No, it's not recommended to run games from an HDD. It can significantly slow down performance and cause lag.
No, it's not recommended to run games from an HDD. It can significantly slow down performance and cause lag.
Hi everyone. My laptop's storage was getting low because of the games I downloaded. I remembered having an old 500 GB HDD with a 5400 RPM drive that I removed from my previous machine. I connected it to my current laptop, which has limited space on the 2.5" drive. To check, I loaded all the Genshin Impact files (73 GB) onto the new HDD. When I started playing, it was a bit rough—loading took ages and felt terrible. Once running, it was more stable, though in-game loading remained slow. If a game needs heavy file loads (like long teleports), performance drops again. I’m curious: will this happen with other games (over 25 GB) that I plan to store on the HDD? Also, which titles should I prioritize for the drive? Thanks!
Likely, especially when the game needs to read files from the HDD frequently.
It varies. Many titles from the previous console era were built for slower laptop HDDs, which is typical for PS4 and Xbox One. Optimized games will perform much better than unoptimized ones, except possibly with a lengthy initial load. Smaller games such as League of Legends, Fall Guys, and Rocket League should handle themselves well. Sims 4 is an older title; after a heavy start it should run smoothly. Consider moving BRs to the SSD since matches often involve loading. Uncertain about EFootball—I haven’t played it, but I bet a game requiring extra loading in-game should stay on the SSD.
Thanks for your responses. I’m planning to save League of Legends, The Sims 4, Fall Guys, Fortnite, PUBG: Battlegrounds, Rocket League on the HDD. Genghsin Impact, Valorant, and eFootball will remain in the internal M.2 SSD. Hope they don’t be too frustrating.
I usually advise against connecting an HDD to a gaming rig, as I've noticed some unusual cases where it introduces significant input delays from CPU interrupts even when idle. Anything requiring an HDD should be isolated from other tasks—such as NAS devices—or made removable.
Heavy gave a plus-one on the idea to install Fortnite on an SSD. They often force a shader compile during loading to a queue, which has really frustrated me—especially when I’m rushing to the edge of the map with my pants up. Switching to an SSD fixed the issue completely.