Run programs on external hard drive?

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Stargun007

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I've started to run out of hard drive space, and I've been planning to get an external hard drive. My main concern, however, is whether I can run programs from the hard drive or not. I'm not planning to actually buy an external drive, but get a regular hard drive and an external kit for it. If it's connected through USB 2.0, will I be able to run any programs/games off of it?

And while I'm on the topic, can anyone provide a good deal for a complete kit for me?
 
You potentially could but it would run slow considering USB transfer speed are about 12Mbps (megabits) vs. a normal current generation IDE cable (Ultra ATA 100 or 133) which transfers at 100MBps (megabytes). To give you some perspective, it takes 8 bits to make one byte. So, theoretically, you COULD run programs, games, etc. from the external but don't expect them to run fast. In fact, it'll probably seem to run as fast as computer made in the 80s. Best thing to do with an external drive is to transfer all the stuff on your computer now onto it (or burn it onto a dvd or cd if you have a cd/dvd burner) and then defrag your computer.
 
You can do it no problem. I run programs off my flash stick. Its just a matter of access times like jay said.

I wouldn't suggest running doom 3 off of one, but its more than fast enough for movies/anime/less demanding games.

To clarify- usb 1.1 speeds are about 1mb/s. Usb 2.0 is supposed to be 480mb/s. Firewire drives are about 400mb/s.

It sounds fast, and is if you're moving a few large files. However, if you need to load a lot of small files rapidly, it bogs down. Think of it like driving. You can speed up on strait aways, but when you make a lot of turns you need to slow down or you'll have troubles.
 
It will work as long as you install it on that drive. Yes transfer times will be a little slower then normal. However I would not run a program that takes a lot of resources. Kayden said it best
don't run Doom 3 or photoshop. Something that runs at startup I would not put on the external either. Small programs you will not run a lot of the time should be fine.
 
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