Gaming on External HDD Crashes PC?

mrsmile · Dec 6, 2016

Does playing games that are installed on an external hard drive make the likelihood of my computer [strike]crushing[/strike]crashing higher?

I've noticed my computer would randomly [strike]crush[/strike]crash. My PSU supplies 630W so that shouldn't be a problem. and this incident only happens when I'm gaming. I have all my games on lowest graphics setting and yet the issue still persists. I'm using an MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB. The reason I don't install my games on my primary storage device is because I'm using an SSD with fairly limited space.

Deniedstingray · Dec 6, 2016

mrsmile :

I assume you mean "Crash" not crush. I would imagine this would be an issue because external drives aren't really meant for heavy use like that. Just get a 500gb-1tb harddrive and throw it in your computer.

mrsmile · Dec 6, 2016

Deniedstingray :

mrsmile :

I assume you mean "Crash" not crush. I would imagine this would be an issue because external drives aren't really meant for heavy use like that. Just get a 500gb-1tb harddrive and throw it in your computer.

yes, i've made the correction. thanks for pointing that out.

D_Know_WD · Dec 7, 2016

Hi there mrsmile,

Is it just the game that crashes, or it is the whole PC? Does this happen with all games?
I would agree with Deniedstingray. The best thing you can do is to just add an internal HDD.

Apart from that, a couple of things you can do:
- Check your external drive's health status out: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/282651-32-best-diagnostic-testing-utility
- See if there are any power saving options enabled. If there are some, just disable them and see if that would change anything: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/prevent-hard-drive-going-sleep-windows

Cheers,
D_Know_WD

XistenZ · Dec 7, 2016

Do you use the external drive for anything besides having it plugged into your desktop at all given times? If it's always connected anyway then you can actually "break it open" and install it in the desktop.
In some rare cases with 2.5" drives they're specifically designed to only work with the external case, but usually there's no issues to make an external drive into an internal.

D_Know_WD · Dec 7, 2016

The OP should keep in mind that this would void the warranty and that he/she should back up the data before that.
Also, as you've mentioned, some externals have proprietary connectors and they can't really be attached through SATA. Some devices have hardware encryption as well.

D_Know_WD

mrsmile · Dec 12, 2016

D_Know_WD :

It's the entire PC that crashes. I would see grey lines on the monitor. Historically, this has happened to games like Starcraft 2 and League of Legends. Meanwhile Rainbow 6 has never seen such issue but has experienced other issue like mouse sensitivity problem that may or may not be due to the game being installed on the external drive. However, CSGO has never seen any issue.

mrsmile · Dec 12, 2016

XistenZ :

Unfortunately, my case is built in such a way that it only allows one 2.5" drive and it has been used for an SSD so I'm getting a 3.5"

XistenZ · Dec 13, 2016

mrsmile :

There's actually a bracket you can get that you can use to install 2.5" drives into 3.5" bays.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-5-to-3-5-SSD-HDD-Notebook-Hard-Disk-Drive-Mounting-Bracket-Adapter-Holder-FE-/332031367254?hash=item4d4e9c9856:g:YGkAAOSwH71XO9~B
Now that's an example, just to let you know there's a possibility to fit the drive properly for a much smaller cost than getting a whole new drive.

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