Is this "flash drive" any good for ESO?

Davor · September 2019

Would this be any good to play ESO with? https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/sandisk-ultra-128gb-dual-drive-usb-type-c-sdddc2-128g-g46/12348761

Just in case the link doesn't work, it's a SanDisk Ultra 128GB Dual Drive USB Type-C (SDDDC2-128G-G46)

I am not too tech savvy and I am a bit confused. I was looking at external SSD drive since my internal SSd doesn't give me enough room to run ESO so it's on my HDD. What confuses me when I am looking as an SSD is that some articles are saying "flash drive" but it's an SSD. Is that the same thing? If so, isn't the flash drive the same thing? So I thought this might not be a bad buy, BUT as the saying goes, "if it's too good to be true..." and since I don't have a clue about SSD and thumb drives or flash drives, I thought I would ask here.

So if this flash drive/thumbstick is not good to use, why would that be? What is the difference if both this and SSD are flash drives. What makes them different? Also will an external SSD speed up loading times for ESO? I am not going to open my laptop since in most cases I will shmuck it up, so better to get an external drive, IF it will improve ESO. If not, then now worries for me and be same old same old.

Davor

Vapirko · September 2019

No that won’t do it. Thumb drives are meant for basic storage and don’t have the hardware to perform at the level you’ll need for ESO. They’re prone to over heating and failure under that kind of stress. You’ll want something like one of these https://www.techradar.com/news/best-portable-ssd

SirAndy · September 2019

Vapirko wrote: »

No that won’t do it. Thumb drives are meant for basic storage and don’t have the hardware to perform at the level you’ll need for ESO. They’re prone to over heating and failure under that kind of stress. You’ll want something like one of these https://www.techradar.com/news/best-portable-ssd

And 128GB might not be enough either since ESO needs about double the free space of the base game size during install.
A 256GB drive should be ok.

Red_Feather · September 2019

Vapirko wrote: »

No that won’t do it. Thumb drives are meant for basic storage and don’t have the hardware to perform at the level you’ll need for ESO. They’re prone to over heating and failure under that kind of stress. You’ll want something like one of these https://www.techradar.com/news/best-portable-ssd

Oh! If I get that first one on the list.
Samsung T5 500GB
I can play ESO off of that?!

SirAndy · September 2019

Red_Feather wrote: »

Vapirko wrote: »

No that won’t do it. Thumb drives are meant for basic storage and don’t have the hardware to perform at the level you’ll need for ESO. They’re prone to over heating and failure under that kind of stress. You’ll want something like one of these https://www.techradar.com/news/best-portable-ssd

Oh! If I get that first one on the list.
Samsung T5 500GB
I can play ESO off of that?!

Yes, that should work ...

Davor · September 2019

Thank you so much. So there is additional hardware that goes in an SSD then. That you so much everyone. Yeah I was thinking of getting that SSD.

Just wondering why they would put that with regular SSDs then in the store. Oh well. So glad I asked.

Dang, now I see an ultrawide monitor. Hmm.... wonder if that would be good for ESO on PC and Xbox lol.

Vapirko · September 2019

Davor wrote: »

Thank you so much. So there is additional hardware that goes in an SSD then. That you so much everyone. Yeah I was thinking of getting that SSD.

Just wondering why they would put that with regular SSDs then in the store. Oh well. So glad I asked.

Dang, now I see an ultrawide monitor. Hmm.... wonder if that would be good for ESO on PC and Xbox lol.

What type of port does your computer have? If you can make use of the USB C connection that’s good. Also let’s slow down. If you have money to spend a good computer with an internal SSD is way better than playing off an external. Or you might be able to upgrade your internal HD. For all we know you could have two HD slots or more and you’d be better off getting someone to install an SSD in there. So what’s your setup?

Davor · September 2019

Vapirko wrote: »

Davor wrote: »

Thank you so much. So there is additional hardware that goes in an SSD then. That you so much everyone. Yeah I was thinking of getting that SSD.

Just wondering why they would put that with regular SSDs then in the store. Oh well. So glad I asked.

Dang, now I see an ultrawide monitor. Hmm.... wonder if that would be good for ESO on PC and Xbox lol.

What type of port does your computer have? If you can make use of the USB C connection that’s good. Also let’s slow down. If you have money to spend a good computer with an internal SSD is way better than playing off an external. Or you might be able to upgrade your internal HD. For all we know you could have two HD slots or more and you’d be better off getting someone to install an SSD in there. So what’s your setup?

I have a MSI GE62 Apache Pro, that is 3 years old. I just saw how some people take out the dvd player and insert an SSD that way. I also have a 1 TB HDD and 124 SSD. I could open my laptop since the warranty is finished now. Not sure how easy that would be or not.

*edit*

I have a "c" type connection. That is a USB? Didn't know that. Also have a square one as well. Not sure if that is called a thunder port. What ever it is, I don''t have a clue what it is and what a thunder port is.

Vapirko · September 2019

Davor wrote: »

Vapirko wrote: »

Davor wrote: »

Thank you so much. So there is additional hardware that goes in an SSD then. That you so much everyone. Yeah I was thinking of getting that SSD.

Just wondering why they would put that with regular SSDs then in the store. Oh well. So glad I asked.

Dang, now I see an ultrawide monitor. Hmm.... wonder if that would be good for ESO on PC and Xbox lol.

What type of port does your computer have? If you can make use of the USB C connection that’s good. Also let’s slow down. If you have money to spend a good computer with an internal SSD is way better than playing off an external. Or you might be able to upgrade your internal HD. For all we know you could have two HD slots or more and you’d be better off getting someone to install an SSD in there. So what’s your setup?

I have a MSI GE62 Apache Pro, that is 3 years old. I just saw how some people take out the dvd player and insert an SSD that way. I also have a 1 TB HDD and 124 SSD. I could open my laptop since the warranty is finished now. Not sure how easy that would be or not.

*edit*

I have a "c" type connection. That is a USB? Didn't know that. Also have a square one as well. Not sure if that is called a thunder port. What ever it is, I don''t have a clue what it is and what a thunder port is.

Ok so if you have a 1TB HD you can have someone install a 1TB SATA SSD instead for you if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself which you can buy for a similar price to an cerebra and this will be much better and more convenient. The 128 should be your boot drive and have nothing on it except windows and maybe a few very important system programs.

Red_Feather · September 2019

Vapirko wrote: »

Davor wrote: »

Vapirko wrote: »

Davor wrote: »

Thank you so much. So there is additional hardware that goes in an SSD then. That you so much everyone. Yeah I was thinking of getting that SSD.

Just wondering why they would put that with regular SSDs then in the store. Oh well. So glad I asked.

Dang, now I see an ultrawide monitor. Hmm.... wonder if that would be good for ESO on PC and Xbox lol.

What type of port does your computer have? If you can make use of the USB C connection that’s good. Also let’s slow down. If you have money to spend a good computer with an internal SSD is way better than playing off an external. Or you might be able to upgrade your internal HD. For all we know you could have two HD slots or more and you’d be better off getting someone to install an SSD in there. So what’s your setup?

I have a MSI GE62 Apache Pro, that is 3 years old. I just saw how some people take out the dvd player and insert an SSD that way. I also have a 1 TB HDD and 124 SSD. I could open my laptop since the warranty is finished now. Not sure how easy that would be or not.

*edit*

I have a "c" type connection. That is a USB? Didn't know that. Also have a square one as well. Not sure if that is called a thunder port. What ever it is, I don''t have a clue what it is and what a thunder port is.

Ok so if you have a 1TB HD you can have someone install a 1TB SATA SSD instead for you if you’re not comfortable doing it yourself which you can buy for a similar price to an cerebra and this will be much better and more convenient. The 128 should be your boot drive and have nothing on it except windows and maybe a few very important system programs.

Maybe I should learn how to install an internal instead of external. I'm learning that external won't be that good at some things.

Davor · September 2019

Thank you very much for that @Vapirko greatly appreciate the advice. Will check out some YouTube videos to see if I have the capability to do as you say if it's just a swap.

Vapirko · September 2019

Davor wrote: »

Thank you very much for that @Vapirko greatly appreciate the advice. Will check out some YouTube videos to see if I have the capability to do as you say if it's just a swap.

Honestly it’s very easy you just need to have the right screwdrivers, make sure it’s a SATA SSD and that it’s compatible with your computer and that you get the casing for it so that you can screw it into current SATA HD slot. If you don’t plan on doing future work yourself and don’t want to buy the stuff it’s prob easier to just take it somewhere. Good luck and I’m certain you’ll be happy with it.

Vhozek · September 2019

If you get an SSD, make sure you get one with a lot of storage because they die faster the more space is used up in them. NonSSD harddrives don't. You will most likely void your warranty if you open your computer to install it. If you dont know what to get just look for anything that says 1tb and 7200rpm or 5400 which is more common for laptops. Both of those are slower than an SSD though but still fine and an SSD will NOT say those numbers. If whoever instals it for you charges you money, don't trust them ever again because they just took advantage of you, unless you deeply embrace capitalism and understand the other person is just trying to benefit from that as much as you are. Make sure you have the disc that came with your laptop which should contain windows in it because switching harddrives means getting rid of the old one unless your laptop has enough space for 2.

Vapirko · September 2019

Vhozek wrote: »

If you get an SSD, make sure you get one with a lot of storage because they die faster the more space is used up in them. NonSSD harddrives don't. You will most likely void your warranty if you open your computer to install it. If you dont know what to get just look for anything that says 1tb and 7200rpm or 5400 which is more common for laptops. Both of those are slower than an SSD though but still fine and an SSD will NOT say those numbers. If whoever instals it for you charges you money, don't trust them ever again because they just took advantage of you, unless you deeply embrace capitalism and understand the other person is just trying to benefit from that as much as you are. Make sure you have the disc that came with your laptop which should contain windows in it because switching harddrives means getting rid of the old one unless your laptop has enough space for 2.

No don’t do this. You already have a 5400 or 7200rpm HD at 1TB. The point is to get an SSD for your secondary which will get you better performance and faster loading time. This person didn’t read your posts.

SeanBlader · September 2019

So historically, the reason why external drives were used primarily for backup and not for programs is because the transfer rates over the external ports couldn't hold a candle to internal drives. With USB 2 and now 3, they are fast enough that you can use them. I'm pretty sure ALL USB Type-C connections are at a minimum of USB 3.0, so plenty fast.

Since you mentioned Thunderbolt, the only place you see that on more recent systems is via the USB Type-C port. It has enough connectors and programmatic flexibility that a USB Type-C connector can be used for a ridiculous number of different capabilities, it's really impressive, and it usually just works, or it doesn't if your USB chipset doesn't have support for one of the things you're trying to do. If I recall correctly Type-C can be used for normal USB data, external video, wired networking, and even supplying power in and out of the device. It's pretty amazing.

Thunderbolt itself is just an Intel data transfer capability that was originally a LOT faster than USB, but that was for USB 1.0, now with USB 3.0 and 3.1, Intel has officially just rolled Thunderbolt into the USB standard, and at this point it doesn't really mean anything.

As other's have stated though, internal will still likely be faster, and obviously more convenient. It is relatively easy and safe to get into some laptops, but things to look out for are ribbon connectors, power connectors, antenna wires, and all of those being very small fiddly connections that could give you a challenge getting reconnected. The good news though is that any manufacturer that's worth their salt has thought of your situation in advance, and they probably made 2 components really easy to get to so you can upgrade them yourself, 1. RAM, 2. Storage. It's likely that you won't have any problem getting to those devices, but it's also likely that someone has already done it, and put a video online showing how it's done. You MAY need to spend money on a set of tools to open the chassis, and that's where iFixit comes in. Most hardware hackers swear by their toolkits, I know I love mine.

My guess is with your particular laptop that once you have the bottom off the unit, it will be really easy to identify components and disconnect them. It's usually only much harder on ultrabooks because more is integrated into the motherboard in order to get them to be smaller. The biggest thing in your laptop will by far be the battery, then if there's an CD drive that will be the second biggest thing. You said there's a 1TB hard disk, that will be the next biggest, and likely the second easiest to remove.

All told you'll just need a little tenacity to open it up, paying attention to where things are so you can put them back in the same way when you have replacements. When you're done, you'll be surprised at how easy it was, and then you'll have that amazing confidence that when you feel like you want to, you can upgrade the RAM in there too.

Nyladreas · September 2019

Davor wrote: »

Would this be any good to play ESO with? https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/sandisk-ultra-128gb-dual-drive-usb-type-c-sdddc2-128g-g46/12348761

Just in case the link doesn't work, it's a SanDisk Ultra 128GB Dual Drive USB Type-C (SDDDC2-128G-G46)

I am not too tech savvy and I am a bit confused. I was looking at external SSD drive since my internal SSd doesn't give me enough room to run ESO so it's on my HDD. What confuses me when I am looking as an SSD is that some articles are saying "flash drive" but it's an SSD. Is that the same thing? If so, isn't the flash drive the same thing? So I thought this might not be a bad buy, BUT as the saying goes, "if it's too good to be true..." and since I don't have a clue about SSD and thumb drives or flash drives, I thought I would ask here.

So if this flash drive/thumbstick is not good to use, why would that be? What is the difference if both this and SSD are flash drives. What makes them different? Also will an external SSD speed up loading times for ESO? I am not going to open my laptop since in most cases I will shmuck it up, so better to get an external drive, IF it will improve ESO. If not, then now worries for me and be same old same old.

Davor

@Davor

If it's any help, my girlfriend had no room for ESO, so we decided to go with this USB stick as a solution, since it was up for grabs where I work:

https://www.sandisk.com/home/usb-flash/ultra-usb

Specifically the 256GB version.

She has no problem with the game whatsoever and occasionally even loads in quicker than me, and I'm using a traditional SSD.

Vapirko · September 2019

Let me ask one more question, is there some reason you don’t want to put ESO on your 1TB drive you have in there now? I’d always advocate replacing it with an SSD since it’s so cheap but anyway just curious.

Davor · September 2019

Thank you so much @SeanBlader you have explained it very well. Now I have learned some new things.

Thanks @Nyladreas for that link. I will see what they have here where I live.

@Vapirko I do have ESO on my 1TB drive. I tried to play a game called Total War: Warhammer 2 and the load times were long for me. I thought of getting an SSD for ESO and if I had enough space left for that game as well. If it didn't work for ESO then I wasn't going to bother.

As a side note, I did some Google and YouTube videos, and there were people who had an MSI and replaced the dvd drive with a HDD. One thing I noticed was that the SSD drive was like a rectangle green board, no case like in a HDD or dvd player. I learned the connections are different and getting a SSD for SATA (That is the proper name correct?) will not give as fast speeds with an M2 (proper name?) Connection.

From what I gather, speeds will still be faster than a HDD but not as fast as an M2 connection.

So if I get an SSD I have to make sure it's a SATA connection correct?

Now dang, wish I could change my nVidia 960 graphics card lol.

Vapirko · September 2019

Davor wrote: »

Thank you so much @SeanBlader you have explained it very well. Now I have learned some new things.

Thanks @Nyladreas for that link. I will see what they have here where I live.

@Vapirko I do have ESO on my 1TB drive. I tried to play a game called Total War: Warhammer 2 and the load times were long for me. I thought of getting an SSD for ESO and if I had enough space left for that game as well. If it didn't work for ESO then I wasn't going to bother.

As a side note, I did some Google and YouTube videos, and there were people who had an MSI and replaced the dvd drive with a HDD. One thing I noticed was that the SSD drive was like a rectangle green board, no case like in a HDD or dvd player. I learned the connections are different and getting a SSD for SATA (That is the proper name correct?) will not give as fast speeds with an M2 (proper name?) Connection.

From what I gather, speeds will still be faster than a HDD but not as fast as an M2 connection.

So if I get an SSD I have to make sure it's a SATA connection correct?

Now dang, wish I could change my nVidia 960 graphics card lol.

I dont know about switching out a DVD drive for an SSD slot, but you should be ok with a SATA SSD. Its a big improvement over an HD. Im not sure about the logistics of transforming that secondary slot to an M2 connection. I know there are M2 to SATA interfaces but I believe that defeats the purpose since youre going to be bottle necked by the SATA connection. I think you definitely will notice a different with the SATA SSD in place of your SATA HD. I did for sure. Much faster loading times plus faster install times. Its up to you about the DVD drive conversion. As for the graphics card, well you might be able to but I think the 970 is fine for ESO and honestly you might be better off just waiting till until you upgrade to a new laptop or desktop entirely.