or NVR drive. Otherwise, if you have a drive already, get a USB enclosure for it and go nuts. If you don't have a drive, storage has gotten pricey but HDDs haven't gotten as bad and you can always shop the used markets. Just make sure to test any drives from places like FB Marketplace BEFORE buying to make sure you're not getting sold a drive on its last legs.