External hard drive + VNs = issues
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So I got a 1.5 TB external desktop drive for my laptop. (Yes, I know that I could probably have waited and gotten a one or two TB portable. The one I got was on sale at a great good price.) Only problem is that a couple months ago I moved my stuff over to a new computer.
Thanks to the wonderful people in these very forums I had obtained quite a (small) collection of VNs that worked wonderfully when they were installed onto the External HD. Only now on my new computer I have about a 50% success rate! Cat Girl Alliance won't run properly, the screen size is messed up for some reason and I can't fix it. I lost a couple of games, likely because they were installed on the old laptop though.
So let my make my questions plain:
1) Would installing a game onto my external from one PC (Windows 7 32-bit) and then connecting that same external to another computer (Windows 7 64-bit) cause problems? (Like I said, some games are working fine still. So are they time bombs or am I just lucky?)
2) A question about external drives in general: Do portable HDDs work differently/slower than the desktop HDDs?
Thanks to the wonderful people in these very forums I had obtained quite a (small) collection of VNs that worked wonderfully when they were installed onto the External HD. Only now on my new computer I have about a 50% success rate! Cat Girl Alliance won't run properly, the screen size is messed up for some reason and I can't fix it. I lost a couple of games, likely because they were installed on the old laptop though.
So let my make my questions plain:
1) Would installing a game onto my external from one PC (Windows 7 32-bit) and then connecting that same external to another computer (Windows 7 64-bit) cause problems? (Like I said, some games are working fine still. So are they time bombs or am I just lucky?)
2) A question about external drives in general: Do portable HDDs work differently/slower than the desktop HDDs?
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Potential answer to question 1: When most programs are installed onto a computer they register themselves with the OS. When you move these files to a new computer/hard drive without repeating the install process, this registration is lost even though the files are all there. To get around this you must install the program to the same location on both systems. This is complicated by the x86 x64 OS'. 64 bit Windows puts each type, 32-bit and 64-bit, of program into a different program folder on default settings. How this would be handeled on an external I'm not sure of. Also 32 bit applications don't always work with 64 bit OS', this has been reduced with Windows 7's better compatibility.
Answer to question 2: The drives themselves don't work slower than a similar drive installed in a desktop. It's the interface that effects performance. USB drives operate on a [480]Mb/s(goofed this spec) bus whereas modern internal hard drives operate at 3Gb/s. That makes USB about six times slower than an internal hard drive.
Answer to question 2: The drives themselves don't work slower than a similar drive installed in a desktop. It's the interface that effects performance. USB drives operate on a [480]Mb/s(goofed this spec) bus whereas modern internal hard drives operate at 3Gb/s. That makes USB about six times slower than an internal hard drive.
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Many thanks maddog. I guess I'll just reinstall Cat Girl Alliance if I can redownload it.
Any advice on purchasing a new external? I have a choice between a 750GB portable for $92 and a 1.5TB desktop for $120. I already have one of the latter about a third full, but these are on clearance and I'll get a 10% discount. Don't know if I need the space but they are good deals. Should I bother? wait to see if the price drops? Go on a downloading spree and see how much I can fill in a week?
Any advice on purchasing a new external? I have a choice between a 750GB portable for $92 and a 1.5TB desktop for $120. I already have one of the latter about a third full, but these are on clearance and I'll get a 10% discount. Don't know if I need the space but they are good deals. Should I bother? wait to see if the price drops? Go on a downloading spree and see how much I can fill in a week?
