Using external SSD drive via USB 3.0, is it worth it? - eviltoast

So most games today require SSD (like recently Alan Wake 2 or Hogwarts Legacy) to load assetts fast enough while also taking loads of space. And here is my current conundrum. When I bough PC 4 years ago, I was not thinking that far ahead and went only with 500 GB ssd and 2 TB hdd, thinking that 500 GB is enough for few games here and there that will really need the ssd. What I ended up with is now I have huge hdd that simply is not up to snuff in modern games and small ssd to juggle few games between.

My case layout does not allow for any more internal drives, so either I throw away the hdd and buy internal ssd or go for external.

And here comes my question, is external via usb 3 good enough, or will I suffer and end up having to buy internal ssd later down the line anyways?

  • ISolox@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have 2 SATA SSDs I use via an USB adapter externally and have never had an issue.

    Technically SATA is faster at 6 gigabyte compared to USB 3.0 at 5 gigabyte. That being said USB 3.1 or newer is faster than SATA.

    How if we’re talking nvme, internal drives are basically always going to be faster than a USB adapter.