Ok, so because of the Christmas Sale, I finally bought the Valve Complete Pack, but my internal HD doesn't have the place to store it all. I have an external 1 TB HDD, but I'm not sure if I should use it for gaming as I'm worried about performance issues. -------------------------------------------------------- My HD info, from System Information: Intel 6 Series Chipset: Vendor: Intel Product: 6 Series Chipset Link Speed: 6 Gigabit Negotiated Link Speed: 3 Gigabit Description: AHCI Version 1.30 Supported ST9320325ASG: Capacity: 320.07 GB (3,20,07,29,33,376 bytes) Model: ST9320325ASG Revision: 0009APM1 Serial Number: 5VD6G14T Native Command Queuing: Yes Queue Depth: 32 Removable Media: No Detachable Drive: No BSD Name: disk0 Rotational Rate: 5400 Medium Type: Rotational Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table) S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified Volumes: disk0s1: Capacity: 209.7 MB (20,97,15,200 bytes) BSD Name: disk0s1 Content: EFI Mac OSX: Capacity: 249 GB (2,49,00,00,01,536 bytes) Available: 44.2 GB (44,19,87,64,544 bytes) Writable: Yes File System: Journaled HFS+ BSD Name: disk0s2 Mount Point: / Content: Apple_HFS Recovery HD: Capacity: 650 MB (65,00,06,528 bytes) BSD Name: disk0s3 Content: Apple_Boot BOOTCAMP?: Capacity: 70.21 GB (70,21,26,48,960 bytes) Available: 21.88 GB (21,87,83,86,688 bytes) Writable: Yes File System: UFSD_NTFS_COMPR BSD Name: disk0s4 Mount Point: /Volumes/BOOTCAMP Content: Microsoft Basic Data --------------------------------------------------------------------------- So: a) If Firewire 800 faster than/slower than/as fast as my internal HDD? b) Is Firewire 800 fast enough for me to store the games on the external HDD and play? -- (I can also buy a Thunderbolt cable, but it's really expensive) c) If I store them on the HDD and use Symbolic Links for the SteamApps folder, will the transfer rate affect playing? (as opposed to installing Steam on the HDD and playing from it) Thanks a lot in advance!
You didn't say how fast your external drive spins, but assuming its 7200 rpm, your external drive will be faster than your internal one. FW800 is faster than either hard drive you have, so you won't have any performance issues. You could even make the FW800 drive your boot drive.