External Drives and Gaming

[Red Machine D]

I'm looking for a new HDD for my laptop, and after my head asploding at the price of internal laptop HDDs, I decided maybe an external HDD would be in order. However, after seeing some of THOSE prices, I thought maybe it'd be a better idea just to get an internal 3.5" HDD , case it, and plug it in. However, since I'm a flaming retard, I thought I'd better ask you guys first:

1. Is it even feasible to use an external HDD for gaming (i.e. installing games on the external HDD and playing them from it)?

2. What's a good, cost-effective external case for said HDD?

3. Right now I'm sticking with IDE, because I'm still confused as to the whole SATA/PATA thing. Does SATA/PATA make that much of a difference?

4. Since I'm using this on a laptop (specifically a maxed-out Dell Inspiron E1505 purchased at the recommendations of over a hundred [H]ard|Forumers), and thus have no eSATA capabilities, are there any external shell cases for HDDs with high transfer rates (USB2.0 High-Speed, FireWire 800)?

Those who help out will be rewarded in internets.

 

[Red Machine D]

Bump for desperately needing advice. ;_;

 

[Dew]

You could get an ExpressCard SATA adapter. This would yield just about the same performance as having a SATA drive hooked directly into your computer.

ExpressCard 54: http://www.chiefvalue.com/product/p...-001&ATT=PC+Cards+PCMCIA+Add+&CMP=OTC-4r00gle

External SATA enclosure: http://www.outletpc.com/c6338.html

 

[Red Machine D]

Unfortunately, that adds on a lot more than I can spend.

 

[MrGuvernment]

problem is if you go for USB external drives the performance wioll suck ass royally!

so unless you use some add-in SATA or eSATA card and external drive, it wont do much good.

 

[Farva]

I'm looking for a new HDD for my laptop, and after my head asploding at the price of internal laptop HDDs, I decided maybe an external HDD would be in order. However, after seeing some of THOSE prices, I thought maybe it'd be a better idea just to get an internal 3.5" HDD , case it, and plug it in. However, since I'm a flaming retard, I thought I'd better ask you guys first:

1. Is it even feasible to use an external HDD for gaming (i.e. installing games on the external HDD and playing them from it)? No

2. What's a good, cost-effective external case for said HDD? Go with a 160GB 2.5" laptop drive for speed. External may be more cost effective, but performance will suck.

3. Right now I'm sticking with IDE, because I'm still confused as to the whole SATA/PATA thing. Does SATA/PATA make that much of a difference? IDE=PATA. SATA has more bandwidth to the controller, so performance is a bit better.

4. Since I'm using this on a laptop (specifically a maxed-out Dell Inspiron E1505 purchased at the recommendations of over a hundred [H]ard|Forumers), and thus have no eSATA capabilities, are there any external shell cases for HDDs with high transfer rates (USB2.0 High-Speed, FireWire 800)?

Those who help out will be rewarded in internets.

I hope I was able to help out a bit. I'm not 100% sure on my answers, but I think I have those right.