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Is it better to install games on a USB storage drive like USB SSD and hard drive or SD Card?

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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I think it is usually better to install games onto a USB storage drive because USB External SSD is faster than most SD card.

USB Desktop external hard drives also can store more games than most SD Cards, and some newer USB external hard drive are fast enough to run games for the Xbox One and PS4.

SD cards may also be less reliable, and not designed to be running at full speed and higher temperatures for many hours like hard drives, and SSDs which can run without problems for a long time like hard drives, and SSDs which are installed on servers and supercomputers which stay powered ON for many months to years.
 
SSD is the quickest in terms of installation and execution, but I don't do it myself, since each GB of free space is crusial to me.
For bigger games (mostly GC or Wii ISO files I ripped myself), I put everything on an external HDD drive of 2 TB.
It's notably slower, but at least it saves space.

My HDD is formatted on ext4.
I had it on FAT first, but I had to trim my Wii games where possible to fit those on.
NTSC would be the biggest go-to for Windows users, but I use Linux instead, so NTSC support is rather limited.
HFS+ would make it macOS-only, so I won't even start with this.
And if I ever need to access it from a different OS, there are always some 3rd party tools that allow the HDD to be read.
 
I think anything is fine as long as its not a slow CD.
 
SuwakoMoriya said:
Wrong, a floppy disk is even worse.
Click to expand...

I used software installed on a network drive which is hosted on a server on the same network, and the programs run the slowest because the network was very slow when the network had a lot of user on it.
 
SuwakoMoriya said:
Except network speed can vary on countless of factors.
Could be blazing fast, could also be slow as shit through a funnel.
Click to expand...

Blazing fast networks is uncommon on most large public networks which I used at schools, libraries, and community centers where larger programs like MS Office which are loaded from a network drive is unreliable, and slow. It may of gotten worse by now since more people are using Wi-Fi to access networked drives, and programs stored on a network drive.
 
I was only partly referring to the download and upload speeds an ISP provides, I was also talking about things like distance between the user and a router (if on WiFi), how many users are using the same network at the same time, the physical distance between you and the server (the ping), the network speed of the server, just to name a few.
 
SuwakoMoriya said:
I was only partly referring to the download and upload speeds an ISP provides, I was also talking about things like distance between the user and a router (if on WiFi), how many users are using the same network at the same time, the physical distance between you and the server (the ping), the network speed of the server, just to name a few.
Click to expand...

I think playing games loaded from the internet is usually not as fast in North America because a lot of people still use 15 Mbps and slower internet connections, so not as many people stream games from game streaming services like Playstation Now where you stream games to a PS4, or Windows PC.
 
Both SSD and HDD has disadvantages and advantages, i think it all depends upon how you maintain your device specially on the power and environment side. These storage devices are susceptible to heat, current change and electrical noise. Keeping your laptop/desktop well maintained will basically make a difference.
 
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